Bettarazzi Posted June 7, 2011 Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 OK so I was flicking through the Aquarium Society of Victoria handbook the other day and I was reminded that both ASV and EDAS have these breeder badges that you can get once you have bred a certain number of species. I want one. I will probably lose interest after getting the first badge but I reckon I could get that first one within a reasonable period of time and without compromising my betta breeder program. Simply, in order to get the first breeder badge I have to breed (and prove it) 10 species of fish. Unfortunately I only have two species of fish in my fishroom at the moment – bettas and guppies (the guppies that bear an incredibly striking resemblance to endlers don't count ). The no-brainer selections I came up with are mollies and swordtails. That will take me up to 4 species so still need another 6. This is where I need your suggestions. Here are the parameters that I have to work within: - I’m only allocating one standard 2 foot tank (60 x 30 x 30 cm, 55 ltr/15 gal) to this project - so I can only breed one species at a time: breed them, grow the fry (in the same tank), get rid of the lot - the species would ideally be reasonably available to buy and easy to get a pair - parents and offspring have to be able to live in the same tank for the whole time - only simple breeding setups eg. a few floating plants, maybe some java fern or anubias, a flat rock, cave, little bit of gravel, that sort of thing - no special water requirements, must be able to breed in Melbourne tap water Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt_95 Posted June 7, 2011 Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 Convicts, sell the fry as feeders, white clouds are another good one.I thin fire tail gudgeons are easy to :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted June 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 I should add that the fish should be reasonably good looking seeing that I'm surrounded by pretty halfmoon bettas. The firetail gudgeons would get zero attention. The convicts will be a problem in terms of getting a pair. I'd have to get a small colony and pair them up and then get rid of the others. I suppose that would be ok if the LFS is likely to take them back. I forgot about platies, so I guess that makes 5. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt_95 Posted June 7, 2011 Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 I just get a male and femal and they have spawned. Surly you know someone who has a fish that needs feeders? What about gambasia? Bristlenose are easy to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fletch Posted June 7, 2011 Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 Electric yellow chiclids are easy too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted June 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 Can I keep a breeding pair of bristlenose as well as their offspring in a 2 ft tank? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt_95 Posted June 7, 2011 Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 Yep You could keep them with the guppiesWhat about these to? Kribs shell dwellers cories killifish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadoh Posted June 7, 2011 Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 What about Angels? Rainbows? I've heard Corydoras are easy to breed... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forever_and_a_day Posted June 7, 2011 Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 I'll add my vote of Corydoras. try an exotic species maybe? like the julii/sterbai maybe? (I guess they're aren't actually that exotic) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yanagi Posted June 7, 2011 Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 Another vote for cories, very easy. We have a breeding pair of convicts at work, I just collected about 50-100 fry earlier today lol.. Occies (Dwarf) Gouramis Apistogrammas Neo. Brichardi Do different species of bettas count? Super bonus points for Clownfish or Bangaii Cardinals LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted June 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 Angels would be too big for a two foot, wouldn't they? And the parents won't always cooperate with raising the fry so if I had to move the fry or the parents I'd have to take up one of my betta tanks. I have bred angels before in a 2 foot but I had 4 tanks at my disposal so I could separate parents from fry, split the fry and actually had to split up the parents as they got a be aggressive towards each other. Plus I'd have to buy six or so then wait for them to pair up, then get rid of the others. I suppose it's still worth considering. I had thought of cories but wasn't sure about the tank size. There are breeding colonies of cories for sale here in Melbourne. But I thought I'd need a 4 footer to house and breed them. And I've never bred them before. Also had a disaster a couple of years ago with a batch of panda cories that kept dying on me. So a little bit wary. The dwarf cichlids are worth considering. Apart from kribs, what other ones can you get pairs relatively easily ie. from shops? Last time I looked at a tank of German rams, I couldn't tell sexes apart. I've bred a fair number of killies before but I'm really not organised enough to stuff around with the annuals and changing peat over etc. I'm much more interested in the non-annuals and they're sooooooo hard to get a hold of that I've kinda given up trying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yanagi Posted June 7, 2011 Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 I've bred Cories in a 40lt tank, bronze seem to be the absolute dead easy ones but albinos aren't far behind. Peppered are my favourite larger cories though. A 2ft is fine for a breeding pair of angels as long as they're good parents and don't need to separate the fry. It can be hard to tell the Rams apart unless you know what you're actually looking at. There's so many hybrids (ballons x normal, blue ram x gold ram, long fin x short fin) so unless they're true germans it's not easy. Size/maturity has to do with it, too. Females should have a prominent vent/ovi spot similar to female bettas but much further back. Also a pinker belly. Males should be displaying to each other. Or just get a trio and leave them to their own devices. You can get gold rams, neon blue rams, blue rams, long fins (rare), short fins and balloon rams as far as I know. There may be more varieties out there. Blue/Neon Blue/Gold rams, Bolvian rams, African Butterfly cichlids (often dull) and Apistos are most commonly avaliable dwarf cichlids aside from kribensis (nigerian reds are amazing!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted June 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 Different species of bettas would count but I would have a hard time getting rid of them to move onto the next species. Maybe if I did them last. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pritch33 Posted June 8, 2011 Report Share Posted June 8, 2011 I would go Rams, kribs and some of the dwarf apistos all fairly easy and should be able to pick them all up at a reasonable price unless looking for imports. Should all be easy to sell of as breeding pairs once you have finished with them. Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted June 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2011 I would have a hard time getting rid of them I meant emotionally difficult to part with, not that it's hard to find people to sell them to. Just wanted to clarify that for the would be wild betta keepers out there. LOL I am leaning strongly towards the dwarf cichlids. They have been on my wish list for a while now. I did have some Bolivian butterflies about 15 years ago but never managed to get them to spawn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
les Posted June 8, 2011 Report Share Posted June 8, 2011 Hi Razzi Is this badge thing becouse you wher or wernt a boy scout? LOL I was got right into the badge thing WOW there was even fights over them. first up what apart from ten species of fish bread is in the criteria for the badge? second is two foot a criteia or what you have do the fish have to be inseminated in your tank or can it happen elsware you could nock over the guppys mollies and platies all in the one tank at the same time with breeding traps and rams down below thats four in one hit which should reduce you time for that badge Cheers Les Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted June 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2011 I don't have the rules in front of me but the spawn has to be verified by another member and I'm pretty sure I read that both the parents and the fry have to be present. Not sure if there needs to be more than one inspection. I'll need to check that. Apart from that there aren't any other rules. The 2 foot tank is just what I'm willing to give up out of my betta breeding setup. Actually I'm not giving up anything. I don't actually have the tank yet nor anywhere to put it LOL. But I work best under pressure and it's pretty pointless going against my nature. So I'm going to just go shopping with only a very fuzzy idea about species and wing it from there. LOL. The mixing of species is a good idea as long as the apistos aren't bothered by the livebearers and vice versa. Yes I was a boy scout. LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yanagi Posted June 9, 2011 Report Share Posted June 9, 2011 We frequently have Apistos breeding in 10-20lt 'community' tanks.. They can get very aggressive and chase the other fish but I don't see it being much of a problem in a 2ft. In any case, you could just use those temporary plastic dividers and keep 4 different livebearers and 4 different types of apisto in a 2ft tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted June 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2011 4 apistos at once?? OMG you people are such a bad influence!! I LOVE that about you. LOL. Okay shopping spree on Saturday. Oh wait... need to pick up the tanks I won on eBay first. Will need to look at the ready made tank dividers. If it will keep my guppy males away from the females then I think my guppy/endler breeding program just got a significant boost. Getting very excited!! LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yanagi Posted June 9, 2011 Report Share Posted June 9, 2011 Me? A bad influence? I have NO idea what you're talking about. :whistling: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted June 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2011 Just had another read of the rules and it looks like I will need to redo even my betta and guppy spawnings in order for them to inspected at the appropriate age. Breeders Achievement Award The parent fish and fry must be inspected within two weeks of the fry free swimming. A second inspection must be made after 60 days from hatching. Inspection must be made by an accredited member of any aquarium society. I better find out what "accredited member" means. I had a guppy/endler drop just about 10 days ago. Oh well, no biggie there's a drop every month. LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadoh Posted June 9, 2011 Report Share Posted June 9, 2011 Does the inspection have to be in person? I am sure you've posted photos up here while your betta fry were of appropriate ages. Sure there are plenty of "accredited" members of aquarium societies on here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted June 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2011 I'm assuming in person. It's not such a problem. I'm overdue for another betta spawn. The hardest part will be deciding which ones to spawn and to refrain from spawning more than I can provide decent growing conditions to. But my fishkeeping is going to go from currently a bit over-the-top to completely crazy-loony-have-you-gone-off-your-medication. Seriously will 4 apisto species in a divided tank actually work? Won't they be bothered by their neighbours? And remembering that the fry and their parents have to stay in the same tank for 60 days, isn't it going to get a bit overcrowded in there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yanagi Posted June 9, 2011 Report Share Posted June 9, 2011 Absolutely it will work! They sometimes get bothered by their neighbours but if anything it seems to encourage spawning. Unless you somehow find mostly solid dividers fry will eventually swim through and some will be lost through getting eaten, etc. You can always cull if it gets a bit much. Or just do 2-3 pairs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted June 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2011 So I'd have to be careful that the species don't look too similar if the fry get mixed up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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