# Go Big or Go Home!



## Chard56 (Oct 10, 2010)

I have over 400 two month fry from my Big Red Gold Dragon and a pretty Red Gold Halfmoon female. With that many to choose from and as gorgeous as the parents are I should be able to send some of them to an IBC show this spring. I didn't start out to breed this size of finnage but he carries it so well I had to continue the line.


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## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

nice chard!


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## LoriL (Jun 19, 2011)

Wow!! He's amazing!


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## StripesAndFins (Dec 31, 2008)

Wow, congratulations.


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## Amelia26 (Aug 6, 2011)

WOW!!! those are some beautiful bettas!!! i bet those babies are very beautiful them selves!!!!


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## adamxatomic (Oct 6, 2011)

*Very nice Richard!*
Hope to see some more pics soon!
400 of them? That's a lot of little mouths to feed.


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## Chard56 (Oct 10, 2010)

That's just one of 21 spawns I have at the moment. Albeit the biggest one. Most of the others are under 100. Plus the 5 or 6 hundred adults. My Melano spawn is down to about 30 from almost 400. They had velvet 3 times and I just couldn't seem to keep their tank clear. It was like a bacterial bloom would grow every 2 or 3 days so I finally moved the last 30 in with another small spawn and they're doing fine. About an hour and 10 minutes feeding time twice a day.


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## ZebraDanio12 (Jun 17, 2011)

Where do you put all your bettas and how do you have the time to manage them all? Post some pics of your setup and the babies!


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## Fishpunk (Apr 18, 2011)

If I'd only known when my kids were babies to keep all the baby food jars, I could breed bettas too!


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## Chard56 (Oct 10, 2010)

Fishpunk said:


> If I'd only known when my kids were babies to keep all the baby food jars, I could breed bettas too!


LOL! That would have been nice to have had that kind of forethought but they would be a little small for that purpose. One quart canning jars come in handy though. I keep most of the adult males in 2 and 3 litre plastic soda bottles. I had previously bought up all the big vases I could find but am switching over to the soda bottles as they are easier to store and clean. Besides, all the thrift stores in town were starting to catch on and raised the prices on all the vases. @ ZebraDanio12 I have 2 small 7 ft. by 10 ft. rooms I heat with space heaters to about 78 to 82. I had to move all 2,000 Bettas, tanks, stands and containers a couple months ago after I built shelves and benches for them. I started at 9 in the morning and didn't get everything set back up until 5:30 the next morning.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

You know, the first step is admitting that you have a problem... LOL!


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## Chard56 (Oct 10, 2010)

I keep calling Bettas anonymous but I always get the same message. "Sorry we can't come to the phone right now, we are busy feeding the Bettas and changing their water out. Don't bother leaving your name and phone number as we have several spawns to set up and won't have time to call back!"


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## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

how many do you now have chard? last time I check, it was over 2k lol!


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## Flare (Dec 17, 2010)

You know I love him, and your set up, and all of your fish... but I'm going to tell you again just cause I can!


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## ZebraDanio12 (Jun 17, 2011)

Wow. Chard you can be expecting my business some time in the near future.


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## funlad3 (Oct 9, 2010)

As usual, the sheer quantity of bettas and containers in your possession amazes me. That's incredible!


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## Chard56 (Oct 10, 2010)

*Lotsa' Betta*



Betta man said:


> how many do you now have chard? last time I check, it was over 2k lol!


I have close to 400 jarred adult males. A sorority of 300 females and one with about 200. Several hundred juveniles, a spawn of Red Dragon Halfmoons of around 400 fry and 17 other spawns of various amounts of from 12 to a couple hundred. All totalled I have somewhere in the vicinity of 2,300 to 2,500. I keep trying to get some of the pet/fish stores to buy them to support my habit but they always just jerk me around and don't follow through.


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## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

do you tell them that you ARE serious about selling and that you have 2500 bettas and that plenty are for sale for a very reasonable price? I know a petstore who is willing to buy bettas from me lol! When I can spawn them!


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## Flare (Dec 17, 2010)

Too bad you don't live near me! The petstore I work at is looking for a new betta supplier!


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## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

why don't you supply them? I'm sure you have plenty still lol!


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## Chard56 (Oct 10, 2010)

*Shipping Bettas*

I had an account with a local chain pet store last year. I sold them 40 some Bettas. When I delivered them I asked if I could come back later to pick up the deli cups I brought them in as they cost me a quarter a piece and the kid that talked the owners into buying them had Betta barracks in the tanks to put them in. Instead of acclimating them even after I suggested it he just poured them in the barracks. More than a month went by and I emailed them asking if they were ready for another batch. The answer was that since they lost money on them, they were hesitant about buying anymore. I had stopped in the week before and the kid told me the Bettas had gotten fungus or tailrot or columnaris he wasn't sure but it wasn't just mine it was the imports too. They obviously didn't know how to care for them so I emailed them back and told them that if they lost money on the deal they must have killed most of my Bettas and I would no longer be offering them to them for sale. If they had contacted me (because I left my phone # for just that purpose) I would have traded them out and medicated the sick ones properly but I wasn't about to replace them for nothing. Then I had a deal going with The Betta Shop in Minnesota right up until I sent them a paypal invoice with the agreed upon price for I think 50 Bettas. That was the last I heard from that one. A pet shop about 75 miles from me took an interest until he told me he paid $2.45 for Halfmoons and sold them for $9.99. I don't think he knows what a Halfmoon even is! He might buy his Veiltails for that but I'll be darned if I'm selling my Halfmoons for that. If some store wants to make me a decent offer I'd be happy to send a big package of a few dozen or more. I had planned on supplying the first store with a hundred a week.


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## luvisabetta (Dec 15, 2011)

Chard56: I bow to you, man. I have had MTS since 1978. I have kept multiple large tanks and have now reduced my tank footprint to just two ten gallon tanks. I just joined this forum to tell you that I purchased one Betta from you a few months ago. He is one of the most handsome Bettas that I have ever seen. He is just loving his ten gallon planted, filtered, heated, Betta only bachelor pad. Keep up the good work on the excellent Betta stock!!! I joined this forum just to thank you!!


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## LucyGoosey (Dec 11, 2011)

Wow!!!!!

Would love some close up shots of the fry rtanks. Never seen baby bettas before!!

How often do you clean them out? I am just in awe thinking of cleaning out 2000, yes TWO THOUSAND betta jars. WOW!


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## Chard56 (Oct 10, 2010)

luvisabetta said:


> Chard56: I bow to you, man. I have had MTS since 1978. I have kept multiple large tanks and have now reduced my tank footprint to just two ten gallon tanks. I just joined this forum to tell you that I purchased one Betta from you a few months ago. He is one of the most handsome Bettas that I have ever seen. He is just loving his ten gallon planted, filtered, heated, Betta only bachelor pad. Keep up the good work on the excellent Betta stock!!! I joined this forum just to thank you!!


You honor me with your praise, thank you. I'm glad to hear of such a good home for one of my "babies". Do you have pictures?


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## Chard56 (Oct 10, 2010)

LucyGoosey said:


> Wow!!!!!
> 
> Would love some close up shots of the fry rtanks. Never seen baby bettas before!!
> 
> How often do you clean them out? I am just in awe thinking of cleaning out 2000, yes TWO THOUSAND betta jars. WOW!


Not 2,000 jars thankfully. I only (only?) have around 400 males jarred that I clean half of one day and the other half the next day. The rest are in tanks and they get changed other days during the week. Here's a few fry pics.


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## Sorafish (Sep 15, 2011)

WOW! Its so interesting to see the different stages of Betta! (Though, not gonna lie, I'm happy with my less than 200 drops that I get from my Guppies, I think breeding Betta would kill me)


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

The thing about betta breeding I would find a chore, is trying to fish all the male bettas out of the breeding tank. You have to catch them one at a time, and when there are 400 of them... wow.


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## Chard56 (Oct 10, 2010)

I took the first one out today. They don't all come out at the same time. Just the biggest and most aggressive ones first. It may take several months before taking all the males out because of different growth rates. My Lavender/Pastel spawn on the other hand are almost all developing at the same time. I'm sure it will be a matter of weeks before they're all jarred.


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## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

cool! How many fry have you lost?


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## Chard56 (Oct 10, 2010)

I have no idea. I don't want to have to count that many again to see. There's still several hundred in the tank. Here's just a corner of their 30 gallon.


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## Chard56 (Oct 10, 2010)

I jarred the first male today. Only a couple hundred more to go!


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## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

pretty! How big is your female? My females are pretty small so I don't think I'll get over 300 fry...


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## Chard56 (Oct 10, 2010)

Betta man said:


> pretty! How big is your female? My females are pretty small so I don't think I'll get over 300 fry...


 She wasn't that big really. I was surprised by the amount but that seems to happen a lot in my fishrooms. The last 4 out of 5 spawns were well over 200.


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