Looking to start a local betta chain for fun.

So I am looking for a few people interested in being part of creating some giant bettas. I only have a few tanks I can dedicate to bettas so progress would be slow if I did it on my own. I don't have a lot of money to order the crazy expensive ones, so I'm starting with a male fighter plakat with pretty nice wild coloration and smooth finnage. I have a couple of larger females to cross him with but would rather find a wild plakat type or true female half-giant to be his girl. Heck, any very large fertile female would be a fine start. Now comes the tricky part. I can grow out the first two batches of fry on my own. But after than progress would really slow down without a few more people who can raise more fry along with me. Then we'd select the largest specimens after about eight months and do a few back crosses, then a few outcrosses and once we have a good genepool of very large bettas we can sell them and keep the best for ourselves. Anybody up for betta clubbing? We could even meet once a month and talk about our progress and discuss plans for which fry to keep, make sure we aren't inbreeding the fish too far, etc. This thread might as well be our home base. Anybody with microfoods, a heater, a filter, a spare 20 gallon and some dividers say 'Aye'!

u have any links to more info. always wanted to know about those real large bettas, shot me some links an ill do some research an get back to ya, im sure id be down

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Most of the bottom half of this page is about giant betta genetics. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

There's a lot more, too, that's just a taste. And remember, this is a low-pressure and casual effort. We'll choose the largest and do our best to produce more and more large bettas. Nothing too technical here, just a little bookkeeping and watchfulness.

ok cool. ya ill try an set something up this week.

Sounds interesting.

Need to discus more.

Ha ha . Third link was a repeat. Should have been the bottom of this page: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]


Great to see people on board! Is anybody close enough to Liam's in Chinatown to see if he's got a female giant in there? I was in there several months ago and he had quite a few really huge females. He was only asking $15.00 for his truly massive bettas. If he's got them in right now I could find my way down there sometime soon.

Need to discuss more? Well let's put our heads together right here. What do you think the most effective way to get a good amount of, and more massive gene expression of, 'giant' bettas would be? One person spawning one promising pair and a team goal to raise batches fry watching for monsters? Perhaps at least two or three original adult pairs to outcross the offspring with in hopes of getting some truly massive 'giants'? We've definitely got to get a game plan before spawning really takes off and we have gone the wrong direction. I understand that the 'giant' gene expresses itself every generation so we won't need too much backcrossing to get a decent amount of 'giants'. The main focus I'd like us to have is the concentration of the largest of the large into a useful genepool that is likely to throw even larger 'giants' than we see today. Granted, this might take a couple of years. But I'm not going anywhere as far as I know. I definitely am opposed to unnecessary inbreeding but also understand the benefits of careful inbreeding with good monitoring of health. The last thing the world needs is more weak bettas.

So, possible goals for our betta club:
Goal 1- Generate very large bettas
Goal 2- Keep them as genetically resistant to ailments as possible
Goal 3- Beauty!
While dedicated aquarists can appreciate the darkest to the lightest fish, if we are going to sell these off they need to at least look good. Metallics are in and greens are amazing. Let me know what you think about these goals and add some of your own, too!

So I am looking to start this project in a few months. I'm starting a new job so I need to focus on it for now, but this isn't going away. The world needs bigger bettas!

guys ive transshipped some real monsters before .ide like to party with ya,i know a local lady that makes them so dang big i have shipped them BACK to Thailand for her ,,,

can i play?

Yeah, buddy! You got a customer right here. Met you about two weeks ago. Still got all those ctenopomas? They blowing nests for you yet?

Wrangle up some decent giants to spawn and I'll pop out a few generations for you.

im down to just 2 of them out of a batch of 40 . this fish sellout im doing is maken the floor wet ,clearing out tanks, still lots of other kool fish in here .

the giant betta are a very lazy fish ,almost need get them drunk to make them spawn,you know put them in the mood some how,

slow producers,ill send a message to the local person and let you know whats available

Awesome! My 125g tank leaked yesterday so I'm really tempted to shift gears and focus more on smaller fish for awhile. Once I have my Christmas money I'll swing by the place (are you still open?) and see what's up over there.

yes friend im still open and will continue to be ,i know some have made assumptions as to my wanting to sell out ,,im just shifting gears ,selling out my currant stock to replenish with new and more exciting things.ill be doing more volume wholesale this coming year ,the price lists i get from wholesalers in the us are just ridiculous, and after koi season this next year ,ill most likely be just doing online and special order transshipping ,possible 2 or 3 days retail to the public.

anything is possible these days ,im in my fish room from noon to 8 or 9 untill Christmas day

its not only my shop its a nice place to hang out,im also working as Santa claus at the photo studio in the same complex,,what a kick in the pants.died my hair and beard white .

merry Christmas

I'm not all that local but this sounds like fun!! Have a few emptys that could be easily set up for a bettas, will throw this around a bit since I do come up that way once or twice a year and my 2 killifish racks are currently empty (they can house a fair share of growouts).

Hey, Seattle Transshipper, I've got a few Colombian tetras I was going to start breeding but would rather focus on the bettas now. Would you be willing to take them as part of the cost on a giant?

Couple more weeks here and I'll be able to get rid of the snapping turtle to set up the rest of my 10 and 20 gallon tanks...

And I found a baby tetra in the tetra tank! Put it with the betta fry since they are the same size. It's so cute! I love fish babies!!!

So, *ahem*, if Seattle Transshipper brings in a handfull of giants, who's going to buy? Show of hands!

I'm definitely going to buy a male and a female, as long as they are healthy and it doesn't implode my wallet. Or two or three of us could split the cost and we can all share the first spawn to get some of the biggest to start with. I don't care which one of us houses the original pair as long as said person is known to have success with breeding bettas and is a stickler about water changes and water quality.

Let's keep this real and decide to work together from the start. If we put our talents together I know we can get more giants into our community and for better prices. Makes me mad when I see a giant betta priced at the value of a good wristwatch...

how much does one of this giant bettas go for?

Cheap ones run $25 and up. Nice ones in the hundreds. It's really depressing. I mean to Robin Hood this all the way. Poor people need giant bettas, too. There's just no excuse for the extravagant pricing and we can fix that around here if we band together and start pumping out some giants at a decent price, as in 10 to 15 dollars each. We still have to maintain quality and keep selecting for the largest specimens, but there will be plenty of excess to sell.

We should take a vote on whether or not to allow females into the market. I vote no except for special circumstances or someone just really preferring a female over a male. As long as we only offer males and say there are no females available things shouldn't get out of hand.

Keeping this real. Building a large-sized betta barracks very soon. Will update thread in awhile.

Need a female soon...anybody got a giant female?

My new blue giant is ready for a girlfriend. I don't even need to keep her, just a spawn will do.

Bump for an affordable female. Color is irrelevant, just needs to be somewhat young and healthy.

Can I join in on this? Seems right up my alley..... haven't gotten to do any real genetic work for a while and this should be a great biology outlet.

my girlfriend just got into bettas. its redicilous. lol shes trying to breed now also. her two half moons i really have to say is sooo nice..

The giant betta are pretty cool but most have small fins from what Ive seen. Would be nice to get a giant with longer fins.

reading some on the giant bettas, you might have a 50/50 chance of giants or the fry will be "half-giants" if you spawn a giant & a regular betta. so are you interested in a giant female or does it matter?

so I just saw this thread was started some time ago and after reading the start of it, nevermind on my question above

@knifegill - give us an update on your project please

VsKitchen wrote:so I just saw this thread was started some time ago and after reading the start of it, nevermind on my question above

@knifegill - give us an update on your project please

No need to be embarrassed, he posted the request for a giant female on the 9th of this month, so its not that old.

DMD123 wrote:

VsKitchen wrote:so I just saw this thread was started some time ago and after reading the start of it, nevermind on my question above

@knifegill - give us an update on your project please

No need to be embarrassed, he posted the request for a giant female on the 9th of this month, so its not that old.

Nope, Jan 2011...but thanks for the cheering up

DUH,
My turn.... Jan 2011 not 2012

Its those newbies reviving old threads

It's all good I suppose I'll have to start paying more attention to the details of the threads

well it sounded like a good idea...... maybe reviving it will bring life to it

and yeah I read it wrong too.....

it is a good idea and i guess all of us liked the topic, so all good Fish Addict

Still no love for giants around here that I know of. I did buy a betta pugnax...

You guys ever suceed? If so id like to buy one let me know

This one just kind of died....

i've bought some from mnbettashop.com it was a good transaction and the fish were really nice, the prices were decent too aquabid has been super pricey for giants. I've got a bunch of HMPK dragon scale females offspring from them.