Is it possible to breed HM in the pond...?

[hafiz azizan]

After visiting a plakat farm in ipoh..[col]s'thing come across to my mind..is it possible to breed HM in the pond?[bh]..if possible..what is the estimated survival rate and the different between breeding it in tank??[cnf]any opinion??:D

[Bobby Chua]

of course it is possible. i've tried breeding in the pond without removing the parents and plenty of plant in the 5'x 3'concrete pond. No feeding to the fries and only to the parents. Survival rate... very low. I don't know the percentage. Less than 10 survived.

Breeding in the tank, much easier. 'Guesstimate' 70-80% survival rate? I'm not very sure but i know the big spawn i will get 200-300 bettas. Below 50, i consider it a small spawn.

rgds
Bobby

[hafiz azizan]

oo ok..<img src=images/icon_speech_yeah.gif border=0 width=29 height=15 alt=Insert Speech Icon: Yeah!>so how about the quality that from the pond?does it have stronger immunity towards sickness..maybe stronger physically[?]let say if u feed the fry..will it be more survival rate??[tx]

[Bobby Chua]

no they are the same. breeding in the pond.... i've never tried again after that because the pond was demolished for buiding a store room. I don't think i'm going to try it again since i achieve good mortality rate and better growth.

it's easier to monitor the health of fries in the tanks as well especially velvet.

rgds

[hafiz azizan]

ok..then indoor breeding is better..right.tq..
doesn't a'body have a'thing to say..i want to learn someone experience to broder my knowledge in keeping betta n breeding them..

[David Esguerra]

Breeding in a pond has its advantages and disadvantages.

It could be inferred that pond bred fish would be in a way stonger than tank/indoor bred fish. THis is because in a pond, natural culling is usually practiced without the breeder consciously doing it. A pond to a tiny fry is so big that finding food is already a challenge, not to mention competing with its siblings and in the case in which you leave the parents with them, trying not to get eaten by the parents and again competing against them for food. At this rate, the only fish to survive would be the strongest and the smartest.

However, the strongest and the smartest aren't usually the most beautiful which is one of the top priorities of an ornamental betta line such as HM. Chances are, fin spread and color would be sacrificed and a few generations of pond/mass breeding only could leave a good looking line not so good looking. THe main disadvantage with pond breeding is that you would have less control as to which fish would survive.

Assuming that you provide enough food by either seeding the pond with microbes and maybe removing the parents, you could also raise the survival rate to about the same rate as you would have for tank bred fish. In fact, mass breeding is usually employed with Veiltails... they are allowed to breed in a pond and just harvested for sale when they are ready.

Also, a pond being much bigger than a tank could ensure that the fish get clean water. Add some aqatic plants into the mix and the water quality would definitely be very good.