It's not uncommon for some of the culling we feel compelled to perform to be completed at about one month of age. Depending on those goals we spoke about in the first section (Setting up the Pair), we may only be looking to save 10 or 20% of the spawn for various purposes. That would be the top 30 or 40 fish from a normal sized spawn. We set up a new spawn each week. If we kept even all of the 10 or 20%, we would need between 130 and 175 jars for just one month...and if the fish stayed in the jar for 3 months (about the shortest time to a marketable size) we would need 290 to 525 jars (more of course if conditions are not optimum)...so culling is a "fact of life."

We used to begin to jar the fish as they began to be "scrappy." When they started to joust with each other, we pulled the jousting fish and jarred them. We label the container with the spawn number, but each fish does not get an individual number at that time. Now, we jar fish at about the time that the first fish begins to want to take control of the tank...a little nip here and a little there and the fish are all need to grow some new finnage. We jar the largest of the fish or those closest to the targeted goal...and proceed with the jarring every other day (or so) until the spawn is removed from the tank.

Whether the fish is a male or a female, we jar them. It takes too much time to sit and ponder the sex of a fish.

As silly as it sounds we prefer to use a "fine" net of some sort as opposed to a "fast catch" type. The "fast catch" type are usually a coarse green material and while we have no evidence that they hurt the finnage (the lack of evidence is why this may sound silly) we just feel more comfortable using a fine textured net.

Later, when time is available we take photos of the spawn. We like to take photos of the group for recording the genetic possibilities of pairings. We feel that the effort has paid off in just two generations of this practice...time consuming yes, but it seems to be giving us a little more control in the decision making process. When a photo is taken of a fish it is assigned a unique alpha-numeric code to let us know which spawn it came from as well as it's sex and a unique number within the spawn that allows us to track the fish in the future projects.

We have a recirculating system for our up and coming Bettas. All of the fish are jarred in small one quart plastic polycarbonate boxes. We don't use "beenie baby boxes" as a local manufacturer makes a similar box...the box we use is easy to get. We have used a router to cut an opening in the side of the box to allow water to pass through and a larger round hole cut into the lid of the box. Each of the boxes is exactly the same...they fit into a recirculation system, so they need to be the same for them to work within the system.

Each box holds right at a quart of water when the water starts to flow from the container. The fish grow well in the small containers as they are actually in a system that supports them with about 3 quarts per fish...and 1/2 of that is changed three or four times per week. The quart that they sit in is just part of the compete picture.

The fish stay in the container for an average of 3 months...making them about 4 months old (on the average) when they are moving out the door OR into the breeding program.

There are some down sides to a re-circulating system that you might want to consider. If a single fish gets sick they can all be exposed to that sickness unless you set a UV filter into the system. Tuning the flow through the system can be fun (a real laugh)...and it has to be re-tuned fairly regularly. A single drip that drips drops onto the floor can empty a small sump over night (been there)...a mess for sure...dangerous if it leaves the heater in the sump high and dry (they shatter). And don't think that you will never have to clean the jars...the big stuff does not get swept away by the dripping water. Once every other week you will still need to remove chunks of matter from the bottom of the jars.

The advantages are pretty significant even when weighted against some of the down sides listed above. Changing water is much faster than with individual jars (at least when the system gets to be in the 75-100 jar size)...treating for a disease can be easier because with a UV filter there should be less to treat AND when there is any sort of outbreak you can treat all the jars by treating the volume of water through the sump. Temperatures are more consistent in the system than with individual jars and the water quality is better and more consistent because of the filtration in the sump system.

When the fish are in the jars, there are some things you might want to look at and for as they grow. Depending on the goals that you chose to work towards in the beginning of the project you may need to make some tough decisions along the way.

Good notes help.