Stage one, The Shopping List

So, I've got my Male, and he's got his tank and seems quite happy. But there's going to be quite a lot more to it than this...

For a basic overview of how to breed the fighting fish, check out this useful link I stumbled upon: http://www.ask-the-vet.com/breeding-betta-fish.htm
My methods will be similar to this, but are based on all the research I've done from various other places as well.
(Just a note, this is the only place I found that recommends not putting female fighters in with guppies, I have been assured it is safe to do so and have found this to be true)

(14/10/2010: Just another note, I have now found it to only be true for a few days! One of my females ate my baby guppy!)

So, first off I've got my ladies. Four for a tenner from the local fish shop which is good! They all went straight in my main tank initially, where they seemed quite happy. I've chosen the most active of the four to be my breeding fish. She now has a tank the same as my male and I've put her up next to him. There is a black divider between them however, if you let them see each other at this stage, they'll probably just get pissed off! They are called fighting fish for a reason...

I shall let you do the adding up, as I refuse to work out how much this little endeavour is going to end up costing me! Their two separate tanks were 30 quid each, complete with light and filter.

My chosen breeding tank is the same as theirs, only the bigger version (£50). That is now all set up and running nicely. However, here comes problem number one! The filter supplied with it really isn't adequate, it's far too powerful. These fish prefer still water to flowing water and it doesn't have a low enough setting. Ideally you need a sponge filter, so that is something I'll have to get. I'm intending to go for a little filter the same as the one in the separate tanks my male and female have. The heater however is perfect. Nice and compact and maintaining the 27 degrees nicely.

The water I'm using is actually stolen! Pinched it from someone else's tank, a tank in which fish breed very successfully. So I'm skipping the water treatment and things. It should be full of all the lovely bacteria the tiny fish will need as their very first food. The breeding tank also has weeds in, and is up and running to get the water ready.

The Breeding Pair now need to spend the next two weeks being fed fishy haute cuisine! I'm using a combination of Betta Pellets and Bloodworms for them initially.