john_ny

I've heard that some people actually stage fights with the fish, and wager on them, but I was never into that; I didn't like to see them get hurt.
Many people talk about cycling tanks, and things like that. We never did any of that. When we were getting new fish in, we just filled the tanks a couple of days in advance and let them sit, so the chlorine could evaporate out.
If you want to breed the fish, you have to provide the proper warmth, and you also want to make sure they're in top condition. That means lots of live food. This could be in the form of brine shrimp, daphnia, tubifex worms, white worms,etc. Brine shrimp, in the U. S., come from the Great Salt Lake, and San Francisco Bay, among other places. Most pet shops, or aquarium stores sell it. Some shops also sell the other things , and daphnia can commonly be found in duck ponds. Another good thing is mosquito larvae. Just make sure they eat all of it, so you don't have mosquitoes flying around the house. Nothing beats the live food, but an occasional substitute could be (human) baby food like beef or chicken.

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John