Female Bettas

[PumaWard]

Hello again everyone,

I want to share and ask anyone that has knowledge in breeding bettas a question. My brother and I have spawned Betta splendens 3 times (with 3 different females) and the females did not eat the eggs, but spit them up into the nest like the male. Is it possible that female bettas actually help care for the nest during spawning more then they are given credit credit for, or are we extremely lucky with our females? I am asking more out of curiosity than anything and would like to know what the rest of you think about the matter. Thanks!

-Puma

[nolemite]

If you're into bettas you should buy a book.

Anyway, the answer to your question is yes.

[thom336]

Originally posted by nolemite
If you're into bettas you should buy a book.

What makes you think Pumaward doesnt have a book on the topic? To have successfully bred fighters knowledge must have come from somewhere. I just fail to see where that statement was plucked from...

[PumaWard]

I don't own any books specifically on the Siamese Fighting Fish, however, I have read several articles on the subject on line and talked with the owner of the LFS (Who used to breed bettas, discus and so on). Everything I have read said the females ate the eggs... none of mine that my brother and I have spawned have eaten the eggs. I was just wondering if anyone else had experienced this.

[Onna Shinigami]

The female I had, ate some of the eggs either but I think it varies on how well they are fed before you start to breed them and after they've been bred.

[Wulfy]

When the parents eat some (or all) of the eggs
it can mean that they are not happy with the eggs.

The water may not be right
or the eggs somehow damaged.

Its not always a bad thing.

[terror]

also helped in putting the eggs to the nest.
i think the main reason why they are removed is that the male will kill the females if left any longer in the tank.

[Rometiklan]

Hello PumaWard,
In the many years I've been keeping fish, I've bred the Betta a number of times. In all those spawnings, I've only observed one female which helped the male pick up the eggs and spit them into the bubblenest. On the rare occasion, the female would eat the eggs. The one thing I recall from that particular spawn was that the female was an older large female which had bred a number of times previously (but had never picked up eggs before). However, on this occasion, she spawned with a very young male. Maybe she was just trying to teach him a thing or two. :D