Normal for a female betta to bar, stripe, bar, stripe

[R.A.W.]

I have two female bettas: a blue with a belly full of eggs but VERY dark stripes (horizontal) and a green that has no eggs at all but that goes from bars to stripes and back again.

I've been conditioning the blue girl for about a week with freeze dried blood worms and water changes every other day.

The green girl I got yesterday because she was barring at the store. I got her home and gave her a water change and she started striping. I know they start striping when they're stressed so I've been adding bettafix.

Is this normal? How long till she's ready to spawn? How long will they keep their bars?

I've bred bettas before but they were always ... ready.

Thanks.

 

[jpappy789]

I'll just throw my $0.02 in since no one else has...

I've had subordinate females do the same thing without showing signs of eggs. I was told that they do this in general when stressed when I first posted pics of them acclimating, but I then saw my alpha color up completely and the others do what you described. Not sure if that is normal but that is what happened...

 

[dixienut]

some are just marked that way,.. and others show barring when ready to breed,..

 

[Lillyan]

It can be a sign of stress as well. Are any of the girls in the same tank?

 

[R.A.W.]

They all have their own tank of at least 32 oz or more. I'm trying to get her to breed. She has no eggs so I took her out and put the other female in, who just recently started to bar.

She's relaxed now that she's in her own tank away from the male.

Thanks anyways guys :thm:

 

[MidnightSkies]

Horizontal stripes always mean stress. Barring would be vertical lines near the gills.

There are quite a few problems that are probably causing the stress. First off, your "tanks" are horribly too small. You need at least 2.5 gallons (some will say 1 gallon). With only 32 oz of water I'm guessing it's not heated? Bettas are tropical fish and need a steady temperature of 78-82F. Unheated water will cause stress, as will fluctuating temperatures. Also, freeze dried bloodworms.... They are not good for bettas. They cause bloating and swim bladder problems. Feed frozen, never anything freeze dried. Stop adding bettafix if she isn't sick. There's also a lot of controversy going on with bettafix about it actually being harmful to bettas, so I wouldn't use it. Medicating when she isn't sick is just going to cause more stress. Water changes are stressful, and she will probably always get stress stripes after them.

I'm really hoping the container you're using for spawning is larger. You need at least a 10 gallon tank, heated, and being filled up about halfway would be best. The male also has to be conditioned with live and frozen foods and he needs to have a large bubble nest already built. Never put 2 unconditioned and unready fish together to breed (or at all).