Female betta dies while mating

Barry Tetra

Fish Aficionado
Pet of the Month 🎖️
Joined
Dec 23, 2019
Messages
3,366
Reaction score
1,817
Location
Thailand
So I just breed my betta but while male “embracing” female and her spine seems to have broken off, she died, the eggs are scattered everywhere.

Is this normal? Also there are about 200 eggs in the tank right now and males keep eating them
 
Sorry to hear this @Barry Tetra
I have no personal experience of this. I've heard of females dying during mating if the male has been aggressive towards her etc, but never from their spine snapping during wrapping. It sounds as if this female in particular was weak and that it's just rotten luck. You can remove the eggs from the tank and place them in the nest yourself, providing they're fertilised, but the chances are that the male will eat them when they fall rather than put them back in the nest. I'm guessing it's his first time spawning and he hasn't quite got the hang of it, may be how the female got injured if they were unable to wrap properly.

Going forward, you're best off to place the male back in his tank and re-condition him while conditioning a new female or try a new male with a new female after conditioning them for atleast two weeks on live foods, little and often.

Sorry it hasn't worked out the way you've hoped, mate. There's always another time. Sounds as if it wasn't your fault so don't be hard on yourself about it, just unlucky
 
Sorry to hear this @Barry Tetra
I have no personal experience of this. I've heard of females dying during mating if the male has been aggressive towards her etc, but never from their spine snapping during wrapping. It sounds as if this female in particular was weak and that it's just rotten luck. You can remove the eggs from the tank and place them in the nest yourself, providing they're fertilised, but the chances are that the male will eat them when they fall rather than put them back in the nest. I'm guessing it's his first time spawning and he hasn't quite got the hang of it, may be how the female got injured if they were unable to wrap properly.

Going forward, you're best off to place the male back in his tank and re-condition him while conditioning a new female or try a new male with a new female after conditioning them for atleast two weeks on live foods, little and often.

Sorry it hasn't worked out the way you've hoped, mate. There's always another time. Sounds as if it wasn't your fault so don't be hard on yourself about it, just unlucky
Yep, this is his first time, he already ate the eggs though :(
 
Yep, this is his first time, he already ate the eggs though :(
Have you removed him from his tank for spawning? The best way is to condition him in his tank and then move him to a breeding tank, then not to feed him in the breeding tank. He won't view the eggs as food this way. Some males will eat their eggs the first time round and some will always eat their eggs and are unable to be fathers, females do it too sometimes. Something worth mentioning also is males will eat the unfertisiled eggs either way. My theory is, they didn't wrap properly, this caused the injury and the eggs were not properly fertilised. It's just the betta's inexperience, he may be better next time
 
What do you mean by her spine broke off?
She might have ruptured something inside her body and died.

Male Bettas pick up the eggs in their mouth and coat them in a mucous bubble, before putting them in the bubblenest.
 
What do you mean by her spine broke off?
She might have ruptured something inside her body and died.

Male Bettas pick up the eggs in their mouth and coat them in a mucous bubble, before putting them in the bubblenest.
Died during wrapping and male eat all of the eggs.
 
Died during wrapping and male eat all of the eggs.
Ok, so her spine didn't break off, she died during the embrace. The most likely cause was something ruptured inside her body during the embrace. She died from internal complications during breeding.
 
Ok, so her spine didn't break off, she died during the embrace. The most likely cause was something ruptured inside her body during the embrace. She died from internal complications during breeding.
Here you go, I wanted to stuffed her in a resin but I failed a bit mixing the wrong ingredient now her body stucks like this in the epoxy forever....my bad :(
3145CB41-E2DF-4B33-A40A-079EB2FDCCFD.jpeg
 
lots of air bubbles in the resin, you need to pour it in slower and pour it to one side. then tap the container to try and get the air out.
 
lots of air bubbles in the resin, you need to pour it in slower and pour it to one side. then tap the container to try and get the air out.
Nope I accidently poor the alcohol sanitizer instead of more resin
 
Anyway I just bought another female betta, can you give me some recommendations? Tank size and set up? do I need devider instead of just 2 tank stuck together?

Thanks in advance @Colin_T
 
Anyway I just bought another female betta, can you give me some recommendations? Tank size and set up? do I need devider instead of just 2 tank stuck together?

Thanks in advance @Colin_T
In what respect? The new female will need quarentining for at least 4 weeks and then conditioning for atleast 2 weeks afterwards. You have atleast 6 weeks before you can breed your new female
 

Most reactions

trending

Back
Top