I Am Either Very Stupid Or There Is Something Very Wrong!

[Bowling_Fleury]

My two Bettas had sex recently and produced eggs.
The eggs hatched today. Seems normal so far!
But I noticed my babies aren't in membranes! I
thought Bettas were born in spherical membranes they
consumed as nutrition after they were born, but these
babies are, to my untrained eye, free as baby guppies!
Is something wrong?

And, less pressingly, I noticed some look pale and some
look dark. What's that about?

 

[Htw]

The babies have an egg sac when they hatch, not a membrane. This is why they have trouble swimming and will sink. When this has been absorbed, after a couple of days, they then become free swimming, and will have to be fed.
As to the difference in colour, unless they all end up being identical, some will be lighter than others.

 

[zoekin8yg]

Oh dear. Do you keep your males and females together? If so seperate them now! I suggest you read the pinned topics on breeding as they will help. I you have no food for them then dont expect them to survive, and if they are still with the parents they might get eaten.

 

[Bowling_Fleury]

Thanks Htw! I just had the thought that all
egg babies had membranes. I was very worried
especially when I heard people talking about their
'yolk sac'! Hah, that's a load off my mind.


Actually Zoekin, Sailor and Pearl (the parents) get
along very well. They spent a day and a night and
a morning just being together before they had sex.
They chased each other around a bit but usually just
drifted by the window. Everyone's told me so far that
Bettas fight each other but I suppose each Betta has a
special personality and an ability to make friends. And
in emergencies, Pearl has a tank she can go home to
if they start fighting, so no problem!! Thanks for
pointing it out though, that was thoughtful.

 

[Dorkhedeos]

Everyone's told me so far that
Bettas fight each other but I suppose each Betta has a
special personality and an ability to make friends.

all betta are pretty much the same when it comes down to the primative stuff like aggression. every single betta is aggressive, but some might be more than others. if your betta is the 1 in the 1000000000 that has a defective gene happens to be the genes that control aggression, then maybe you have a friendly betta, but you stated that he chased the female around already, so i doubt thats it. please separate the male and the female because im pretty sure one of them is under stress all the time and they might get beaten up really badly when you arent there to separate them

 

[starrynightxxi]

usually once the male is guarding eggs he becaomes especially aggressive to all threats, including the female, so you may want to take people's advice and seperate them. 72 hours is not enough time to decide your fish are fine together, especially bettas, and you will find very very few people here who advocate keeping males and females together in the same tank.

I don't know what your plan is for these babies, if you have any, but they have a very poor chance at a future. When they reach a certain size the male will stop guarding them and will turn on them as food, as will the female. If it should happen that the parents don't eat all of them, your babies still will probably not survive because baby bettas are notoriously sensitive to water conditions, and picky about their food. Professional breeders often have massive die-outs even when they've done everything right, i'm afraid this story will end no differently as the situation is far from ideal for spawn survival.

bad news over, we always appreciate pictures of people's fish, if you've got any

 

[jollysue]

Consider that there are many species of fish that will harrass the opposite gender. Usually it is the male who will harrass a female until she dies, but it has been know with Bettas for the girl to beat the boy up if she is not satisfied. LOL

There are all sorts of animal behaviors. Every species has it's own way of going. In confined areas, the fish have no way to get away from each other when some hormone induced genetic behavior takes control.