Questions About Betta Mating Behaviour

[RustedKnight]

Well we have a male in a community tank with 3 females.

I know I know, frowned upon. But violence is completely minimal.

The male has now set up a fairly impressive bubble nest, and he spends all his time hovering underneath it, and restocking the bubbles periodically.

He also is quite defensive over it, and chases the females away.

Now does this mean there are eggs there, or he just doesn't fancy any of our girls??

 

[BettaCrazy7]

Bubble nests are sometimes built for territorial reasons rather than breeding. It's best to have a tank 5-10 gallons with 4-5in of water. It would be very tiring for the male to have to go all the way to the bottom to collect the eggs/fry in a full tank, not to mention having to dig through the substrate. If the fry do become free swimming in a community tank they'll most likely be eaten by the other fish.

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

Well we have a male in a community tank with 3 females.

I know I know, frowned upon. But violence is completely minimal.

He also is quite defensive over it, and chases the females away.

So there is no violence but he is getting defensive...hmm. I suspect there will be voilence soon.

 

[BethK]

You'll know if there are eggs in the bubble nest, you can see them in each bubble.

I am inclined to agree, that if he is getting defensive and aggressive now, there will most likely be some form of violence in the near future. Betta breeding takes a while, you'd notice the female with the breeding bars up and the male would most likely be chasing her constantly and stopping every 3 or 4 mins, for a min and starting up again.

So, long story short, doubt there are any eggs but if there were, in a community take, none would survive.

 

[RustedKnight]

Well we noticed that the violence was between the male and 2 of the 3 females. We removed the 2 trouble makers, leaving the quiet female with the male. He know spends all his time flaring at her and trying to get her to swim to his nest.

So I don't think there's eggs yet, but there could be in the near future.

 

[BethK]

should remove the male, not the females

He'll cause her damage, if not by nipping but by stress. It can get violent during their 'mating' attempts