Woops!

[Bert]

I haven't really kept bettas for awhile now but I had a few "females" hanging around. well apparently one of them was a short finned male and now I have a bubble nest full of eggs. what should I do? I've never breed bettas before but had done some research back when I was more heavily into them. The male is very young and the female is one of my older ones. should I take her out of the tank? they have co existed for about 6 months now. I had thought I'd seen a egg sack on him but I must have been mistaken. any advice?

 

[Netty]

Firstly you need to separate them. Males and females should never be kept together unless for the short period of time for breeding. They may have lived together ok up till now but if he's maturing you're going to end with severely injured or dead fish. If you keep her in there she will more than likely eat any babies that hatch and he will probably attack her while defending his babies. Are there any other fish in with them? Also if they hatch do you have live food small enough for them?

Not sure what you mean when you said you thought you saw an egg sack on him?

 

[Bert]

The white dot on the belly area. there are some corries in there atm nothing else. I'm going to take her out and put her in her own set up. I don't have food atm but that's no problem I can pick some up. How long until the babies will hatch?

 

[Netty]

Ah....the white dot on the belly is the Ovipositor which can be visible on juvenile males too.

It generally takes between 24 - 36 hours for the babies to hatch. A general community tank is not the best place to breed and raise babies. The problem you will have is that when breeding you should only have 5 inches of water in a bare bottom tank so the male doesn't have to go so far to collect the eggs and can see them easily. The babies will be tiny and will probably get eaten by the corys. You also have to leave a light on for the male for 24hrs a day while he is taking care of them. Unfortunately I don't think you will have many survive in the conditions they are in at the moment.

If you really want to breed there is information on our website below. Please read and research thoroughly and then come and ask any more questions you have

 

[Bert]

I hadn't planned on breeding, and from the looks of it he isn't taking very good care of the nest, it wasn't the nice of a nest to begin with so I'm not sure if it will work out anyways. But thank you for the information!