# What happens when you don't want to breed?



## Orchid (Dec 29, 2013)

I have a male and female betta. Currently they are both in my 29 gal planted tank with the male in a breeding net. Poor guy, I know! The female is in the tank along with 6 ocelot danios. She does pretty well with them. 

Ultimately I will have another tank for the male. I finally have enough stuff to set it up so this Sunday I'm planning to do just that. Took me forever I know but life has been really crazy for me. 

Anyway in the mean time I have a bit of a problem. I think the female (I really need to come up with names for them) has the hots for him. He doesn't flare at her anymore (he did only the first day I got her) so I guess the feeling is mutual... 

And I'm pretty sure she is gravid. I might be wrong. I've never bred fish before. It wasn't my intention to breed them. They are just store bought veil tails. So what happens? Will she just lay her eggs (what it the proper term for a fish?) and then be fine? Or could she get ill/die from having eggs and not breeding? 

I have to admit it is tempting to see if they would breed mostly because I find the mating ritual so fascinating. I kind of wish there was a way to let them without producing babies. Like a little fishy condom LOL Ok I know there is that part lacking I was just trying to make a funny. Anyway... what should I do?


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

lol fishy condom XD I wish!

They will be fine without spawning and it's better if you don't, you could end up with around 500 baby Betta's if the parents don't eat them and that would mean roughly 300-ish males to jar seperately when they get to that age you have to separate them...yikes!

Betta's are egg "layers" I say that in quotes because they don't technically lay them, what happens is they embrace and the eggs fall while being fertilized, then the pair generally pick them up and place them in the bubble nest that the male has built. So she cannot be "gravid" since that is a livebearer term and Bettas do not give live birth ^_^

What will happen is she get's eggy with the want to breed and one of two things will happen; she will either expel the eggs and probably eat them as well, danios will probably help out, in which time lay off the feed a little bit since that will be a lot of protein they are consuming. Second, she could reabsorb the eggs if you fast her for around a week. There is a chance she can become "egg-bound" meaning she always carries her eggs without reabsorbing them or expelling them. This generally only happens if the female is already compromised and sick, healthy females do not usually experience this and it isn't something we normally worry about since it really won't effect her either way.

Anyway, best to just not breed them and they will be fine. It sounds like the male actually doesn't want to breed, if he did he would be flaring at her, building a large bubble nest to hold his potential babies and showing off for her lol


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## Orchid (Dec 29, 2013)

Hm. I'm pretty sure we call worms gravid in the lab but they definitely lay eggs. I'm going to have to go look that up... maybe it's different in nematology. Or maybe I was taught wrong--always a possibility.

He does have a nice bubble nest going but he doesn't flare at her even though she spends a lot of time around his "apartment".

Thanks so much for answering my questions! I'll keep an eye on her. She seems pretty healthy so I think she will be ok like you said. When I got her she had the stress stripes (which I did not know were from stress?) but after just a day or so in my tank she turned this really beautiful, deep blue color.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

It is not a good idea to house males and femalrs together except for breeding purposes only. The female will fill up with eggs but if she isn't bred she will release them and probably eat them whch is normal and won't hurt her. I think ir's best to separate them as the pheromones in the water will constantly keep them wanting to breed.


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## Orchid (Dec 29, 2013)

Yes I am planing to separate them as soon as my other tank is set up and cycled. I am going to set it up tonight if I have the energy (I had to work today) or tomorrow. Then it will cycle and then I will move him into his new digs. I am thinking about a new tank for her in the future. She's fine with the danios but I might want to get other kinds of fish that might not go well with her. Then again, I think anything that wouldn't be ok with her wouldn't be ok with the danios. She's pretty docile but they can get obnoxious. Anyway that's for the future.


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