# Male is Barely Tending to his Nest



## DoctorWhoLuver (Feb 23, 2012)

Sorry for all of these posts x] 
My breeding pair spawned this morning it seemed pretty short and only lasted a couple of hours. I looked in the nest and saw just a few eggs and the male looking very chubby. I've read that he would eat unfertilized eggs and I wouldn't be surprised if there were a lot of unfertilized eggs since it's the pair's first time. 
So now Castiel's looking very fat and a little lethargic. The bubble nest is sort of falling apart. He lies underneath the nest and comes up to take a breath and occasionally blow bubbles. Is it normal for the male to be resting so much? He's very bloated an not moving around much either. 
Should I do artificial hatching?


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

It's a long, hard process to breed for them.. just leave him be, see what happens. This way you know what to do the next go around. He may surprise you  If by tomorrow the nest is fully broken up and he's swimming elsewhere then you know there are no eggs.. but if there are eggs he will take care of them in the section of the nest they are in.


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## DoctorWhoLuver (Feb 23, 2012)

Oh wow. Massive facepalm x( I freaked out when I saw the male lying on his side at the bottom. He was so bloated he couldn't swim properly. I feel really bad now, cause I took out the eggs and am attempted to artificially hatch them -.-
When I went back to check on the male in his tank, he was back to his normal self and doing his wiggle dance at me. Man, I feel really dumb. The eggs are now in shallow floating containers in the main tank with plastic wrap over it. 
Hopefully they'll hatch. 
Congratulations on your spawn!


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

Thanks 

And they will rest from time to time, remember - they will eat the eggs that aren't viable, and leave the rest alone.. good luck on artificially hatching them, if you have any anti fungus medication I would put a drop in there with the eggs, as without the male sometimes they grow fungus and kill the babies.. 

But yeah, your first time it's easy to freak out  I woke up to my boy swimming around, will have to check for eggs later.. the pairing had some issues wrapping, the female unsure of herself - I know there were eggs yesterday, but whether they were viable or not I won't know until I check again. >.>

Good luck on yours hatching tomorrow


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## DoctorWhoLuver (Feb 23, 2012)

Thank you! 
Was it her first time too? Would love to see some pictures 
I saw some tiny tails thrashing around in the egg this morning. Gonna make a spawn log when/if they hatch.


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

Awesome, tails are a good sign  And it was the female's first time.. the male's second time.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

DoctorWhoLuver said:


> Thank you!
> Was it her first time too? Would love to see some pictures
> I saw some tiny tails thrashing around in the egg this morning. Gonna make a spawn log when/if they hatch.


Awesome! I can't wait for your spawn log. Good luck!


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## DoctorWhoLuver (Feb 23, 2012)

Thanks! So excited


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## DoctorWhoLuver (Feb 23, 2012)

I don't know if it's my conditioning methods or what, but my male is exhausted. He's been trying hard to keep track of all the fry and eggs, but now he's all clamped up at the bottom of the tank barely moving and takes a lot of breaks, each lasting more than ten minutes. I fed him a bit of bloodworms last night, because he seemed so tired. He hasn't eaten any of the fry and is trying really hard to take care of them, but doesn't seem to have the energy. I conditioned him with frozen bloodworms, frozen brine shrimp, and live mosquito larvae. Could it be ammonia poisoning? The ammonia is around .5ppm. A lot of fry and eggs are on the ground now, but most of them have hatched. Should I try feeding him or take him out? Or just leave him in there? I'm just afraid he might work himself to death x]


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

Breeding can take a lot out of them, especially the male. It depends on how long he was in there wooing the female that will determine when he putters out (for the most part). 

Your ammonia is way too high and needs to go down for your fry to survive.. if they are hatching go ahead and remove the male, and start a real slow drip into the tank to add new water in. I would say 1 drop per 2-3 seconds, or a tiny bit slower if you can. You don't want to shock them, but you can't do a full on water change with fry.

Live plants will help...

Now, your readings will also depend on the type of conditioner you are using. If you are using Prime, then that reading *may* be ammonium, which is converted from ammonia by the conditioner - ammonium is safe, but it reads as ammonia. No way to really know which it is right now, why I say go ahead and start the drip for the fish now..

The fry are what now? 9 days old? Go ahead and remove the dad and get him situated and definitely start the drip system and get it going. At 9 days you can also start siphoning the bottom of the tank of all the dead/rotting food.. some people say to wait 2 weeks, but I have always started it within the first week with no issues.


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## DoctorWhoLuver (Feb 23, 2012)

This is a new batch, they are 2 days old. I don't think I conditioned him long enough. I conditioned him for 2 weeks, then he was bred and I thought that another week would be sufficient to breed again. That was my fault -.- I'll start a drip system right away and I used Prime. I am just worried since they aren't free swimming yet.


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## JJChocolate88 (Mar 14, 2013)

My male betta took a while before he knew how to tend to the nest because it was his first time breeding. He let the female eat the eggs at first and the nest started to fall apart too, but eventually he got it his "breathing," could actually be him spitting the eggs into the bubbles nest...

when my male beta's bubble nest fell apart, he just tended the parts separately like they were a bunch of different nests and he spit the eggs/babies into the separate parts...so give him time.


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## DoctorWhoLuver (Feb 23, 2012)

Thanks He did really well for the first 2 days, then he just sort of fell apart. He was taking long breaks, but is still taking care of the fry.
Edit (For the other thread): I took her out before they tried again. I thought she was done since she was no longer responsive to his flares and flirting and the eggs just hatched yesterday


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

Ah.. sometimes a week is fine - I just bred a pair Monday before last and then bred them again 5 days later last Saturday.. I pulled him out of the spawn tank yesterday and he is as energetic as can be. He wasn't conditioned for 2 weeks or anything.. I honestly don't condition them other than separate them if need be, as I keep them fed enough and their water cleaned all out daily - so it's almost a constant conditioning for them. But doesn't mean that the next time I do that, or do it with another pair I wouldn't get the same result as you did (I normally don't do what I did, but had to get this line out as I'm getting about 10 new pairs in next week so wanted to get another spawn out of this line I'm working on before I put it to the side for a bit). 

Don't beat yourself up over it or anything.. breeding is a learning process, and a lot of lessons you will learn will be ones that get taught the hard way. This, luckily, isn't really a hard lesson at this point, just a lesson that now you know in the future, this particular male needs a bit more time between spawning is all 

As for the ammonia, it could be ammonium, but adding in fresh water real slow won't hurt as a precaution


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## DoctorWhoLuver (Feb 23, 2012)

Thanks again x] I sure am learning a lot.


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## DoctorWhoLuver (Feb 23, 2012)

I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but the fry are dying. Most of them are all white and puffy on the ground and I'm only seeing one or two trying to swim up. They are not freeswimming yet, but I don't see any more yolk sac either. The ammonia levels are really high. They're at 1 today. I tested the levels in my tap water and it's at .5. I have a sponge filter in there, but I have not turned it on. The temperature is at a steady 82 degrees and I am covering the top of the tank with plastic wrap. I hate seeing so many dead fry on the ground. Why are they dying? Could it be the ammonia levels?


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

Ammonia is pretty much the biggest killer of fry.. what conditioner are you using? Live plants? IAL?


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## DoctorWhoLuver (Feb 23, 2012)

Prime. I don't have any live plants in there, I read in an article that they weren't entirely necessary, but I guess in my case they are. And I have oak leaves. Does
The Arisons Betta Spa lower the pH like IAL.


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