# Male destroyed bubble nest



## millersrepairshop (Jul 30, 2013)

Today when I got home from work I noticed that my male betta has destroyed his bubble nest and all the eggs are sitting on the bottom of the tank. Any idea what would have caused him to do this?


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## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

I'm willing to bet he didn't destroy the nest... He just stopped tending to it. 

Leave him and the eggs. Do not disturb them... There is a good chance they will still hatch.


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## millersrepairshop (Jul 30, 2013)

Thank you very much for the reply Matt. I think you may be correct. I did set up a baby brine shrimp hatchery on the same desk that the aquarium is sitting on. It is not close nor can he see it, but I was thinking maybe the vibrations from that running may have caused him some stress. I have since moved the hatchery to another location. I will leave the eggs alone and keep my fingers crossed. Thanks again


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## Darth (Nov 19, 2012)

I would also add some antifungal..I have done this for years and it works to keep the good eggs clean 1/4 of the normal dosage works fine and does no harm to the fry.
I use Fungus Guard and break a small corner off of the big tablet. I add this to a 1/4 filled breeding tank that holds 5 gallons.


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## Bekazzled (Apr 27, 2012)

This happened to me about two months ago. I was very disappointed the male destroyed or rather left his bubble nest to decay (it went from foaming to nothing in a few hours) because I had been very keen to mate him with his sister. 

I read about artificial rearing of fry. Some people put the eggs in a little plastic container floating in the water, and I've heard of some people tying a stocking over the bottom of a cut-up styrofoam cup (about 1cm high - just the base), putting the fry in and letting the thing sit upside-down in the water, with the stocking holding the eggs at the surface. The object is to keep them raised so they're exposed to the air at the surface. However, the bubble nests themselves help the eggs in so many ways (protection etc).

However, I did something crazy with that disappointing mating that just happened to work. I noticed a new male veiltail of mine had made a massive bubble nest in his breeding tank. It didn't work out with the female so I had removed her a few days earlier. I scooped up the eggs from the breeding tank and dumped some into his tank. (The veil tail had never successfully mated before.) I felt listless and sure it wouldn't work.

The next day I woke up and saw about 150 fry swimming about happily in their step-dad's tank! He'd been up all night putting them in his nest. The survival rate two months later is about 80 fry. Some are quite large for their age. Most people I've spoken to have noted they've never heard of this sort of thing happening before, particularly when the step-father has never mated (apparently they're more inclined to eat the eggs). But he happily took them under his wing! I have heard that some breeders have successfully snuck foreign eggs into the tank of a male who's already baby-sitting his own eggs in a bubble nest. (Just make sure to add anti-fungal medication to the water in case any of the eggs are decaying.)

Sometimes what seems bizarre and fruitless actually works. Betta info and knowledge is changing all the time. For instance, I heard since the beginning of my breeding (only 2 years ago admittedly) that females, during mating, will often try to eat the eggs and the male will chase them away from the nest. However, in each instance of mating I've found the female will choose to help put the eggs in the nest. I usually take her out after she's "helped" because the father gets defensive.


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## Bootsie (Dec 18, 2012)

Aww! That's great,Bekazzled. I'll be sure to remember that trick.


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