# My females are killing me...



## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

Argh! So I have my yellow female in with my red male.. all is going good sorta.. he is doing everything right, she has been skittish. Well I looked over at their tank before I went to bed and she had some of his fins in her mouth and he was dragging her around.. literally. I had to physically remove her (using nets as she just couldn't get his fins out of her mouth).. she had the whole length of his anal fin in her mouth. 
So I got them separated and I sat down to watch them for a minute and she went right back and this time grabbed his dorsal! Poor boy was turning white in the face and breathing heavily.. so I placed her back into the hurricane glass while I decided whether to scrap this attempt or not. I got his home cleaned out and ready just in case.. he got his color back while I was busy doing that and was back to flaring at her. 

Then I look back. I looked at my other female. She literally just laid some eggs in her container. I had just fed her 5 minutes prior and nothing! 

Argh!

My females are driving me nuts! One is very aggressive and the other held her eggs in just to mess with me >.< lol These fish are going to be the life of me!


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

That must be very frustrating. 

Recondition all of them, with daily exercise and all. At the end of the conditioning period, see which is flirting and use that female. Since yellow female is too aggressive, put her in a rather big jar so you could be sure that she is flirting. Use her only when you're sure. The other female has released eggs so she shouldn't take too long to accept embrace - if you release in the late afternoon, they should embrace the next morning. 

I have a similar female - she flirts all the time but when I put her in with a male, she goes pale. It's frustrating because she has the most black out of all her siblings. I'm thinking she (and one other sibling) is sterile. . . . I wonder if that is even possible since they're not melano black.

Make sure your male is healthy and aggressive, in case he has to put up with the yellow female.


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## Bluewind (Oct 24, 2012)

You poor dear! And your poor babies. I'm sure you were shocked and upset to see such a thing. Now that everyone is okay, I hope you can find a way to tell the story of your male "dragging" a female around the tank with her latched on his fin with a bit of humor. It's kind of like what you do with kids. They do this absolutly terrible thing that was horroifying at the time, but we laugh about later once the dust settles. Like that time that my 3 year old nephew got jealous of my 4 year old nephew because he got rewarded for doing a good job with a piece of candy, so he hit him over the head with a batmitten racket! The older one threw the candy down to come tell us what the little one did. The little one was found sitting in the dirt munching the candy! Terrible day, but funny story :lol:
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

LOL Blue, too cute with the boys 

I am laughing at it now.. was last night too after the shock went away. Poor boy, unsure how long he had been dragging her around, the room was dark (they had a nightlight) and I was busy watching a Buffy the Vampire Slayer marathon lol. I just thought it was funny that as soon as I got her to release him (his fin just sliding out of her mouth), a second later before I could remove my hands from the tank, she went right back and did it again! 

I did place the female who dropped the eggs into the tank since she was conditioned (I keep them all conditioned all the time just in case..) into the tank with the red boy as when he got released from the grasp of the big meanie, he was back to flaring and colored up. He is doing just fine, but the female with the eggs must of absorbed them as she is a bit skinnier now. No eggs, no signs of aggression.. going to clean out the tank tomorrow and reintroduce the one with the eggs and the red male - separated - this way she gets a bit more time to ripen her eggs once more.

At least she had laid eggs, which was her first time, so hopefully it won't be so scary for her with a male.. she will follow him and right before she gets to the nest, the male will turn around to dance and she just zooms away. The male is doing all the right things, but the females are either too aggressive or too skittish. These virgin sisters I love, but even an experienced male who has bred numerous times can't seem to get them to not be scared. 

But not giving up on them just yet... just have to figure something out with the yellow girl, as she has shown her aggression a couple of times already.. first day or two she is passive and runs away, then BAM! Just goes psycho lol. Her sister isn't as aggressive.. just shy.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

What a meanie!! :lol:


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

I know.. She has had a couple shots at breeding, each time had to be removed due to over aggression. I have a very aggressive male that isn't new to breeding that I may try her with next time I attempt her - the one in my avatar. He's really feisty, but has been bred so he knows what to do. If that doesn't work out, then I may have to go looking for a new yellow girl >.<


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

Okay.. so I have the two virgin girls in tanks with their respective males right now.. still.. sigh. 

BUT I just purchased 5 new girls from Chard56... 3 have a guarantee of experience breeding to make things a bit easier with my virgin boys. Can't wait to get them here..

Will get pictures once I have them.. getting a yellow/gold, a red/gold, a red/copper, a cellophane and a cambodian.. I have a pure yellow and a green cellophane now I'm working on.

Some of my boys that I'm working with now:


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## logisticsguy (Sep 7, 2012)

Nice fish! The 2nd one looks a lot like my Sheldon.


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

He's pretty  

I wish mine looks like he did on that picture.. right now his fins are so torn up


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## logisticsguy (Sep 7, 2012)

Well Sheldon got his fins torn up really bad when I bred him 2 months ago. His tail is still only halfway back but is slowly growing so dont feel bad.  I would post a pick off him now but he looks so much better in his older pics much like myself.


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

This is the result of my yellow girl.. lol.. she is no longer in my breeding program


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

Ouch! Poor man. I hope she didn't give him too much of a complex about yellow females.


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

Oh goodness! Poor guy!

In your post on the last page, the guys you're working with. The last one, I think he's an EE. He's GORGEOUS! What do you call that color?


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

lol Little, I hope not! Got a yellow/gold girl coming in from Chard soon that I am hoping to bring out some orange/golds.. 

Skye- unsure what to call him.. he is a rust/lavender/white. He was so friendly and active at Petco that I just grabbed him lol.. got a couple white/metallic/cellophane girls (one being stingy with her eggs right now) that I am going to pair him with and see what happens. Will have to look for a female that is similar to him to carry on the colors.

Here are some more of Kabuki (the EE boy).. this was after an attempt with one of the cello girls.. when I learned she does NOT like having lights out all the way while in a tank with a male.. so now I keep a dim light on with her in the breeding tank lol. He is such a camera hog! Pictures do him no justice..

And then the red guy.. at least being torn up doesn't deter him from making nests and trying with other girls


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

Camera hog? He's just reminding you how glorious he is, just in case you forgot. ;-)

I'm looking forward to seeing some of his offspring


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

lol true! And me too! I have a couple pairs I want to get going first.. the orange/gold line and a red/gold line.. possibly pink if I can get my virgin girl to give love a chance.. 
But he will be right after them. I want to make sure his fins are a little more healed first in case the new white cello girl is a fin biter too.


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

Yeesh your splendens make me glad I only do wild bettas. I was freaking out the other day over a few nips being taken out of one of my male's tail. Your poor male looks like he went through the shredder. 

Your yellow/gold female sounds nice. Hopefully she is a little more accommodating! Look forward to seeing how all your spawns progress.


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

Thank you  The red guy had some missing fins when I got him.. he's been bred by a few different breeders that I know before I got him. So he's been around town a bit lol.. but my yellow did most of that damage. She's currently waiting to go to her new home with Dramaqueen.

I would love to do wilds, but unsure the popularity of them to sell.. I have a LFS that would buy them, but would like to sell to other fanciers as well.


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

Getting sent into exile for her misdeeds haha. Sometimes it can be annoying that splendens are so aggressive to the point of being unable to spawn.

Wild bettas can be hard to shift depending on what species you own. Imbellis, mahachai and smaragdina seem to be the most popular as their care and type is fairly close to that of splendens. Macrostoma always seem to be a favourite among collectors as they are quite spectacular fish. 

It's generally a very niche market, sort of like killifish. Your market is usually restricted to other enthusiasts rather than the general public.


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## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

You described my first spawn perfectly!


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

Thank you Little  will have to do more research on them.. but I do think they are quite pretty and unique.

lol Matt.. virgin females don't always give it up so easily


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

Sorry about your yellow female. . . . and the red male.
I never had that happen . . . . unless the male was too lazy or not enthusiastic on breeding. . . I hope I will never have to face such females.


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

It's okay.. never a guarantee one will breed. I am disappointed as she is so pretty.. but it happens I suppose. The male doesn't seem to be affected by her actions, he's been doing his best to get the brat's half sister to be with him. Poor guy is giving it his all and just can't wiggle his way to getting them to breed with him. Why I'm hoping that the experienced girls that are coming soon will give him something for all his trouble lol.


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

I hope they do too as you certainly deserve it (the pleasures of breeding experiences)
IME, once a female has bred, she shouldn't be hard to breed. So your new girls should breed for you.

Good luck.


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

Thank you, that means a lot coming from you hehe


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## Bluewind (Oct 24, 2012)

I have looked around at the wild breeds and many on here enjoy them. I think if more people knew how beautiful and interesting they are, they would be much more popular. I never knew how amazing they were until I ran across a thread about them 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

Maybe it's a good thing that the general public doesn't know a whole lot about them... considering how badly they botch it with splendens >_<


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## Bluewind (Oct 24, 2012)

Skyewillow said:


> Maybe it's a good thing that the general public doesn't know a whole lot about them... considering how badly they botch it with splendens >_<


+1
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

Got some new girls to play around with.. all but one have bred, so having high hopes they will be a bit easier.. my poor males are getting a bit frustrated lol.


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