# Why won't my Betta's breed?



## Splak (Dec 19, 2012)

Hi everyone! 

I have a question, I have a normal pair of betta fish, trying my hand at breeding before I move to better things. Let me explain my problem and what I have done up to now.

Problem: Male betta trys to bring female under nest, when she does come, he lets her look for a few seconds than nips at her and chases her away. So she runs to the far corner of the tank and hides behind the sponge filter tube at the top of the water. 

This morning I turned on the tank light and she seemed to get active and try to go under the nest a few times, she was allowed and then chased away and nipped at.

I figured this was normal part of the courtship and left em for a couple hours and came back, now she isnt moving at all from the corner of the tank, and the male isnt going to her either he is sitting under the nest blowing bubbles, I do not think they spawned since no eggs r falling and she is still bloated and has the white spot between the anal fins.


My set-up:

Now I conditioned the fish for 2-3 weeks, the male fresh water everyday and fed bloodworms/flakes. The female was in my 20gal; community guppy tank (5 guppys, 1 pleco, 2 gourami) and fed bloodworms and flakes, with water changed very often. 

Next I put the female in a glass jar next to the males with a peice of paper between them, I would feed them once in the morning, after they ate removed the paper, let them see and flare at each other for 10-15 min. did this 2 times a day. for a couple of days this went on. she showed verticle stripes within the first day.

as for introducing the pair, monday night, I put them both in the tank at the same time, the female in a jar. This was at night, the male flared until I went to bed, woke up and he had a bubble nest build in the corner near a styro cup. so on tues morning I released her with him, there was chasing and hiding and whatnot, no spawning, he would chase her away and all around the tank, and go back to work on his nest. No spawning took place on tuesday. I left them overnight and now I have my problem with the female staying in the corner and the male not going for her.

I have a 10gal, 5-6 inch of water, sponge filter in corner NO WATER CURRENT right now as the filter is off. A small cave with some live plants by it for hiding in the middle of the tank. The cup is on the opposite end of the tank near the nest of the filter. My water temp is set to 82f and staying steady. 


I have seen online the mating process can take up to few days even longer, So i am wondering if what is happening normal or not. I can upload pictures of the tank and the pair if requested.

Thanks so much for any help, if you need any more info I will be happy to add it! THANKS!!!!


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## Splak (Dec 19, 2012)

Here are pics of set-up, male and female and where she is hiding


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

Your female probably just isn't ready. When I spawned my splendens I would leave my female within sight of the male (mine was in a breeders' net) until she was so ready she was practically trying to get out of the net to get in with him.

All three times I spawned them (male was an egg eater so never got any fry) the actual spawning happened within about 5 minutes of her being released and there was never any physical damage done, just a lot of showing off under the nest. 

Just showing bars doesn't necessarily mean she is ready to spawn.


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## bryzy (Nov 3, 2012)

Did you let them see each other before you introduced her? That may be the problem


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## Splak (Dec 19, 2012)

Thanks for the fast response!!

I just turned my head after loading those pics and I the the male in the corner with her and some eggs falling and he picked them up and took them to the nest!! made me extremely happy to see, then a few min later he went back, they did not embrace he left, and couple seconds later she dropped eggs? well he was at the nest????? I never heard of that happening before D= he hasn't picked up those eggs yet either. Is this bad??


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## Splak (Dec 19, 2012)

Yes they saw each other for days, aprox 30min a day, and for about 12 hours in the tank serprated. so about 16 hours total of seeing prior to release


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## horsyqueen (Nov 13, 2012)

This post is actually really helpful. I really want to breed betta fish.


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## MSG (May 8, 2012)

*Give it another two weeks.*

What kind of bloodworms & brand flakes are you feeding? 

Your spawn tank looks right. Don't seem like you're missing anything other than a better hiding space for the female/male if one of them wants to take a break. 

Also some fish are easily distracted, so put a fence up around the tank so they can't see you.


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## bryzy (Nov 3, 2012)

The ones you said you saw the female drop with out imbracing may have to possibilities. They MAY be eggs that are fertilized which she didn't drop or they are unfortunately unfirtilized.


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## babystarz (Aug 3, 2012)

Totally normal! I'd say a good chunk of people have a failure for a first spawn (including me), largely due to the inexperience of the fish. Just keep at it, tweaking your methods until it magically works.

This is what my female looked like before and after the first time I tried to get my pair to spawn:

















All that and NO BABIES lol!


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## bryzy (Nov 3, 2012)

Wow babystarz!


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

I suggest take her out. Eggs released without embrace are unfertilized and will never hatch.
Your female seems stressed for some reason. She will not return to the nest, though she is dropping eggs. IME she must have taken a really bad blow. 
Take your female out and treat her like a sick betta - medicate and lots of food and daily clean water.


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

Have to agree with indjo, unfortunately it sounds like they are calling it quits right now. Just remove them, heal them up and condition them once more. Good luck


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## Splak (Dec 19, 2012)

Thanks guys, I took her out, I have started the medication and am re conditioning for another to weeks.D= Hopefully they will have better luck next time!  Thanks everyone for the help!


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