# Male betta is not blowing a bubble nest



## crowntaillove (Sep 3, 2012)

I've been searching google endlessly and cannot definatively come to a conclusion as to why my male is not blowing a bubble nest, so maybe someone here can help me. 

I have a double tail halfmoon male betta and a light colored veil tale female. I have the male in a 10 gallon tank filled about halfway and the female is in a 1/2 gallon tank floating (securely) in his tank. I have taped some bubble wrap to the top corner of the tank. I have a live plant and a moss ball as well. He has a heater and the thermometer says the temperature is about 74 degrees. I've been feeding them 2-3 times a day alternating between tubiflex worms and Omega One high protein flakes.

"Hank" my male betta is VERY attentive to "Penny", my female. He flares at her, swims backwards, does a sort of wiggly dance, and overall looks like he is trying very hard to impress her with his beautiful fins. 

Penny, acknowledges him. She puts her mouth to the glass when he flares and last night I caught her flipping upside down trying to catch his attention while he was swimming under her tank. I can definately see her oviposter (I don't know if that's relivant.) She has a mostly cellophane body and I read that it's hard to tell if she has verticle strips with light colored females.

I don't know what he's waiting for. Any suggestions at all would be helpful.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Live food will help him encourage to build.


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## MollyJean (Dec 29, 2009)

Not all bettas blow nests, even when placed near a female. Or, he might not blow a nest til the eggs are being picked up, and he'll blow the bubbles while he's caring for the eggs. But there might be a few other reasons. For breeding, you need a much higher temp, 80 is good.

Have you done a lot of research on breeding or are you going into it blind?


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## crowntaillove (Sep 3, 2012)

Well, I'm definately not an expert on the subject and I'm definately not going into something like this blind. I've read just about every article I can find on the subject.

The one thing I'm not exactly clear on is, how to tell if "Penny" is ready to breed or not since, from what I've read, the vertical bars cannot be seen on her light colored body. 

If "Hank" doesn't make a bubble nest, will the eggs hatch?


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## MollyJean (Dec 29, 2009)

Right, can't see the bars, but you will be able to see her belly bloated if it's full of eggs, and on some females, the white spot under there belly will be larger or appear swollen. Of course, you can't really tell til you put them together.

As for Hank, it depends on the fish.. some bettas never blow nests.. but having the bubble wrap or half a styrofoam cup is all they need. The eggs are attached to whatever is breaking the surface at the time. Every fish is different and you won't be able to tell what kind of father he is until you let them both loose in the tank. If you are really ready to go ahead, then go ahead. They will beat each other up, and it might take some time, just be ready to keep an eye on them. 

Depends on the bettas, it might take 15 mins, it might take 2 days... Breeding bettas takes a whole lot of patients.


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## crowntaillove (Sep 3, 2012)

Thank you. You've been very helpful. I'm considering putting them together to see how they react.


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## MollyJean (Dec 29, 2009)

I'll send you bow-chicka-bow-wow vibes, kay?


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## crowntaillove (Sep 3, 2012)

Thanks, I'd appreciate it! Haha! :]


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## GhostFeather (Jun 23, 2011)

I had a spawn last Saturday,my male never blew a nest,when the eggs hatched there were just clumps of fry,kind of stuck together!
Some were stuck on the rim of the cup.
The fry did well and are now a little over a week old and going strong.


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## Basement Bettas (May 12, 2012)

Not every male will build a nest. My fist male never did and raised a HUGE 200+ spawn. Eggs just floated on surface and we had babies every where. But they turned out fine. Next breeding he did do a nest.. and I use small bubble wrap now for them to build under. Gives the clueless ones a pace to start.


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## crowntaillove (Sep 3, 2012)

Here is my update on Hank and Penny. 

I put Penny in Hank's tank two day's ago. Hank was the perfect gentleman. He let Penny explore the new tank while not bothering her too much. Eventually he started swimming about an inch away from her and started flaring, then turning sideways to her (it seemed as though he was trying his best not to intimidate her) and doing his wiggly dance. Sometimes Penny would watch him and other times she would dart away and hide. Hank would never chase her though, he would just try again a minute or two later. I left them together over night with the lights off and every time I checked on them, Hank was keeping a respectable distance. 

Yesterday I was going to be gone for the whole day and I got nervous that something might go wrong, so I put Penny in her own tank where they could still see each other. Today I've noticed that Penny's colors have never been more vibrant, I really didn't know she was that beautiful! And her egg sack has gotten larger, so I put them back in together a few minutes ago. 

Hank is still as gentlemanly as before, but he's taken more notice in his bubble wrap "nest" that he was too lazy to build. I've been reading that her darting away from him is like fishy foreplay, so I'm a bit more confidant in them.


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## misty1477 (Jun 22, 2012)

tadaaa11 said:


> Here is my update on Hank and Penny.
> 
> I put Penny in Hank's tank two day's ago. Hank was the perfect gentleman. He let Penny explore the new tank while not bothering her too much. Eventually he started swimming about an inch away from her and started flaring, then turning sideways to her (it seemed as though he was trying his best not to intimidate her) and doing his wiggly dance. Sometimes Penny would watch him and other times she would dart away and hide. Hank would never chase her though, he would just try again a minute or two later. I left them together over night with the lights off and every time I checked on them, Hank was keeping a respectable distance.
> 
> ...


Your description of Hank and Penny's little 'mating' ritual is so sweet. :-D


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## babystarz (Aug 3, 2012)

Do you know if he's tried to blow bubbles at all? If so, letting dust particles into the tank could increase the water viscosity and therefore let bubbles stick around longer. Maybe that would encourage him to keep going.

If he's not blowing any bubbles whatsoever, I'm not sure what to suggest besides what you've already been doing.


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## crowntaillove (Sep 3, 2012)

misty1477 said:


> Your description of Hank and Penny's little 'mating' ritual is so sweet. :-D


Haha, thank you. Sometimes I wonder if I'm too obsessed with watching them. :tongue:


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## crowntaillove (Sep 3, 2012)

babystarz said:


> Do you know if he's tried to blow bubbles at all? If so, letting dust particles into the tank could increase the water viscosity and therefore let bubbles stick around longer. Maybe that would encourage him to keep going.
> 
> If he's not blowing any bubbles whatsoever, I'm not sure what to suggest besides what you've already been doing.


He hasn't tried blowing bubbles at all. I even tried taking out the bubble wrap because I thought maybe he thought he had already blown a nest. I put it back in though, and I'm hoping he'll decide to blow one if those two ever decide to spawn. Haha.


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## tpocicat (Aug 8, 2011)

Ever since I had a male that never blew a bubble nest but had a nice spawn, I don't worry about bubble nests anymore.


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