# Mean egg eater



## iGoatfish (Dec 17, 2012)

I have a very beautiful male plakat that I have tried to breed three times. All three time he has niped the heck out of the girl then he eats all the eggs by day three. I have tried feeding while he is tending to the nest but he dose not seem to interested his regular food. He likes to sneak up on the femail wile she hiding and take a chunk of fin. Any one have any tips to keep him from beeting the girl and not eating the eggs?


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

Generally there is always some violence in betta courtship. I have a pair where the male is missing one of his ventrals and the female has had both nipped nearly clean off and both fish still come back for more when about to spawn. 

A healthy and conditioned fish should be able to handle a moderate amount of fin/scale damage. It's pretty much expected that either one or both fish will sustain some injuries while spawning. 

However, to minimise the risk, it is best to only release the female when she is ready to spawn. If you release her too early the male will generally bully or attack her. A willing female I have found will generally stand her ground or give the male a taste of his own medicine. My males have always chased and nipped females that fled because they were not quite ready. 

As to egg eaters, I don't really know how to prevent that. The three times I spawned my splendens successfully he ate all the eggs and I haven't tried doing it since.


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## iGoatfish (Dec 17, 2012)

Your probably right on the releasing to early it usuly takes a day or two before my fish spawn. Just need to a way to keep from eating the eggs mybe try some live food while he is nesting? Idk?


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

I know if the male is a real bad egg eater that some people just remove him all together and try to artificially hatch the eggs. You might not have a very good hatch rate, but at least you might get some fry out of it.


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## levy (Jan 17, 2013)

Hi I am a breeder ones he eats the eggs we put him up for sale eaters do not stop eating


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

Not necessarily true.. they eat for any number of reasons - eggs aren't fertilized or died, the male feels there may not be enough food/space for the fry once hatched, etc. But many many breeders have successfully used a male who has eaten eggs a couple times in the past, with no problem on other attempts. We don't know exactly why they eat their eggs, but they have a reason for it..


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## iGoatfish (Dec 17, 2012)

I'm off tomarrow so I think I'll try the natural method one last try or maybe intervene at some point. I'll let you guys know how it goes.


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## iGoatfish (Dec 17, 2012)

Well the spawn went excilent the femail did not suffer any major damage. Went with a ten gal with heavy water plants right down the middle so the male and femail could not see each other. Rased the water temp from 78 to 82 (tip from oldfishlady) and on que the male started making his extra large nest. With in an hour the fish where embraceing. The female produced a large amount of eggs but was eating them and not helping the male but still about 200 eggs in the nest. 24hrs later every thing looked fine still plenty of eggs in his nest. I then went to work for a few hours to come back to a empty nest and a fat betta  So what did I learn a planted devider will help keep your female some what safe from an overly aggressive male. And two: my male will start eatting his eggs about 24 hours after he spawn. So next time i am going to remove at the 24hr mark. My question for the experienced breeders out there is do you think the nest and eggs will make it the last 24 hrs or so without the male?
Mahalo for your suggestions. 
iGoatFish


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

Actually, levy, I have males who ate the eggs. I bred them again and they had no problem... That was with a different female, and so I concluded the past females to be duds. 

The eggs should be fine. In the first 24 hours, the male should be moving the eggs around to avoid fungus. Then after that point, they may start to hatch or take a little longer (mine usually hatch 18-32 hours after being placed in the nest). I've never had problems removing males when the fry were beginning to hatch. 

Have you been using the same female for each attempt?


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## iGoatfish (Dec 17, 2012)

Three different females and this was my fourth try. And it seems right around the 24hr mark is when he turns from father to baby killer! Maybe when the eggs start to wiggle it triggers something in him to feed. I really want to breed him do to both of there size. Should produce some extra large fish!


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

Definitely remove him then  I would be safe and remove maybe 20 hours in.


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

@igoatfish: 
1. I give male a long rest (1-2 months) in solitary. Make the breeding tank opposite to his environment; if his tank is planted, then use bare breeding tank and vise versa. If he still eats his eggs. . . . he will always eat his eggs. Either retire him or artificially hatch his eggs.

2. Artificial hatch eggs. You can use extra shallow water then immediately take both out once spawning is done and hope for the best, OR you could scoop out eggs and move to bowl with new clean water. If the eggs are good, they should hatch but you may have less than usual.


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## iGoatfish (Dec 17, 2012)

Sorry indjo I did not read your post before my last attempt with him (the egg eater). I tryed breeding him again. This time he really did a number on the female. He is just so big! Any way I tried something different this time. I used a shallow dish bin maybe 6 high x 10 x 12 as my breeding tank with floating plant with extra large root system. Sorry i am not sure what plant is called. Also put in a extra small home made sponge filter that hade been in use for about a month or longer. So the spawn went as expected took about 24 hrs the female got beat and she produced about 300 eggs. Then 18 hrs after I pulled the daddy and left the eggs to fend for themselves. Every thing looked good till the nest fell apart and that's when i started to see a little bit of fuzz and by day three all the egg where just fuzzy mush. I did see a few eye and tails on day 2. So what should i do next? I have a large female that should be ready next week. Will putting the eggs in a shallow bowl with clean water stop the eggs from going bad? I guess Indjo already answered that one. Any way I'll up date this post and let every one knows how my next try with him goes. If any one has any ideas please let me know. 
Mahalo for all your help!
Aloha


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

Do you have another male you could breed?
One idea that comes to mind, is breed another male while breeding this fella. Scoop the eggs into the good father's nest, and he should take care of them.

Another thought... When does he start eating eggs? Keep him in, until you see him eat the eggs, or before the time frame he starts. I've done it :lol:

For the females, use teak leaves to condition them. Same leaves used for fighters, Indjo I believe was the one who suggested them to me! I'll use them for my plakat female when breeding my giant... They strengthen the scales, which will help keep her safe from rough attacks.


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## iGoatfish (Dec 17, 2012)

So today I am quite proud of my self. I was able to get two pair of my fish to spawn at the same time  I took Sena's advice with foster father method. I took the egg filled nest of the egg eater and combined it with egg filled nest of the good father. When I combined the two nests eggs went every where. But I was very excited see the good father gather all the eggs and put them back in the nest. Well now I guess I'll have to wait and see if any of bad dad's eggs hatch. Maybe I should have culled the good fathers eggs. To late now  I'll repost once the fry start to develop. I also want to thank every one for all the great advice! You all have been a big help! Aloha


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