# How do you tell if dad is eating his eggs?



## megrose (Oct 12, 2016)

I'm just wondering because my bettas spawned during the night (yay!). The dad is now at his post below the nest but when the eggs fall and he picks them up sometimes I don't see him go back to the nest right away to put them back. Sometimes when he picks them up he puts them back in immediately. I'm just concerned because every so often I've seen him put one in his mouth and then do that sort of swallowing motion they do. What do I do if he's eating them?


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## Hyunjicho (Nov 8, 2016)

You can take the eggs or the dad out and artificially hatch them


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

Nowadays many males take the initiative to reduce his batch (not sure why). Perhaps the eggs seems problematic to the male, maybe he simply prefers smaller numbers. All I know is that lately they seldom reach 1000+ fry.

If you are worried, you have to move - either eggs or male and artificially hatch the eggs.


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## Baitaw88 (Jan 27, 2017)

<<snip>>


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

<<snip>>

Indjo yes I think we humans are accidentally breeding that behavior into bettas. In the wild the ones with better parenting instincts produce more and healthier fry, so the ones who parent poorly don't have a great chance to pass on genetics. We breed for color, form, and new looks. This leads to possibly selecting less than perfect parents, repeatedly over the generations it takes to make a solid line. Resulting in subsequently smaller percentages of fry- which also cuts you're genetic pool and forces a project to take longer 

Or it could be intentional to produce fewer quality fry an push higher prices who knows?


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