Bettas laying eggs (w/ pictures)

[tom91970]

I bought two female bettas several months ago. One was a bright blue color that really caught my eye. One was sort of a pale yellow...not too pretty but has a good personality.

Both these fish have been chasing my two female guppies around the tank the last two days; they have been getting along great the last two months, though.

Last night, around 12:15 a.m., I walked past the tank and something caught my eye: my pretty blue female betta was wrapped around the other one.

Hmmmm....either this fish had some serious issues or that fish was labeled incorrectly.

I had seen plenty of pictures in books and on the 'net so I knew exactly what was going on. I managed to grab the camera and take a few pictures and one short movie.

Here's a picture of the female laying there appearing to be stunned:

 

[tom91970]

Catching eggs

Here are some pictures of the betta chasing and catching the eggs:

I stopped watching at 1:00 a.m. and went to bed. This morning (around 6:45) I noticed that about 20 of the eggs had already hatched. Here is a picture of the bubble nest (fry was too small to be photographed):

Here’s a close-up of the male:

The bubble nest was built against a lilly pad that had just reached the surface that day. Other bits of plants had been chewed off and laid next to the lilly pad.

 

[tom91970]

Video

Here is a short video of the male embracing the female to squeeze out the eggs.

 

[Kissyboots]

That's exactly what Juju and Kissyboots always did. I never got pictures because they always did it way in the back behind a plant. It was cool to watch though. The eggs were always gone the next day though. Are you planning to raise them?

 

[TabMorte]

WOW! Very good pictures.

Good luck with the unexpected fry! That is the shortest finned male I've ever seen.

 

[alter40]

Very cool video and pictures. I have never seen a betta mate before.

 

[TabMorte]

That's exactly what Juju and Kissyboots always did. I never got pictures because they always did it way in the back behind a plant. It was cool to watch though. The eggs were always gone the next day though. Are you planning to raise them?

The female will eat them if you leave her in there with them. Mine does every time and since I don't have the space for fry I let her.

 

[Kissyboots]

The part where the female just floats there freaked me out the first time I saw Kissyboots do it. I thought Juju killed her.

 

[Big Vine]

Wow, this is great! *thumbsups
I've heard accounts of bettas breeding, and I've happened upon photos, but I've never seen any firsthand accounts from an actual member of the forum before. Of course, maybe I wasn't monitoring the Betta/Gourami section closely enough...

Congratulations...and good luck! *celebrate
BV

 

[Macfish]

The video is pretty darn sweet!
Grats!

 

[tom91970]

Thanks for all the replys.

If I had gone to bed a minute earlier I would not have seen it happen. I was just "in the right place at the right moment" so to speak.

I don't know if I will raise them or not. I have no idea where I would keep them or what to do with them later. I may check into see if the LFS is interested.

I took the two female guppies out of the tank this morning and will take the female out when I get home in about five hours. Or I may take an extended lunch and go home and do it in a few minutes.

I also thought the female was dead when I saw her just floating there. But I checked one of my anabantoid reference books and saw where this was normal. The book also mentions that the female should be removed after the male has started brooding and that the male should be removed about three days after the fry have hatched. Lucky for me I have a 2.5g that is empty except for one shrimp.

 

[tom91970]

WOW! Very good pictures.

Good luck with the unexpected fry! That is the shortest finned male I've ever seen.

Yeah, me too. In my reference book there is a picture of a male short-fin splendens that looks exactly like mine.

 

[ninamarie]

That was awsome to have seen!! Great for you too.

good luck with the LFS and hope they take the babies for you.

 

[fishnewbie]

Tom,
Very nice Plakat male, I would like to get my hands on a few but they are hard to find around here. The only bettas I see at the LFS are CT and VT and the occasional female (I snatch the females up everytime a find a nice one). If your bettas are breeding then you are doing something right, keep up the good work!

Justin

 

[tom91970]

Thanks! I did a very careful 25% pwc tonight and still managed to get some fry in the bucket. I went ahead and moved those to my 2.5g tank that I had set up several weeks ago for guppy fry. I also found several in my HOB filter and put them back into the tank. I shut down that filter for the time being and am just using the sponge filter until they get a little bigger.

 

[MissDanni]

WOW!!! That was freaking amazing!

 

[Adorkable]

Ohmygosh!! Those are amazing pics!!