Hi new guy here, I have a question:)

[bettabandit]

Hi all I've been reading alot of your posts latley also did a search but couldn't find any answears to my question.



I have a 10 gallon tank with a clear divider. Left side is an adult ct male. The right is a juvi ct female. I am not intrested in breeding, But I like both m&f bettas.

My question is,, my female seems to have these horizontail stripes somtimes on her, but other times she is in full color. I have had them in this setup now for 2 months and I have never seen her do this. THe stripes don't look like breeding stripes to me.


Any ideas?

 

[bettabandit]

http://www.bettalabs.com/images/ForSaleImages/BBFHM0504-20.jpg The stripes kinda look like this fish in this picture.



Also the tank has no gravel and has many plants on both sides for each betta.

The male seems just fine and dandy

 

[Iggy]

HI Bandit & Welcome to the Tank!

I had a male/female divided combo for a while (Rigel + Reena), and at first, Rigel got really excited, made a nest, and Reena striped (vertically) a lot...

but within a few days, Rigel got Ick and Reena got Fungus I am not sure if it was from stress or other conditions, but it basically stopped their mating insticts and they were fine together as they recovered.

When a female horizontally stripes, it means she is scared.
Females vertically stripe when they are showing signs of aggression and mating interest.

As a female gets older, she gets more aggresive and harder to breed (like my Reena)

Your picture shows a 'Fear' or 'Submissive' sign. She is basically saying, I am scared and don't kill me to the male.

Fish are more intelligent than we think and highly adaptive. She will probably figure out that she is safe behind the divider and calm down.

Knowing what I know now, I will not do a male/female divider again... just in case the female gets too egg-bound (fat from eggs) or in case I want to breed them in the future.

 

[bettabandit]

Is it unsafe for her then? I can move her to my community tank (30 gallon planted with neons).

Not alot of water movemnt since the neons are so small . She is the size of a large neon tetra.


I wouldn't want her to get sick, like said this is the first time in 2 months she's acted like this :|

Thanks for you help!

 

[RYANRODRIGUEZ]

i think she will be ok once she learns thats a clear divider and he cant get her.

 

[Iggy]

She should be fine. Bettas are good at adjusting, however they will likely never spawn with each other if you decide one day you want them to.

 

[bettabandit]

OK I come home today and what do I see....a huge bubble nest and my female is stripping vertically?! What the heck? Should I even attempt to breed them? I've got a 10 gallon tank cycling for 2 weeks now that was goning to be for some gourami's..but now I'm thinking otherwise

 

[Iggy]

Yikes man! Breeding is NOT easy. Do you have a heater, do you have fry food, do you have 80 3/4gal jars for the males, do you have homes for them once they are mature, do you have 10 hours a week to clean the jars, do you have the proper setup (no gravel, bubble filters, etc.)

I took 4 months to research before I did my first spawn. Its up to you, but betta males build nests even when there are no females present.

PS. a female vertically striping is only ONE of several signs you need before you try to spawn a pair!

 

[bettabandit]

Yes to all the questions except the 80 jars I only have about 30. Will they really spawn over 80 males? wow I thought it was usually 20's for first time spawns...

 

[bettabandit]

Also what else could the stripes mean?

 

[Iggy]

OK, a good site for breeding advice:
http://www.bettatalk.com

My Ruby (first timer spawn) has at least 200 fry. Betta spawns can be between 0 to 400 fry. True, younger, first timer bettas sometimes don't get the high quanitities, mostly due to improper male fertalizing or egg care, but don't count on it. You can always remove some eggs after they breed if you want to reduce the quantity.

Vertical stripes in females is a sign of aggression as well as a sign of mating readiness.

When she is really ready, she will vert. stripe, and nose-down in front of the male. She will not be as afraid of him also.

 

[izabeau]

I have always read that the stripes on a female mean fear or stress..I could be that she wants to breed...I personally would put her in the community tank, she shouldn't attack your neons. I have a female in my community tank and she's doing fine. My male also blows bubble nests all the time, bis one too and he doesn't even know my female exists (that I am awre of), so that part at least is perfectly normal behaviour for the male. I wold not mate them unless you have done all the research you can on it, other wise you may end up with a dead female, no fry and a severely stressed out male...just my opinon though...