What The Hell Am I Doing Wrong?

[LauraFrog]

No matter WHAT I do, I cannot get a pair to breed and I have followed everything you are supposed to do, to the letter. This is the third pair that I have attempted to spawn. They're in about seven gallons (six inches deep). They have both been conditioned two weeks on live mosquito larvae, frozen bloodworm and Hikari pellets. The female has been in the chimney for 36 hours and is barred up and full of eggs, the male has built his nest, I just let her out and he's trying to kill her. (I don't mean a little nip here and there, I mean he's trying to kill her.) They're also the best pair I have, and worth plenty, believe me.

The last time I attempted to spawn a pair, I got wrapping but no eggs and then the female died for no reason at all. And the time before that I lost the female during conditioning (eggbound). Before the females' deaths I had attempted to spawn these pairs before but had the male attack the female so badly I'd had to pull the pair and recondition.

What am I doing? I have the same setup that Netty and Daz and all the other breeders on here use. The fish are conditioned the same, and they are certainly not ancient pet store plugs... why the hell will they not breed?

 

[wilsonnw8]

Sorry to hear this Laura sounds like you do the same as us. How big is his bubble nest? was he still working on it when you released her?
Ive heard accounts of males becoming frustrated that they "arent finished" with their nest when the female is released causing aggression. Some breeders leave their male for a while to make sure he's done so to speak lol
In the same way some females will destroy his nest if its not up to par! - dont you just love picky women!

Ive heard other people have success using a tank divider rather than a chimney Therefore she's safely in his territory he cant hurt her but gets used to her being in his tank.

I know Netty has had success releasing the female for a few seconds or a min and then re-chimneying her for a day and then repeating the process before releasing.

Good Luck

Tilly

 

[LauraFrog]

It's odd... the nest is finished and he just sits under it and waits, and then he gets frustrated and goes looking for the female, finds her wedged under a rock or lying on top of a plastic plant with her body half out of the water, etc. chews on her fins, they take off around the tank and bash against the sides of it, the female wedges herself into some other impossible position and then the male goes and sulks under the nest again. He doesn't seem to have done any serious damage at all, but he's being very aggressive. If the female just isn't ready, then why is she showing bars?

 

[wilsonnw8]

It's odd... the nest is finished and he just sits under it and waits, and then he gets frustrated and goes looking for the female, finds her wedged under a rock or lying on top of a plastic plant with her body half out of the water, etc. chews on her fins, they take off around the tank and bash against the sides of it, the female wedges herself into some other impossible position and then the male goes and sulks under the nest again. He doesn't seem to have done any serious damage at all, but he's being very aggressive. If the female just isn't ready, then why is she showing bars?

Well Im not saying she's not ready I just suggested other ways to let him adjust to her. If no serious damage is being done then leave them a bit longer. As long as no one gets seriously hurt the aggressive chasing is often part of the spawning process.

 

[LauraFrog]

I left them for another three hours or so... eventually the male got sick of chasing the female, so he sulked under the nest and she spent the rest of the night wedged under a rock on her side. Then I put her back in the chimney and went to bed. There's a few fair sized chunks out of her anal fin but no 'serious' damage.

 

[wilsonnw8]

You have rocks in your breeding tank? I use bare bottomed breeding tanks with only plants and a half coconut shell, females are inclined to wedge themselves but if they can only hide where they cant get stuck they tend to reconsider and come out again!
Its good that he sulked and went under the nest it shows he's not going to chase her forever. I also found with my last spawn the female didnt seem to care about the male at all and it took 5 days of release back in chimney release before I let her out for good. The other funny thing is they waited until I left the room to spawn. Ive heard other people say the same, their bettas only spawn when there is no disturbance and your not in the room!

 

[heygetsmart]

It's odd... the nest is finished and he just sits under it and waits, and then he gets frustrated and goes looking for the female, finds her wedged under a rock or lying on top of a plastic plant with her body half out of the water, etc. chews on her fins, they take off around the tank and bash against the sides of it, the female wedges herself into some other impossible position and then the male goes and sulks under the nest again. He doesn't seem to have done any serious damage at all, but he's being very aggressive. If the female just isn't ready, then why is she showing bars?

Patience! : D
It took me 5 attempts of spawning until I finally got a sucessful spawn.
Now I have a tank full of about crowntail fry! : D

 

[Devorax]

Post removed as was inappropriate. Sorry

 

[wuvmybetta]

Have you tried feeding them together? Sometimes a small meal of bloodworms (while the female is out and about) eases the tension abd works as a distraction. With that said, don't be too alarmed by the fighting. Has he ripped her fins or really hurt her? Mostly it looks worse than it is.

Otherwise, wait for a good rainfall and pop the windows open for a bit. No fish can resist spawning in the rain.

 

[wilsonnw8]

Have you tried feeding them together? Sometimes a small meal of bloodworms (while the female is out and about) eases the tension abd works as a distraction. With that said, don't be too alarmed by the fighting. Has he ripped her fins or really hurt her? Mostly it looks worse than it is.

Otherwise, wait for a good rainfall and pop the windows open for a bit. No fish can resist spawning in the rain.

This reminds me Ive also heard that spawning bettas at full moon is way more successful it sounds like Im joking but its true! my males always seem to bubblenest more around that time

 

[LauraFrog]

He's totally dropped the nest. No nest whatsoever, the female looks positively bored and less eggy... I've left her in the chimney, been out all night (performing again... they're working us hard this week, I'm singing tonight, tomorrow night, Friday morning and Sunday for at least an hour and a half, major rehearsal).
But at any rate I think I might try my other pair... this pair is shot at the moment. The female has some damage to her anal fin that I don't like the look of and she's not looking very eggy any more, so I'll have to pull them and recondition, it will take just as long to recondition these two as to condition the new pair. Just in case the issue is compatibility.

Yeah, my profile is accurate, I turned 15 about three weeks ago and TBH I don't see what that has to do with anything? I'm not offended or anything, it's just that 'teenage impulses' are only really relevant if I had let the female out early or only conditioned for a few days or whatever... this pair has had the full two weeks conditioning and 36 hours in the chimney before I let the female out. I'm doing exactly the same thing that everybody else does.

Might switch my pair... I think that's probably my best option at the moment.