eggs won't stick to the nest :(

[Ilikebutterflies]

My poor plakat fella is running himself ragged. He can't keep his eggs in the nest. He has a decent nest but it's like the eggs won't stick to the bubbles. He gathers them and spits them back up there but they just fall out again. There is probably a hundred eggs on the floor under the nest. He is usually a nice steel blue but he's quite pale now. I think he's stressed out over these eggs not staying put. The filter is off so is there anything I can add to the water to make the bubbles stickier? I have some chlorophyll powder...

[GunsABlazin]

How is the humidaty in the tank?

[LebronTheBetta]

That's what they do. I don't think you can interfere with this. Unless there are things causing this to happen. Most of the time the Nests are pretty strong.

[KadenJames]

This is exactly the reason why we condition the fish- the poor males go through quite the ordeal. Just as Lebron said, there isn't anything you can do. If he's a first time breeder, he may just need to figure out how to properly wedge the fry into the nest enough to keep them afloat. I had a first time male who would gather all of the fry into his mouth (an amazing amount, might I add,) and he'd literally go "PUH!" and spit them at the nest, hoping they'd somehow magically stay put. Of course, they'd all just swirl around, then slowly sink to the bottom. After a minute or so of staring at them like this (-_-) he'd repeat the process over again. Needless to say, he was completely drained of energy when the fry reached free swimming.

The fry will be okay on the bottom, so long as he doesn't give up scooping them into his mouth and bringing them to the surface. At the same time he cleans them, keeping fungus from forming on them. I recommend adding indian almond leaves to the tank, as they benefit both fry and dad.

[Ilikebutterflies]

I am using betta spa in the tank. He just can't seem to get it right. I think he's losing his mind trying to wrangle 100 eggs that won't stay put! My first spawn went well. The eggs stuck like glue. Unfortunately the next day most of the eggs had been eaten so I pulled the male out of the tank before he could eat the rest-he left around 30 eggs that I could count. Those were anchored in the nest though...I figured they wouldn't survive but I have still have close to 30 week old fry out of that batch! I have my fingers crossed they make it another week. I couldn't handle the yuck on the bottom of the tank so I turkey basted out most of it and added 1 gallon of aged treated water.

[ihatefirewalls]

You can try saran wrap (with a few holes or a small gap) over the tank to increase the humidity.

I've also heard of people manually hatching abandoned eggs by leaving them in a quarter inch of water... Might be worth a try as a last resort.

[Ilikebutterflies]

He must have done a fair enough job tending the eggs because now there are babies EVERYWHERE. Literally everywhere. They are all over the floating plants, in the nest and all along the walls of the tank. Best of all he seems relaxed now. He swims around and appears to check on his kids. He has spit a few at the plants. I think he actually spit the eggs at the plants too because yesterday there were eggs in them. I guess he gave up spitting them at the bubble nest...cause it just wasn't working, lol.

[WetBetta]

One thing that comes to mind... your water is basically too clean... possibly. I never use completely all fresh water in any of my breeding tubs. I use like 3/4 filtered used aquarium water (filtered through an eHiem system) 1/4 fresh conditioned and aged water. Your water needs certain bacteria and "stuff" in it to help with the building of bubble nests and to help hold the eggs.

Also, I use a dessert sized styrofoam plate... trim about 1/2 the curved edge off... cut it in half... so it's like a 1/2 circle. Submerge completely into the tub to remove air and allow it to float. I've never had a betta turn down using this to build a nest under. In fact, they will build and build until the plate is completely out of the water. But it really helps in holding the nest and eggs together.

I never have the water more than 6" deep when breeding. It makes it easier for the fellow to gather eggs from the bottom.

And as stated above, if this is your male's first breeding... often there is a learning curve for some bettas.

Hope this helps!! Good luck!!

[WetBetta]

Just read that your eggs have hatched!! Congrats!!

I usually remove the male when they are free swimmers w/o egg yolk sacks. As the males tend to begin eating them. Just keep a careful eye for that.

Plakats are fun to breed IMO!!