Male Holding Eggs in Mouth?

[rookie7]

My bettas embraced, eggs released, saw male picked up the eggs. Today is the 3rd day since then, but eggs have not hatched. For some reasons, I don't see any eggs on the nest (not sure how hard it is to see the eggs nice they're inside the "cup"). However, the male's belly is really swollen like he's been eating.

Could it be that the male is holding all the eggs in his mouth or eating all the eggs? I haven't been feeding the male for 2 days, and his belly is still big. There's a big bubblenest, but why isn't he keeping the eggs in the bubbles? Any ideas when the eggs will hatch. Keeping the temperature at about 76-78 F.

[1fish2fish]

The temperature needs to be at least 80*. I've had sucess at 82* and people have even bred at warmer temps than that. That could be one of the reasons the eggs aren't hatching.

It sounds to me like your male ate all the eggs. The best thing to do would be to remove him and recondition and try again.

[rookie7]

Thanks for the quick response. I'm just going to leave the male in for a few more days. I have a heater, but the darn thing doesn't have any kind of settings. It automatically keep the tank at 76 - 78 F. Hope Petco will take it back. lol...

I'm so going to be disappointed if in fact the male eat all the eggs.

[beta novice]

i am pretty sure he did recondition them and try again