Embracing, but no eggs

[KHarris89]

I'm spawning 2 of my CTs, and they've finally gotten to the point of embracing. My female is super plump, full of eggs.

I know sometimes the female won't drop eggs the first couple embraces, however I've seen them embrace probably 5 or 6 times now and no eggs. How many embraces does it usually take for the female to start dropping eggs?

Is my male just not doing it right? This is his first time breeding, as well as the female.

When should I start being concerned about her being egg-bound?

[bananasammy8]

It will take a bit for it they will eventually release the eggs. Spawning is a very hard process for bettas the male has to embrace the female just right. Spawning can take a long time for some pairs. Mine took maybe an 45 minutes for them to start releasing eggs.

[KHarris89]

Ok thank you! This is my first time breeding bettas, so I was getting a little concerned lol That eases the nerves a bit

[bananasammy8]

Haha yeah it made me concerned to!

[KHarris89]

Well they've stopped spawning, and I still see no eggs. The female is still very plump, but doesn't seem to want to go back under the bubble nest. The male occasionally swims over to her and flares and then swims back under the nest like he's trying to coax her under, but she doesn't seem to be showing interest anymore.

I'll probably leave her in for a couple more days and hopefully see some eggs in the nest soon, but she's already a little beaten up from the first go. They were right when they said this would be frustrating. I hope these two haven't given up :( This is the only male of mine that she's shown any interest in.

[indjo]

Sometimes if the female is too fat and the male is inexperienced, they will often fail embracing and eventually one or both will become frustrated and give up/exhausted.

If female is too fat, her egg passage is often blocked making it hard for her to release her eggs. These females need bigger/longer males. Persistent pairs may take a full day embracing and still not done. In which case the female usually releases her eggs after dark. But if the female is only fat from eggs, usually she will release some unfertilized eggs so they can embrace better. In any case, you will probably have a small spawn.

Fat males too have difficulty embracing properly. An ideal male is a slim and slightly longer male. But this doesn't mean smaller males can't breed with bigger females - as long as both aren't too fat, they will get it done.

If the female has given up, I suggest taking her out. The male may attack her. But if she is still responding you can give them more time.

Good Luck.

[Junglist]

Maybe she could still be young and not well dilated for her eggs to come out

[KHarris89]

I don't think age is the issue, she's just as big as the male. She's somewhere between 5-7 months old.

I'm guessing she's just given up out of exhaustion or frustration... or both. I might just take her out and try again later, give her some time to heal up a little. She still has the vertical barring but wants nothing to do with the male now. She will swim to about 3 inches from the nest and then turn back around and go to the other end of the 15gal and hang around in the hornwort until the male comes and chases her out.

[tanseattle]

I think just give them more time.

[tpocicat]

I'd say to give them more time. Sometimes it can take several days as long as the female hasn't been beaten up too badly...doesn't sound like that is the problem.