I have a pair of wild bettas that spawned a couple days ago. Being wilds I just leave mum and dad in together as they live together relatively peacefully.
Anyway at first I thought I just had one main nest with quite a lot of fry that my male was tending to.
However, last night I noticed my female guarding a nest under an IAL that had some fry in it. I thought perhaps it was coincidence that she was there, but as I watched she added some bubbles and caught two fry in her mouth and spat them back into the nest.
Then when the male got distracted and started flaring over at his reflection, the female dashed over to his nest, spat some falling fry back up into it, and then stole one to put it in her nest.
As of this morning, the male has moved his big nest and a majority of fry over to the front corner. I thought the female had lost interest or been chased off, but no, she is over where his old nest was with a couple of fry under an IAL nest she appears to have made herself.
Never seen this kind of behaviour before as even with wild bettas the father normally does all the work. She is one determined mum haha. She wasn't letting him near her last nest and was flaring at her reflection in a way very similar to a male defending his nest and fry.
Just thought it was rather peculiar. I guess with splendens you wouldn't get the chance to see this behaviour anyway as the mother is always removed.
Check out the eBook Betta Fish Care Made Easy
Similar Threads
THAT is funny... Stealing back her babies :p And definitely would not see that with Splendens. The closest you see is the female releasing eggs (without a male around), and making a nest for the infertile eggs.
