Betta - Male strangled his wife until she laid eggs

[jpbotha]

I bought a male Betta, think it is a HM, for my wife. She already had two females with a few guppies in a tank. When I added the male I knew he would attack the females so I removed the one female as he got hold of her and left the other one as there is more than enough hiding places. I also removed all the guppies as he didnt got along with them.

The next morning I was watching the tank and saw that he was busy killing the female by wrapping his body around her and then suddenly left her alone, whereafter she was floating on top (I now know that he wasnt trying to kill her) . Thats when I knew he had to go to another tank cause if my wife sees that he has killed the female, I will be sleeping with the dogs cause I didnt remove her the previous day.

Then she started moving again, and I just saw eggs falling all over the place and the male was collecting all of them. Only then did I saw the bubble nest that was build. He collected all of them and stacked them in the nest.

That was amazing, but then I realized that I know nothing about breeding Bettas. That brings me to my challenge, the eggs have little fry hanging out after one day. Though I might have more time to read up on breeding bettas.
Do they hatch that soon?
What is the time line for betta fry?
But what do I feed them?
Do I continue with normal water changes?
Do they have special needs?
Any advice will help.

If that wasnt enough, they laid more eggs this morning. I now have two bubble nests in the tank. Suppose I have to remove the female to rest or they will just keep on breeding like hamsters.

[Myates]

.....

Okay.... why did you leave a single female in with the male?

Expect to spend a minimum of a few hundred dollars, the water/electric bill to go up, a way to keep easily a 100+ males in t heir own containers and heated properly.. need lots and lots of live foods really really soon..

Read the links here to get an idea - as there is so much more to it than what is written... but you get the general information from the links though.

Raising betta fry is a big time consuming expense (depends if you go the new items route or buy used/cheap items).. easily take a couple hours+ a day on water changes, and will need some equipment. Watch lots of YouTube videos on breeding bettas as well.. you have LOTS to learn in a matter of hours if you want any of the fry to live..

For now, turn up the heater to 84* in the tank to keep them warm..

In the future, keep males and females separated.. these are bettas.. you are very lucky they did this rather than kill one another.

[indjo]

Hahaha . . . that was funny. Sorry, couldn't help it.

Do they hatch that soon? YES, but unfortunately you may lose a lot of them, if not all because you're nor prepared (specially fry food). Can you get live tubifex or daphnia?

What is the time line for betta fry? WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY TIME LINE
By 2 months they begin to become aggressive, play fight at first but eventually they will bite each other. So you will have to separate each male.

But what do I feed them?
For emergency - egg yolk. Unfortunately not all fry will eat them. Tiny live food like microworm, newly hatched brine shrimp, etc.

Do I continue with normal water changes? NOT Necessarily
Since fry are soooo tiny, for the first week, just siphon and replace water. Don't siphon the wastes/gunk. When fry can be spotted easily, then siphon gunk and all.

Do they have special needs?
Very tiny food.
Warm water (stable water temp)
Isolated when they become aggressive.

Any advice will help. . . everything Myates said.
Start collecting 2ltr plastic bottles (bigger is better) for their temporary separate homes.
MOST IMPORTANT; have fun and enjoy them. LOL

[Myates]

I know.. I laughed and hung my head at the same time. Taking proper care of the fry/juvies is a lot of work - if you get them to survive you will then have to find homes for them.. depending upon tail type, it can be a bit difficult.

All I can suggest is do lots of research now, as in a day or two their egg sacs will be used up and they will need lots of food.

Honestly, if you aren't prepared to house each male with proper heating, able to purchase grow out tank/s, etc.. just place the other fish back into the tank and let nature take it's course. It's sad, but if you can't spend the money and hours they need, no reason to let them suffer for long.

But if you can get everything needed in the next day or two and don't mind the time/money.. then go for it and good luck :)

In the future - no keeping females with males (mainly for their safety.. got lucky this time and they mated rather than attack), and since you only had 2 females and they are now separated.. may be hard to get them back together safely - may end up having to house each separately, or purchase 2-3 more females to spread out aggression.

[LadyVictorian]

+1 taking care of betta fry is a HUGE challenge, this is why a lot of 'pet' breeders don't last long in the breeding industry. If you don't spend a lot of money and time to keep them alive then most if not all fry die. Read everything on breeding and fry care. Buy about 60-80 32 oz canning jars too for when the babies get older and agressive so you can seperate them.