Female betta died, what happened.?):

[mjbn]

So i was trying to breed my "ready" female and male. I put the female in a clear cup and put her in the male's 5G tank so they could see each other. The female had bars and was head down, tail up. I thought "oh nice, she's ready" and i waited for the male to finish his bubble nest. When i came home from school, the female was still in that same position, motionless... I thought "there's no way she was like that the whole time.." I moved the cup and she didn't move. She died. She was completely healthy.. Well fed, warm temp, everything. She looked better than ever while she was "showing off" for the male too. What happened? She wasn't bloated or anything. I was gonna release her tonight, had she lived..

[ChelseaK]

She was in just a small plastic cup? For how long? It may have been she was in such a small amount of water for too long and the ammonia level got too high and poisoned her. Just a thought, I'm so sorry :( I hate seeing fishies go too soon :(

[mjbn]

In the store bought cup, but i cut holes in the side of the cup to avoid just that^^, so there would be water circulation since the rest of the tank is cycled. I'm confused.):

[lilchiwolf]

cut holes? was the cup submerged? If so then you probable drowned your fish. They need to breath from the top.

[mjbn]

There were holes for circulation and I hung/taped the cup over the side of the tank for air.

[lilchiwolf]

Originally Posted by mjbn

There were holes for circulation and I hung/taped the cup over the side of the tank for air.

Ah, ok. Well then the only think I could think of was maybe it was just too stressful for her.

[RCinAL]

Strange indeed. Maybe the water in the tank was way different than that she was accustomed to. If the cup had holes she would not have been able to acclimate slowly and if the water parameters were way different maybe shock got her. Just a thought.

[mjbn]

Mhmm i see what you're saying but i took all precautions. Before i put her in the cup, i put her in a little .5 gallon tank of my 10G water and then slowly put some 5G water in. I then just put her in the cup hanging on the tank. The thing is that i did the same with another female betta at the very same time. If any of you have read my other posting about a bloated female, i did the same with her on opposite sides of the tank so the male felt like he had "options". The bloated female was fine, but i removed her and put her back in my 10G in fear that she would die too. She's fine now. The male betta is fine also. So idk what happened..