Male eating the eggs?

[bettaboyshiva]

Oh well im very angry at my red HM betta at the moment he started eating his nest of eggs that he spent so much time putting together about a day ago...he was well fed! this is what i cant understand ! the water is clear ! i dont know why! im jus wanting to sell his little inexperienced ass atm! so many eggs he ate already i think its cuz he is inexperienced ..tell me what u guys think.... its so strange! what could be the problem? This is the first male betta i ever had that ever did this...i moved him and i have a good amount of the eggs remaining i know the chance of the offspring living is slim.

[Sakura8]

The eggs are better of unattended than eaten, if you ask me. Get his egg-eating butt out of there would be my advice but I haven't bred bettas before so you may want to wait for a second opinion. And don't feed him for a day, he'll be full enough after having eaten his kids.

[Oldfishlady]

The male will eat bad eggs, unfertile...etc.... and this is what you want them to do....they will also eat good eggs/fry when they feel the nest is threatened......their instinct tells them to use that protein for energy so they can spawn again later when it is safe and why it is so important to keep hands or too much disturbance in the spawning tank especially with a first time breeder.....and then you also have males that will eat eggs no matter what and you have to artificial hatch the eggs......

[bettaboyshiva]

well i took him out yesterday evening and when i woke up this morining the remaining cluster of eggs hatched!! i didn't disturb the nest so they all bundled up close with their tails hanging down below the surface of the water and their lil heads touching the top of the water some already darting around randomly .....i hope they live now and dont sink beacuse i think the father supposed to scoupe them up and bring them to the top for oxygen etc if then can swim straight enough to get to the top...i counted the remaining fry and i checked about 35 give or take...its far less than the amount he ate oh well ...cant do anything now but wait and see what happens..

[Oldfishlady]

They should be fine...they haven't developed the labyrinth organ at this stage so they get oxygen from the water via gills.....

Congrats...look forward to pics.....

[bettaboyshiva]

Originally Posted by Oldfishlady

They should be fine...they haven't developed the labyrinth organ at this stage so they get oxygen from the water via gills.....

Congrats...look forward to pics.....

Thanx, :] well i have 3 set of baby bettas to care for now 2 batches of CT's and this batch of half breeds HM/CT i hope they all live i know its highly unlikely but i really take good care of them so far they seem to be ok jus checked on them