problems with aggression

[Mohan85]

Hi, I'm new to the forum and i found this site through google(thank god!) because I have a big problem!

I have a little less than a half filled 10 gallon, I put the female in a jar inside the tank.. and the male inside the tank with a floating indian almond leaf, and in 48 hours the male built a huge fantastic bubblenest.. so then i released her.. and at first they swam in S like motions and she even flared at him and chased him around for a bit but then he became very aggressive and retaliated, she lost some fins in the proccess.. he was relentlessly chasing and nipping her.. i was worried so i put her back in the jar for another 24 hours.. the next morning i come to find her with about 50 eggs in the jar! seperated from the male.. so its unfertilized ;( and i try to reintroduced her to the tank but he still became even more aggressive so i put her back in the vase and i try to reintroduce her every few hours and its the same thing.. she even swims to his bubblenest floating under there as if to signal shes ready but all he does is just comes by and cases her trying to attack her and she frequently ends up at the bottom of the tank exhausted... what should i do? oh and they've been condition with frozen bloodworms for 3 weeks.. so im really disappointed about this

[indjo]

HI, welcome to the forum.

You will kill your female that way. Once your female has laid her eggs, she won't want to breed for a few days. It's best to separate them and recondition for another week or two. Don't let them see each other during the conditioning period. Then retry breeding.

Use A LOT of plants for the female's getaway. Don't use hideouts where the male can easily follow. IMO they're useless. Next time once you decide to release the female, let nature take its course. But watch her and make sure she doesn't get too badly beaten.

While you re-condition your pair, it would be a good idea to read the stickies.

Good Luck.

[Oldfishlady]

Welcome to the forum...bummer...premature egg drops.....

Do you have lots of live or even fake plants you can add to the spawning tank and add a bit more water to the tank too....with really aggressive breeders sometimes more volume and lots of plants can help keep the non-aggressive one safer.......you need the tank crammed full of plants....

Remove both the male and female to separate container and mass feed live food for 3 days and then add both to the tank at the same time without acclimating them....a little shock can help and not allowing the male to establish territory can help too with aggression issue....as long as you have plenty of plants crammed in the tank to keep the female safe...the plants will work as a natural divider and prevent premature egg drops......when she is ready to spawn she will go to the male in a head down position....he may attack her a couple of more times...but she will come back.....this is normal spawning behavior

It is normal to have some level of aggression...nip/torn fins on either of the Betta during the spawning process....as long as the female can get away from the male to rest on occasion.....leave them to together and try not to disturb them.......

Water level is for the male since poorly conditioned males can tire easily from retrieving eggs/fry to and from the nest...it has nothing to do with eggs and development......

Good luck and keep us posted....we want pics....lol....

[PitGurl]

I've found that oak leaves sitting on the bottom of the tank are great cover for the female and they add tannins to the water an extra +.

[betta lover1507]

i had that problem too . but i didn't conditioned them right, i think i didn't conditioned them right and this male i tried to breed is just he is so darn evil. so i tried another pair i conditioned them for two weeks now i have wigglers, i think it might be conditioning problems, or the male is to aggressive. so if you do have another you can try them and condition them for 2-3 weeks. hope this helped

[Mohan85]

thanks for the responses. I will seperated them and recondition them for another 3 days like Oldfishlady said and i'll add more plants to the tank this time. sheesh it wasn't this hard the first time, i don't know what his problem was this time but this is what he did to her

[Oldfishlady]

Nice looking female and that looks like a normal amount of damage for first time breeders......

[indjo]

Every male has his own personality; some more docile than others. In fact one male may act differently during each spawn. It's always best to take extreme caution specially when spawning males for the first time......betta safe than sorry. lol.

[Mohan85]

Originally Posted by Oldfishlady

Nice looking female and that looks like a normal amount of damage for first time breeders......

ah i see, i wasn't too sure cause i'm still a little new at this. but that does make me a feel a little better.

He didn't beat her up this bad the first time i spawned them so thats why i got a little worried this time.. but its interesting what indjo said.. each male can have a different personality each spawn.. which seems to be the case.. cause he's alot more mean this time around..
it kinda sucks too i can't see the stripes on the female cause she's too bright.. i have to judge everything on her behaviour..

[Oldfishlady]

So true what Indjo said too....both the male and female can be different from spawn to spawn even with the same pair....they love to keep us on our toes...laffs.....

In my experience...its better to judge readiness-more by the behavior anyway.....since I spawn my Bettas using a more natural method...... I let the Bettas judge each other....lol....I figure they know more than I do...lol....I just provide everything and let them do the work...I just watch....laffs....