[Sincerely]

So I decided to make this thread for a good reason.

My female, Wicca has made a HUGE bubblenest after I placed her in a jar of her own due to aggression issues she was having in the sorority after having her in the community for over five months with NO aggression issues. This suddenly cropped up and I have no idea what to do with her except keep her now in a solitary jar because before I removed her from the sorority she nipped two of the other members.

So I have two questions (because I really couldn't find any good information on this anywhere)

1. Is a female making a bubblenest an indication that she is wanting to breed? Or is she just having a testosterone fueled PMS?

2. If I did breed her (She is about eight months old) is that too old for breeding? I've heard some people have bred fish older than this but its usually a male instead of a female.

-Sincerely

Pictures (Sorry if they are large)

Picture of Wicca when she came from Basement Betta, picture by Basement Betta. She has grown out and now has a very easy 180 spread, she is my favorite female and I would love to breed her, I just dont know if I should or not.

 

[Crowntailed]

A bubble nest doesn't meen they want to breed it just means there happy.

 

[Sincerely]

I have read about some females creating bubble nests and then placing unfertilized eggs into it. The reason I am concerned is because she has never exhibited this behavior prior to this episode. Not only that, she flares and is very aggressive towards other bettas, whether it be male or female (I placed her jar next to Pandora then next to Numa and she was flaring the entire time with her following the movements of the other betta in full flare, she used to be the most passive betta I owned and now she has become a little devil.)

This sudden turnaround in behavior is what is concerning me.

 

[lvandert]

basement bettas is pretty darn good about sexing but you never know, it could be a male. The fish in to top pic looks like he's got the head of a boy and the fins have grown. maybe its just the play of the light. Young males can have an egg spot and breeding stripes. My boy did...

 

[MyRainbowBettaFish]

it means they are happy and healthy, i am pretty sure females CAN make them too, but it is not as likely...

 

[Sincerely]

She is definitely a female, she still exhibits an egg spot and now appears like she is swelling up with eggs. I do not know if she is thinking she can have a spawn all by herself or what but she is maintaining the size of it. Also, I have read females create smaller bubbles than males and this is definitely true with her nest. I will try to get a better picture of her when I come home today.

 

[lvandert]

lol silly girly. Maybe she is thinking she can do it herself

 

[Curlyfatbottom]

post recent close up pix of your female
the two fish don't look alike

the first only look like a male
blue/dirty butterfly

 

[Luimeril]

i had a female who, every few weeks, would swell with eggs, then build a bubble nest, drop her eggs, eat most of them, and place a few into the nest. she would then tend to it for about a day before eating the rest of the eggs.

my female delta, Medic, would build large bubble nests, and did so all the time until she got Dropsy. they weren't as large as my male's, but she'd build them constantly.

i say she's a good candidate for breeding. you just might want to take your time conditioning her, and asking the good breeders on here for advice on breeding aggressive females. :V

 

[Sincerely]

My lighting for her right now is bad, she is green. Also, this is her at eight months old, her pictures from Basement Bettas was when she was three months old. The ends of her fins have grown out into a white band.
(Picture of when she was in the sorority and her real color)

(Pictures showing her form)

 

[betta lover1507]

i heard it is also a scarce case and i never saw such a big one from a female before :shock: her fins also show that there growing still by the colorless fins on her tips. possibly a male, but am still not a %100 percent :\ aggressive-ness is natural for betta's, not all are the same.

 

[tpocicat]

Male or female, (can't really tell) the betta is beautiful.

 

[Delta]

I think it's just instincts telling her to build a nest. Sometimes the female will help add to the male's nest during spawning. Maybe she just had a bunch of eggs in her that she wanted to get rid of. And then built a bubble nest to go along with it?

I dunno. Are you positive she's a female? One of my old Plakats had a false eggspot his whole life.

 

[Sincerely]

Wicca (Thinking of changing her name to Wicked) is a girl, I am 100% certain on that fact, Her fins are no longer growing either. She just ended up with a white band on the edge of her fins instead of staying solid green, Im thinking about setting up photo lighting just so you can see how much of a lovely girl she is.

Just so we can bounce back to the main point of this thread. Should I "attempt" to breed her down the line? Wicca is eight months old but she is so fiesty about this I am considering doing it before the chance is lost entirely.

-Sincerely

 

[BeckyFish97]

Ok so firstly, Either she has super long fins, or she's a he, secondly beautiful, thirdly I was reading somewhere a while back about how some females mimic the bubblenesting of the male, and how they seem to be more prone to doing it if they have been raised in a jar next to a male and have had a full view all the time.Yes you could breed her, but be careful because if she is a he you could end up with two dead males, and obviously you don't want that!!!I find it easier to breed when they are under a year, but breeding after that is not impossible!!!

 

[Delta]

Well if you're planning on entering the fry in shows I wouldn't. Females with too much "male finnage" have lots of points marked off. And another concern is, you said she's feisty? If she's hostile I wouldn't want to breed her. She might tear up the the male's fins more than usual in a spawning.

 

[Sincerely]

She carries DT in her, so that may help to explain her finnage (I personally love it) Also, she has been living in the sorority ever since I received her with virtually no contact with males except when she would see Kanki in the spawning tank when I was conditioning him (He would flare at the girls through this tiny crack that he managed to find), this aggressive behavior just cropped up recently so maybe she is attempting to assert dominance?

The dominant female of my sorority is an old gal about a year old or so and kept to the top of the pecking order just because of her sheer size that she is able to throw around, the strange thing is she is not aggressive in the least but because Wicca is the second oldest maybe she wants to be alpha now? I have watched the both of them flare off but then part ways peacefully before I removed Wicca, Wicca actually nipped the youngest members of the group who are non-agnostic as well.

I'm just so confuzzled about all of this :-?.

As a youngster she had good form for shows (I believe) but as with all bettas she grew out and now has more fin than what she used to.

-Sincerely

 

[Crowntailed]

I wouldn't breed she just doesn't seem very good fins...

 

[Luimeril]

she has good fins in my book. :V i'm still learning fins, but with the right male, she could male some purdy babies. :B her anal and tail are almost exactly the same size, which, according to a breeder, are what you look for in HMs.

saying she's too aggressive for breeding is like saying some males are. :I they're not too aggressive, they just need the right kind of conditioning. i know a breeder who had a female who she REALLY wanted to breed. but she'd kill every male she paired her with. didn't stop her, she just had to condition her JUST RIGHT. she eventually found a male who she'd spawn with, it just took a while, and a different method of spawning and conditioning.

 

[TheCheese909]

Well you CAN keep a male Betta in a tank with girls.. It's not impossible, usually a difficult but it can be done. I haven't but a close friend of mine had her male VT in a 10 gallon and added 2 females. Not to breed, but just to have them together. They never fought and were all happy together for months. So it's not impossible that your little girl is a boy.. I'm not saying she is, but you never know. The more recent photos I see of her, I would say she is a he.. You never know though.