[dobedobedooo]

I want to try the leaving-father-with-fry method. So, I had the female in a transparent plastic pet suspended in the male's tank and I was going to let her out after one more day, but as I walked by, I saw her releasing eggs alone, just by herself. So, I immediately let her out. During the mating ritual the male just couldn't grab her, but in his attempt, he remained curved, like in an embrace without the female. She was releasing eggs without being squeezed by him. Also she rushed to collect them while he was stunned in his embracing position. She placed the eggs into the nest and continued asking for embraces. It's like things got reversed. Is it possible that the eggs are still fertilized? I'm so curious if someone else had noticed such behavior.

 

[kevinap2]

When they mate, they wrap. They don't squeeze. It's just a position, if you will. If they weren't locked into the proper position, it is most likely that those eggs are not fertilized, and will probably be eaten by the male as he is tending the nest so they don't fungus and ruin any eggs that are fertilized.

 

[lilnaugrim]

Agreed with kevin.

I've had females get too excited and release early. You'll have to recondition them, I think a week is sufficient IIRC and try again. If you see them flirting right away then release her right away. As long as they're flirting, you can release any time.

 

[dobedobedooo]

Thank you both. I'll keep that in mind. I also have another question, or two:
1 - is it safe to try to breed a 3 months old male and a maybe 6 (or more) months old female? She's twice his size, but they flare and this one also released eggs while contained and he didn't build a nest yet. Is she going to hurt him because he is young?
2 - Should I present him 2 or more females (contained) to choose, and if so, how do I know which one is the chosen one? You see, I did this with 2 females and I couldn't tell. He flared the same for both of them. So while I was trying to decide one released eggs and then I moved the other one with the young male and this morning there were eggs in her container too.

 

[BettaMummy87]

Size is the issue rather than the age. He will have a hard time wrapping a female doube his size.

And no, better just to use one, I think. Male bettas rarely show a preference. Pick which will make the better fry with the dad, colour or formwise. If he is not interested in her, remove her for a few days, keep the conditioning and try again. If he refuses the same female several times, try a new female.

 

[lilnaugrim]

You also don't want to breed males too young since they can still change as they get older. 3 months, while they are usually sexually mature, they may grow more and you find there is something you don't like about him like severe overbranching, or his color changes or something like that. Unless you don't care about it, I wouldn't breed too early. And yes, of course the size, he needs to at least be able to wrap her properly.

 

[dobedobedooo]

Guys, the size is a problem nowadays in my tanks. I bought both the male and the females 2 weeks apart, four months ago. The thing is both females got twice the size of my male. The young male is the son of the first male with one of the females. I wonder why my boy didn't grow as much as the females. I have them from different sources. The females are sisters (not sure what tail type) and he's a HM or Rosetail. You can see him in my albums. What should I do? I can't pump him up or shrink them.

 

[BettaMummy87]

So has he succesfully bred with these females before? Were they of a size with each other then?

Which are you trying to breed now? The father or the young male?

 

[dobedobedooo]

Yes, he did. His name is Azuric (my son named him like that...) I had 60 babies when I moved them in the big tank, but I have no idea why, some of them died, and I guess the small ones got eaten so now I only have 15. I tried to breed again Azuric with the same female, but she's now twice his size. She's the one that released the eggs by herself in the container. As soon as I noticed, I immediately released her and she's the one that afterwards gathered the eggs and placed them into the nest while he remained like in a trance, curved like he was embracing her. The other female I intended to breed her with Azuric's biggest son, but I'm postponing that for a later time.
Oh, and yes, they were the same size at the time the first breeding attempt happened. It was just happening. I mean I wanted to have Betta babies, but I had no idea about anything. Meanwhile, from 1 small tank I now have 4: 2 big ones and 2 small ones. I'm hooked for good!