What can I expect when breeding my betta fish?
• expect the female betta fish to get a bit battered and bruised – which is why you need to be vigilant (similar to Syrian hamster breeding) and fish her out if she doesn’t like his aggression and doesn’t approve of his ‘amorous’ advances. Give her a few days to recover and try again. • if they are ready for each other, you will notice what’s commonly called ‘the embrace’ where the male betta fish wraps his body around the female and appears to be ‘hugging the eggs out of her’ – as she spawns, he releases his sperm to fertilize them. Then he will start his daddy duty (just like the penguins I must add) and care for the young. As soon as he has released her and is busy scooping up eggs with his mouth and popping them into his bubble nest, scoop the female betta out of the tank – that’s it for her really. • 3. in the next 2 days, the male betta will be tending to the brood and scooping whatever eggs fall out of the bubble nest and returning them to the surface again. Quite fascinating to
