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We are trying to breed bettas. This is our second batch. Both batches had the same male but different females. The first batch came out fine, the male did everything that was expected of a male and the fry are growing up great. When we we tried again, we did not get the same results. The litter was a lot larger than the first and instead of returing stray fry to the bubble nest they are all laying on the bottom. What can we do for this? The male is swimming around as if he's looking for runaways, but he's not picking any up and there are probably a hundred fry laying on the bottom that aren't dead.

The tank is a 10 gallon bare-bottom with maybe 5" of water, not even halfway full. Temperature around 82 and all other water parameters are fine. I've read how some males just don't take care of their parental duties, but he's done it before. I was just curious if anyone had any suggestions or solutions so we don't lose all the runaways.

BTW: The fry are not free swimming yet still young enough to need to be in the nest

I would raise thewater level, so he will have more time to get to them before they get to the bottom, and he wont become overwehlemed.

I agree with fish guy, it will be better for him with the water up. The eggs have a longer time to float.


Angel Eel

Since its a bigger spawn he may be just consentrating on the stronger ones, as some males will usually do. Perhaps they are weak and he has given up trying to keep them in the nest. Some of my males do this as well, but if the fry are alive they will eventually try and shoot up towards the surface, then the male will see they are alive and grab them.
I wouldn't play around with the water right now. just leave him be. If you start adding water you may disterb the nest causing either the male to get stressed or all the fry to fall. If you do decide to add water do it verrrryyy slowly and gradually.

What would happen if the fry are not placed back to the nest? I am asking this question because my male betta died and had to disturb the nest to remove him. i picked up the fry and placed them in another tank. Some are at the bootom and some swim at the top. They are three days old.

was the male given enough time to rest, or was he shipped back to a another breeding tank. when the fry don't remain in the nest, they will die.

The male was given two weeks to recover. The only reason he was used so soon was we had a female that was dropping eggs in her tank all alone. Once the male had puts the eggs into the bubble nest he had no interest in keeping up the nest. The eggs all just floated on top of the water until they hatched. Since there is no nest to hold the fry the are all lying on the bottom of the tank. They have been like this for two days now. Almost all of them are still alive. I occasionally wiggle the tank a little bit and they all swim to the top to breath then sink back to the bottom. The male is still in the tank with them and acts like he wants to take care of them but he will not re-build his nest.

I have to disagree with you on that chris. Fry will not die if they are not kept in the nest. I have had several spawns where males didn't take care of the nests and fry were all on the bottom. They all survived. The nest is mainly a place to just keep the fry together untill they can swim.