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Ive seen a couple videos over the internet of the males attacking the female as part of their "breeding" and "spawning" process...

My question is, how much damage is too much damage? When should I be concerned about the male doing too much damage to my female?

Is it a normal, part of the breeding courtship for the male to rip the females fins?

When is it too much?

Bettas do sometimes rip each others fins its true, but equally some courtships go well completely without, and its not the most auspicious sign. Often its the males that get shown the door by a female nipping their fins, and TBH the males recover fin tissue much better than females. The odd nip you expect, but dont let a female get short on fins or too stressed, if its impairing the swimming ability its gone far too far, and you dont want fin rays lost too close the body, because they may never grow back.

If theyre fighting that much perhaps give them a break from each other, a little more breeding preconditioning with livefood and try them again later.

From the sounds of it your females might have other issues to contend with at the moment , and it isnt right to expect them to perform well under such conditions. For instance you might need to find out exactly why they are leaping out of the water before commencing breeding. If somethingis causing fear, irritation, or illness they wont be in the mood to breed.
You might also conceivably have a hyperaggressive male who is not suitable for breeding, or perhaps their unreceptivity is making him frustrated and more aggressive. Perhaps the male himself does not impress, perhaps hes too small or too young, and the females wont accept him. This is a species that will show partner selection.

Give them a break from breeding and try them again in a few weeks. Let everybody heal up and get in the mood again.

To me any aggression by one fish towards another fish is too much especially if any damage is done it could easly end up with a dead fish in your tank. This is certainly not what you want if you are trying to get a breeding pair.

Certainly seperate the female and give a little TLC plus possible some Pimafix and Melafix before any infections set in. The Melafix will help to reduce any stress.

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There are a few signs that things are too much.

A female that is still getting regularly attacked while she is hiding is too much.

Males aiming at the eyes and body is not on. The end 1/3 of fins are fair game, but everything else is off limits. Blown fins (where the tail just tears down the webbing from over-stretching with flaring) or split tails are also OK, but you still don't want to too close to the base of the tail as that is how you get infections.

A female that is so exhausted she is losing her ability to swim or breathe is way too much.


If the aggressive behaviour lasts longer than 12 hours (and I am by no means saying that you should wait that long if he is causing serious damage as above), they are not ready. Either she is not happy, or he is not happy, but either way, for that behaviour they need at least 4 days off (if you re-jar in the male's tank, 2 weeks if you change her back to tank).

Recheck your tank and see if anything can be adjusted to make it more suitable for spawning (temperature, cycle, IAL, humidity etc).

EDIT: Oh, and DON'T add melafix or pimafix to the spawning tank while you are trying to get them to breed, it buggers with the surface tension and obliterates bubble nests . If you need to use something in that tank while you require the next to be intact (to treat an injured male while he is nursing a spawn for example) use either IAL or TC as both seem to increase the nest ability to stay together.

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

i usually dont allow it to go that far. Very rarely will my females get little if any fin damage. The best way to avoid problems is by control the breeding. Release the female for only a few minutes at a time. If you male is chasing the female and attacking the body, then you know it is a good time to remove her.

But thats just me, other people have great success by letting the female get ripped up by the male. Either way is fine,

but when the male isnt even trying to court her, is when she should be removed.

I hear you guys....

I think this male might be overagressive.....he dances around and struts his stuff but the two times hes been near a female, he really goes after her and simply corners her. Once the fins begin to show signs of the attack its freaked me out so Ive taken her out. I think I will try with another male in a couple of weeks.

Sounds like a good plan

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett