Betta Fish Egg Laying – The Complete Guide

If you are looking to breed your favorite betta pets in order to give life to amazing little babies, you are certainly exploring various options for such a process.

Although these fish require substantially ideal conditions to procreate, it is not a mission impossible, even for inexperienced owners. With some devotion and a few handy tricks in mind, you may be facing several betta fries around your home soon.

To help you out with all important data at one place, here comes the complete guide on betta fish egg-laying.

Betta Fish Egg Laying Process

The betta fish egg-laying process may seem complicated at first, but it is in fact quite simple once the ideal conditions are met. The process itself consists of a few phases.

1. Betta Pair

The pair which you choose to breed should be carefully selected. Both male and female specimens need to be healthy, featuring no illness or injury, and should be between 4 and 14 months old.

Next, they should be placed into a separate breeding tank, with the female being gently introduced once the male gets acknowledged of his new territory. The best way to obtain that is by placing your female betta into a separate plastic container, so they can see each other but without the possibility of fighting.

Once your male starts flaring and featuring vibrant colors and your female begins to form dark vertical stripes and a small white tube (ovipositor), they are ready to breed.

2. Bubble Nest

Before mating, the male specimen will form a bubble nest at the top surface of the tank. These are basically tiny air bubbles coated in his saliva, with the main intention of protecting the eggs until they are ready to hatch.

Each bubble nest is individually designed, so you will know that it is fully constructed when he simply stops working on it. However, a general time expectancy is up to a full day.

Next, once your female betta decides that she likes the just constructed nest, she will let him know by simply spending some time under the bubbles. And finally, the mating process may begin.

3. Laying the Eggs

Once you offer your pets enough privacy and they terminate their spectacular mating dance, the female will lay her eggs immediately after the first mating attempt or she will require several other tries.

Therefore, such a process may take anywhere from a couple of minutes to several hours. Even if you need to leave your pets undisturbed, you should carefully monitor them from a safe distance and intervene once they are done.

Indeed, you will have to remove the female betta from the tank as soon as you notice her male companion collecting all of their eggs and placing them safely under the net.

It is vitally important to remove the female at this point, as you may otherwise be risking either your female to eat the eggs or your male becoming aggressively territorial towards her.

4. Guarding the Eggs & Fry

During the next couple of days, you will see your male betta diligently taking care of the eggs. Indeed, he will happily collect those who manage to fall out of the nest and return them to their safety bubbles. He may also dispose all unfertilized eggs by eating them.

Once the eggs hatch, the male will still be a caring father and will carefully bring back to the bubble nest all the fries as they start falling down.

At this point, they are still unable of swimming on their own and require therefore the attention from their dad. However, as soon as you notice babies swimming around the tank, it is a good time to lead the male betta back into his permanent tank.

From now on, you are the only keeper of your baby bettas, and you should feed them with nutritious meals until they grow up and are able of feeding on solid food, for approximately two months.

Once they are developed into mini betta fish, they should be placed into individual homes or they may otherwise start attacking each other.

How Many Eggs do Bettas Lay at Once?

Most adult betta fish lay anywhere from 10 to 40 eggs at once, although there have been several reported cases of even 500 eggs from a single female. However, to obtain such large numbers, they require extra professional care.

How Often Can Bettas Lay Eggs?

A healthy and strong female betta can generally lay eggs every couple of weeks. However, this only happens under ideal circumstances, with one of them being the strength of the male as well. Otherwise, he will not be able to fertilize eggs.

Can Female Betta Lay Eggs Without a Male?

Yes, female bettas can lay eggs without a male specimen. Or, more precisely, to release them instead of absorbing them. However, such eggs are not fertilized and therefore cannot hatch into baby fries.

Do You Remove Bettas After Laying Eggs?

Yes, but not at the same time. Firstly, you need to remove your female betta only, immediately after she releases the eggs. Otherwise, you may be risking her eating them out.

As soon as they hatch and the fries start swimming on their own, you should also remove the male betta from such a tank.

If you fail to do so, he may become aggressively territorial towards his babies.

Wrapping Up

Betta fish are among the most amazing little intelligent pets and it is no surprise that many owners wish to breed them. Indeed, matching two of your favorite specimens may sometimes lead to surprisingly new coloration and even mesmerizing tail shapes.

If you are thinking of giving life to new betta babies, it is not such a complicated task. The most important things are to create ideal breeding conditions and to closely monitor the entire process.

And remember, your betta babies will need to be placed into new permanent tanks once they grow up, so please think of finding them a suitable home before even starting to breed your pets.