Urgent Betta question:I got a female Betta for my male one as a tank buddy.?

Question

Male keeps poking lady Betta with his pointed little nose. Will he stop this or should I get her out of there?

Answer 1

Get her out of there or he will kill her! Bettas, male or females have to be kept alone and away from each other. The only time you should keep them together is when they are mating (spawning). Even then, you need to keep them in two separate bowls or a mating tank which has a separator in the middle that can be removed. You put a male betta on one side & the female on the other. When you see the male doing a beautiful dance, the female becomes interested, then the male starts to build a nest on top of the water out of bubbles. At this time it's important to feed the female live food such as shrimp & guppies. When the nest is finished & the female is ready to give up her eggs, the separator should be removed. You will be able to tell because the male becomes very anxious to reach the female. (I even had a male who jumped the separator to get to the other side. He was successful and it was the most beautiful mating that I had ever seen. He was not at all rough with her then because they were both ready.) The male will then wrap himself around the female and start to fertilize the eggs while gently squeezing them from her. It is a beautiful thing to watch. When he has finished squeezing out all her eggs, they will start to fall to the bottom. He will then pick them up with his mouth and bring them up to the nest. It is important to remove the female at this time or she will start to eat her own eggs. The male will then continue to pick the eggs that drop & keep caring for the nest & the eggs relentlessly until they hatch. Then it's time to remove him as well or he will start to eat his own offspring. The babies can be kept together and fed until they are old enough & start to fight, then they must be separated as well. Good luck with your beauties.

EDIT: I forgot to tell you; if you are planning to mate them DO NOT put any sand or gravel in the bottom of the mating bowl/tank, otherwise the male won't be able to find the eggs!

Answer 2

You need to monitor them alot. I had 2 females with a male. They didn't work. They can work though. MY females got so mad at him that they would latch onto his fins and he would race around the tank. His fins would get bad damage. If he is like ramming her then maybe take her out, but if hes just nudging monitor then alot.

Answer 3

You shouldn't put your Betta's together unless your trying to spawn them and that takes a lot of time effort and research. GET HER OUT I'm surprised he hasn't killed her yet. Betta's are very aggressive even when they spawn they usually end up with ripped fins and missing scales.

Answer 4

This is mating /courtship behavior as the male would be trying to edge or push the female under his bubble-nest to lay eggs. Since you just added the female it is safe to assume that she is not full of eggs at this earlyy point, so I would place a tank divider in the tankor if you don't have enough room for a divider, then place the female in a bowl, jar or preferably a chimney lamp and let her stay in the tank with the male until she has dark vertical bars on her sides. This change in coloration means that she is ready to spawn. :)

Answer 5

Get her out, now.  A pair of Bettas should only be kept together while spawning.  A single betta should be kept in at least a 2.5 gallon heated tank/container.  There are fish that would be good "buddies" with him in a larger tank, but he'll be fine by himself.

If they are ready to spawn, and he's got a bubble nest, his nudging is simply trying to nudge/drive her to his nest and loosen the eggs for easy expulsion.

Answer 6

Male betta fish should always be alone or with specific fish that they wont fight with.  They fight even with females, during courtship, and can even kill the female.  You should get her a separate tank.

Answer 7

Never put 2 bettas together, even if it's male and female. The only time a male and a female betta is together is for spawning. They will fight and be stressed out, I've seen my fair share of females actually killing the male betta, and vice versa.

Answer 8

Get her out. Male Bettas are rather solitary creatures.  

Answer 9

Bad idea! The Male might kill the female. But if your lucky, maybe your male betta is showing that hes tough and maybe they'll mate some time. Its a chance I wouldn't go for.