failed spawn, why?

there are a couple of reasons why some spawns failed. here are some reasons and story about them (we thought we better post this to answer some of most-common questions we've got!)

first of all, let's assume nothing wrong with the male nor female genetically. if you try to spawn a pure black melano female, then you're out of luck. you better spend your time and effort watching the grass grows, at least you'll see result that way :)

so let's start....failure could simply be because they are just not compatible. you've heard funny story as "they just be good friends there" when the male and female seemed to be quite happy together and not knowing that they are supposed to do something (or at least pretended to do something when a pair of human eyes keep watching them). this simply means the male and female are not ready. perhaps because they're too young, or they are just not attracted to one another. bettas are like human too you know....if the opponent is considered ugly, they're not doing it (but some bettas are more than willing to spawn with anything!). if you discovered that your betta is a let's-be-friend, then your best course of action is to call off the wedding, cause there won't be any! find another partner that is more suitable. how do you know if they're suitable? try to put the female in a tank with lots of males (caged), see which male that the female has "chosen". she'll flare her heart out to the most attractive male ;).... do the reverse to the male, if you'd like to choose bride for him

some have complained that their bettas are spawning, but none of the eggs hatched. sometimes the male even ended up eating all eggs, or he's just going to leave the eggs falling on the floor without bothering to pick them up anymore. sometimes you know the reason why the spawn failed - maybe they never wrapped after all, the female kept dropping her eggs. egg dropper is simpler to answer, it means either the male or the female has no experience in spawning. it could be that they are to be blamed, but most commonly it is YOU who needs to be blamed. they are inexperienced because they are too young....we have some buyers reporting this to us despite we've been telling them "big body doesn't mean they're ready to spawn". funny sometimes that people associate betta's size with their age. it maybe true for 'standard' bettas, but when they are dealing with giants, it's all different story!

anyway, what would you do with failed spawning due to egg dropping? you've got 2 choices: either you wait till they are mature enough and let them try it out again, or you find a much more experienced partner for them, so they can learn from the best ;).... unfortunately, sometimes fish can pick up "bad" habbit too...particularly the egg dropper female. she hasn't learned how to control her egg-release-valve (doh! what a term!) so that the next time she tries spawning, she may just conviniently drop eggs again. if you notice this, then you really have to get an expert male to teach her spawning lesson.

sometimes, the male and female are very much attracted to each other, but a week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks passed and still nada....this could be, usually, because they are equivalent strength. the male needs to show to the female that he's the "boss", more macho, stronger, and more than capable to take care of her babies. a sissy male will not be respected by a strong female, hence no spawning. if you have a gentle female, then sissy male perhaps sufficient. but if you have strong female (and many giant females are super strong!!), then you need stronger male. that's why in most spawning you see female's fins got torn, not because they enjoy the nipping, it's because it is a ritual for them - to show that the male is capable. if you're of weak heart seeing how the male chased and torn female's fin, then hopefully knowing the above helps you in appreciating their ritual - otherwise you really shouldn't spawn bettas!

sometimes you notice that they won't spawn cause there is no bubblenest in the tank. if this is the case, then you haven't provided the best place for them to spawn! is your tank too humid? too windy? is the water temperature is too low or too high? make sure you've got a perfect tank before attempting spawning, otherwise you're wasting everyone's time (and the poor male could be trying to blow his mouth without any result!). if you ignore this condition, you will end up with male "giving up" and learn that there is no point to blow the bubble anymore. this could have very bad influence on him on future spawning.

another reason for fail spawn, though happens infrequently, is due to the bugger's age...your bettas maybe too old!! they may wrap, they may have eggs, but most eggs could go fungus fairly quick. unfortunately, nothing you could do about this. though, you can try to find another partner for them and keep trying, perhaps you get some success....

so, what do we think of the best age to spawn bettas? in our experience, the best age would be around 5 or 6 months old, upto about 8 months....young bettas, if they are very active, can be spawned as early as 2 to 2.5 months (we did this and others have also done this). oldest bettas that we've spawned were around 1 year 3 month to 1 year 4 months old. again, this heavily depend on the type of bettas you've got, their body and agressiveness, etc.

choosing good male and female is crucial on any spawning. the male has to be larger or more agressive than the female. we've spawned smaller male to female ratio successfully, so we know that can be done, but this is a tough job for the male, cause he has to know the good technique to properly wrapped the female - and most males sux on knowing this! hence, it is much easier to find a larger male to ensure you've got successful spawning ;)........

as for giant short fin, spawning can be totally different game. some fish will be smooth and you aint see any difference between them and your traditional short fin. but for most giant short fin, spawning is a difficult task (go and ask other experts, they'll tell you the same!). the reason is because their body size (or rather their thickness) makes them very difficult to be wrapped. Most giant males can't wrap big-momma female. that's why if you try to buy giants from overseas, they will send you a much smaller female (well, there are many reasons why they send you smaller female, and this is one of the reasons). smaller female ensures that your male can always wrap her!

hope this helps you address your fish spawning difficulties. if you have some other peculiar cases, let us know, happy to add more stories to this blog.