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How Do Betta Fish Reproduce? Here’s The Answer!

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By Lindsey Stanton

male and female plakat betta fish

Betta fish are beautiful, elegant, and wildly entertaining fish to have in your home. In our opinion they are probably the very best pet fish that you could possibly own. There are many things to know about the betta fish, but today we are here to talk about how they reproduce. So, how do betta fish reproduce to keep the fighting fish generations going?

So, How Do Betta Fish Reproduce?

Ok, so the low down here is that betta fish reproduce in the same way as all other fish do. First the female squeezes out her eggs, then the male swims over to them, sprays sperm on them, and thus fertilizes them. To be exact, when it comes to betta fish, the male will wrap himself around the female and actually squeeze the eggs out for her.

After the male does this he will chase the female away and spray his sperm onto the eggs in order to fertilize them. The process is really not any different from other fish out there.

How To Get The Male And Female Betta Fish To Mate

male and female thai betta fish
Image Credit: subin pumsom, Shutterstock

Since these fish usually live in a tropical area, they will decide to lay eggs and spawn at pretty much any time of the year, and this can be totally at random. The time of year, water temperature, and other factors really do not play a very big role here (more on Betta temperatures here).

You should place the male and female betta fish in the same tank, but be sure to put a divider in between them because these are betta fish and they will probably fight.

Betta Fish Reproduction

Chances are that if the male and female see each other, their subconscious biological routines will kick in, meaning that the female may begin to display vertical stripes and might even start shedding eggs. The female may begin to shed eggs at random without mating, which is normal, so don’t be alarmed. It also means that the male will start building what is called a bubble nest, which is where the female will lay the eggs.

Make sure that the fish can see each other in the tank, but not get to one another, that being until they used to each other and well acquainted. At this time you can move the female into the male’s tank. When you do put them in the same tank, make sure that there are plenty of plants and hiding places so the female can hide. The male will still act territorial towards the female so she will need hiding places without a doubt.

Once they are together, the male should lead the female over to the bubble nest which he previously built. Then he will squeeze the eggs out of the female and fertilize them. Surprisingly enough, the male is the one who will look after the eggs and the nest until the fish eggs hatch into little betta fish fry.

The male will also protect the betta fish fry for a certain amount of time until they can fend for themselves. The betta fish should be separated once they begin to reach maturity because daddy will not be friendly to the little ones, and they won’t be friendly towards each other either.

Image By: uxtern, Shutterstock

How Do Betta Fish Mate? (Video)

If you are wondering how do beta fish reproduce then this video provides a really interesting visual of the reproduction process:

tropical fish 2 divider

Summing Up

The most important thing to keep in mind is that these fish are very aggressive towards each other, so when trying to get them to mate, you need to take all of the necessary precautions so they don’t end up killing each other before they get a chance to mate.


Featured Image Credit: N.R.A. Seno Aji, Shutterstock

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