Thank you for having this site. This is the best one I've found, I was looking for images of Betta Splendens nests and/or fry and I clicked on the page the image was linked to,here. I have bred fish before, but not the "Siamese fighting fish" until now. They are sold everywhere in shops here, for one dollar for the old veil tails but average around 7 - 10 dollars for fancy males, around 4 to 6 dollars for the females. Watching them perform their egg fertilizing ceremony is really beautiful! The males fins somehow go into a "star" shape when he holds the female and he manages to hold that shape and float for seconds it just looks like a fish ballet! I made some videos, and also taking many pics of the eggs every 12 hrs or so. Are they fertilized? I hope so.. the bubbles seem to be expanding in size and number, and the male is getting like a mother hen, he flared out at me when I got too close to his brood of "baby chicks". He has also taken up a non-stop examination of minutiae in the gravel at the bottom of the tank. He looks in every nook, it's really cute to watch how much animals seem to "care". After all, who knows what goes on at the atomic level?
The tank itself is just in front of an east facing window, the temp is always between 74-79F and it is without heater necessary with ambient temperature (I am in Phoenix Arizona). The last time they mated, I waited about 36 hrs and one day the nest was all gone, and the male was back to his old self, I suspect I may have spooked the male, when I was trying to mix in some of that micro-food for the fry when they hatch. Or, is it common for the male to just up and destroy the nest for no good reason?
thanks