She will inspect the nest and if it is up to her standards, she’ll then playfully swim with him. She will swim away too and will put her head down as submission. When they release the eggs, he will squeeze them out of her by wrapping around her middle. Then she will be very lethargic after that. You take her out after that, but sometimes you don’t notice when the “embrace” happens, so you have to watch the behaviors carefully. He’ll start collecting the eggs in his mouth and place them in the nest. You’ll see little white dots in the bubbles. Do not feed him during this time! He can go over a week without eating, so he needs to focus on watching the eggs and keeping them in the nest. It is also important that when you take out the female to keep her in a separate tank for a day or two with almond leaves and some anti fungal treatment to treat her ripped fins or any other cut she might have. The mating process can be and most of the time is rough. You can feed her once she’s away from the eggs and the male. Back to the nest.. watch the eggs and after a day, you’ll start seeing tiny, almost microscopic tails hanging from the bubbles. Get a magnifying glass to make it easier. The next day, you’ll start seeing little eyes at the top of their heads. Still keep the daddy with them as he makes sure they aren’t falling out. Once they are free-swimming, you can take him out. The fry won’t swim horizontally yet due to their swim bladder not being fully developed. During this time do not feed them. Their sacs provided them with nutrition and the microorganisms in the tank that are invisible to us are what they eat after that. Once they swim horizontal, you begin to feed them hatched baby brine shrimp, vinegar eels, paramisium and even hard boiled egg yolk. Anything left over, at the bottom of the tank, you need to take it out. They will continue to grow. Note: not every fry will make it. After a couple months, you will need to separate them because even though the grew up together, they will become territorial, especially the males.. have a plan with what you’ll do with all the new bettas
Good luck

I don’t recommend vacation block feeders. Please view the vacation guide here.

If you changed the water and it was an abrupt change (different temperature/parameters) it could have stressed your betta. He should recover.

P.S. I think he knows ,JK

Stanley. Ok to discard bubbles when cleaning tank. Henry (my Betta) came right back and built another nest…I.e. more bubbles.
Glad to know he’s happy!! 😀

If it occurred after adding new water to the tank, that’s normal it’s just oxygen bubbles and they will go away over time. If the bubbles are on the surface, it may be a bubble nest being built by the betta.

If it’s during the bubble nest building it’s likely his behavioral instinct to stay close to the nest and be territorial over it – waiting to impress a potential mate. This is evident since you said he doesn’t act this way when the nest is gone. Nothing to worry about just instinctual behavior.

Well he only acts like this when he has made a bubble nest. He floats at the top next to them for minutes on end then he swims around the tank once the and goes right back to the bubbles. When I clean the tank and all the bubbles he goes right back to the happy go lucky fish he is. But I might just be over thinking this. You can just tell me I am crazy and my fish is is just fine. If you don’t think anything I have seed is concerning