Betta Fish Eggs: Care, Hatching Time, Appearance & More

Are you a Betta owner? Are you also eagerly waiting to have the little ones in your fish tank? Are you clueless about what exactly a Betta egg looks like? Are you clueless about how long will the eggs take to hatch? These and many more of your queries will be resolved in this article.

For any pet owner be it dogs, cats, birds, or, betta the most exciting part is seeing them have their own little ones. Bettas also go through this natural process of reproducing babies and adding more color and life to the fish tank.

Where Does Betta Keep Their Eggs?

There are two types of Betta fish depending on how they keep their eggs.

• This type of Betta keeps its eggs in bubble nests which are made by the male betta.
• The second type is called mouthbrooding betta, these type of Betta keep their eggs safe by holding them in their mouths.

Related Post: Do Betta Fish Eat Their Babies?

What do Betta Eggs Look Like?

So how can one spot Betta eggs in the tank? The answer is simple, by looking carefully. Betta eggs are about 1mm in diameter and are basically white-colored balls, the balls are not perfectly round rather they are oval in shape. The mouthbrooding Betta however has eggs that are 2mm to 3 mm in size. So they are much more visible to the naked eye.

How Long do the Eggs Take To Hatch?

In normal scenarios Betta eggs take 2 to 3 days to hatch, that’s fast, isn’t it? This means that you don’t have to wait for weeks to meet the baby betta. However, for the eggs of the mouthbrooding type of betta, the hatching time is significantly more. Eggs of the Mouth-brooding type of Betta can take up to a month to hatch.

How Many Eggs Does Betta Lay?

Generally, Betta lay about 30 to 100 eggs, this number can even go up to 400! Those surely are a lot of babies to take care of.

The numbers are different for mouthbrooding type Betta. The number of eggs that these types of Betta lay lies between 10 to 20. This number seems quite manageable in front of 100 to 400 which was in the previous case. So it seems more reasonable to keep mouthbrooding types of betta in your fish tank so that the tank does not overflow with betta babies and eggs. But these types of eggs take a very long time to hatch which itself is something most owners do not like.

How Frequently do Betta Lay Eggs?

Bettas are very productive in nature which means that they are quick in reproducing. They can lay eggs after every few weeks. The productivity of a female also depends on its age and size, reproducing might be stressful for betta of around 2 to 3 months of age. A stressed and tired female takes longer to reproduce. Inexperienced male betta has difficulty fertilizing the eggs.

Related Post: Betta Fish Care

Is the egg fertile?

Not all eggs lead to betta babies. Some of the eggs are useless or infertile. It is very rare that all of the eggs in a spawn are fertile. You can spot a growing or fertile egg by looking at it closely. A fertile egg grows steadily and starts developing gray spots on itself. When the egg is about to hatch, a small fry can also be seen inside. The male betta is responsible for taking care of the eggs and they eat any infertile eggs present.

What does the Hatching Depend on?

There are different factors on which the hatching time of the eggs depends. We will now discuss some of these factors.

Good Water Quality

Water quality has a great effect on the eggs. Poor water quality has a negative effect on betta eggs. If the water has toxins or other chemicals like ammonia or nitrites, the eggs could be killed. So make sure that the water is clean and all the parameters like pH and ammonia levels are in check.

Temperature

The temperature has a direct effect on the hatch rate. So at higher temperatures, betta eggs hatch faster. 79 to 82 degrees Fahrenheit is a suitable temperature for betta eggs. But these higher temperatures are not suitable for adult betta so this must be kept in mind.

Type of Betta

As discussed above the mouthbrooding betta eggs take a month to hatch while the bubble-nested betta eggs take only 2 to 3 days to hatch. So the hatching period is obviously different for different species of Betta.

The Bottom Line on Betta Fish Eggs

So I hope after reading this article you will be better at spotting Betta eggs in your tank and also tell whether they are fertile or not. You just have to make the environment of the tank suitable for the eggs and also suitable for the young ones once they hatch. So this was all about Betta eggs. May your Betta eggs be healthy and may they hatch soon! Till next time happy fish keeping or shall, I say happy egg keeping!