# Female Betta died...



## Lanette001 (Apr 7, 2011)

Hello!

I have a male betta and he is very happy with no problems 

However, I purchased a female betta just for fun. No, I did not put them together. I didn't want to spawn them and I didn't want them to fight so I kept them separate. Well, the female inevitably (well maybe not inevitably) saw the male and then she got the stripe and filled with eggs, or whatever the terms are. Anyway, she wanted to spawn. My male showed absolutely no interest, he is older anyway and like I said I really didn't want to spawn them.

Not too long after she died with her belly area still very round with eggs. Since I got her from the store, she didn't eat, she moped around sometimes and other times she was pretty active and swimming, she didn't hardly respond to me either. However, her fins were fine and she looked very healthy. On the last night before she died she couldn't even stay in one spot in the water. I looked up SBD, but I'm not sure if that was it or not because she had been swimming fine every now and then.

Basically, after all of that, my question is: Can I keep a female betta even if she has eggs and wants to spawn? Do they die if they don't spawn? What could have been the cause? 

I like female bettas, I think there is an unappreciated beauty in them because everyone wants a long finned male betta. The females get little attention, but I like them  However, I don't want to kill them!


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## Bettawhisperer (Oct 1, 2010)

Carrying eggs will not kill a female. I have many females that have never been bred. Sounds to me the she was bloated or she may have been sick when you got her but I would go with SBD.


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## Lanette001 (Apr 7, 2011)

Okay, well I am glad that I can try again with another female


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## Bettawhisperer (Oct 1, 2010)

Yes do but cut back on the feeding. If your feeding pellets feed only 4 in the morning and 4 in the evening.


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## Lanette001 (Apr 7, 2011)

She never actually ate, though. I couldn't feed her much because I didn't want it to mess up the water so I only gave her one flake at a time. Then I called the store to find out what they had been feeding her to see if I could get her to eat with what she was used to. They had fed her freeze dried bloodworms. I tried one of those but she didn't eat it. I also tried frozen foods and she didn't eat that either. Sad fishy


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## Bettawhisperer (Oct 1, 2010)

If she was like that when you got her it sounds like she was sick already. Also one flake of food is not enough. When you get another one get the pellets and feed the way I said. Also you may want to treat her with some meds when you get it home just incase they are sick from the store.


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## Lanette001 (Apr 7, 2011)

Ya, Claude (my male) gets more than one flake. I only gave her one flake because she wouldn't eat and I didn't want too much in there to foul up the water. If she would have eaten that one I would have given her more. But there is no sense in wasting food if she won't eat it. Claude won't eat pellets, so I just have flake food along with freeze dried bloodworms and frozen foods.

That is a good idea about treating straight from the store. I didn't think anything about that!


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