# Baby Betta Question



## FishGuy1564 (Oct 18, 2005)

I have one question about the babies and the male betta. When should I take the male betta out of the tank? My babies were born today and he is still helping them. After how many days should I take him out?


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## darkfalz (May 7, 2006)

Feed him and you can leave him in there for quite a while, he will only eat the weak/dead fry. The only concern is water quality, an adult fish in there will make it deteriorate a bit faster. But there's no rush to take him out.


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## Christine (Nov 4, 2005)

There are two schools of thought really. Many people take the daddy out as soon as the fry are freeswimming. Other people prefer to leave dad in and let him tend fry and sort of pre-cull. If you do decide to leave dad in, be very watchful. I had one that tended great for a week. At the week mark he ate almost half the fry in one afternoon. Maybe he would have stopped, I don't know because I pulled him. I've heard people say that you will get better results with dad in as long as you have enough room for him to live comfortably with them.


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## Echo (Apr 23, 2006)

I've always heard good things about leaving the father with them, but it is very risky and I haven't been brave enough to attempt it yet. Also if you think father is eating the eggs you can go ahead and pull him out. The hatch rate won't be very high, since some of the eggs will fungus and fall to the bottom, but usually some of them make it. People usually wait about 3 days after spawning to take the male out, by that time the fry should be free swimming.


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