Betta fish have consistently been ranking within the top five most commonly kept pet fish for decades now and their popularity is only increasing with each year that passes.
This is partly due to how easy it is to care for betta fish compared to some other fish species as well as the prices of the rarer, unique colors and patterns for betta fish coming down in recent years.
This has resulted in an increase in the number of people keeping female betta sorority tanks with a male betta in another tank to try their hand at breeding betta fish.
In turn, this has then resulted in a spike in the number of people reaching out and asking how to make a female betta produce eggs.
There are a number of different variables that you have to factor in to get your female betta fish to produce eggs so we have collected all of the commonly asked questions about this and decided to answer them in this article.
Our hope is that we will be able to help as many of our readers not only get their female betta fish to produce eggs but to also increase the number of eggs that she will produce.
How Old Does A Female Betta Fish Have To Be To Produce Eggs?
Female betta fish are usually able to start producing eggs when they get to four months of age but some female bettas may take as long as eight months.
Female betta fish are usually considered to be at their breeding peak at between four and twelve months of age with egg production being easier on the fish with her also producing high numbers of eggs.
Older female betta fish are still able to produce eggs but the total number of eggs that she will produce does start to rapidly decrease from around 300 down to around 30.
This can make it safer for the female betta to produce her eggs though as the younger she is, the more eggs she will produce, and the more likely she is to become egg bound.
If you do notice this then our article on how to help a female betta that is full of eggs may be helpful to you.
Although it won’t usually matter much, the younger a female betta fish is, the higher quality her eggs will be meaning it is easier for the male betta fish to fertilize them too.
The quality of the eggs will reduce as the female betta ages but due to releasing so many eggs, it is still highly likely that the male betta will be able to fertilize a large number of the eggs she releases.
How Long Does It Take For A Female Betta To Produce Eggs?
Once a female betta fish reaches between four and eight months of age she will usually start to produce eggs.
It will usually take a couple of days for the female betta to actually produce her eggs but it will usually take around two weeks for her to release them without a male betta fish present.
If you do have a male in a breeding tank with her who has built a bubble nest then she may start to release her eggs immediately.
The first time a female betta fish does produce eggs it can be a learning experience for her so she may try to hold her eggs for as long as four weeks before releasing them without having a male betta fish present.
In addition to that, the first set of eggs can have a higher chance of causing the betta fish to become egg bound too due to the female bettas ovaries and ovipositor not being fully developed yet.
Unfortunately, there is nothing you are able to do about this other than treat her if she does become egg bound.
Once the female betta fish is ready to produce eggs she will usually start her egg production anyway even if her ovaries or ovipositor are not fully developed.
This is not due to a breeding issue in that line of betta fish as some people suspect, it is natural and is a common issue for wild betta fish too.
How To Make A Female Betta Produce Eggs!
There are some common mistakes that can prevent a healthy female betta fish of age from producing eggs. The most common one by far is the diet of the betta fish but water parameters and stress levels will also come into play too.
Unfortunately, a large number of high-quality fish foods on the market that are fine for other fish species are simply not nutritionally complete for betta fish.
This can have an effect on egg production so feeding your female betta a suitable betta fish food may be enough to get her to produce eggs.
Keep in mind, it will usually take a few weeks for her body to adjust to having a nutritionally complete diet but some people think that feeding live bloodworms is able to reduce this waiting period.
When it comes to your female betta not producing eggs due to her water parameters, a decent water test kit should be enough to give you a good idea of exactly what is wrong and then you are able to correct the issue.
If your female betta fish is not producing eggs due to stress or anxiety then this is usually due to the size of her tank, 5 gallon female betta sorority tanks are more common for this so try to make sure that your betta is in a suitable tank.
How Can I Get My Female Betta To Produce More Eggs?
You are easily able to help your female betta fish produce more eggs by ensuring that she has a nutritionally complete diet, suitable water parameters, and a tank with plenty of space for her to feel safe and comfortable.
Although these may sound simple, many people make easy to avoid mistakes that can cause issues with the egg yields of female betta fish.
As we touched on above, switching to a suitable betta fish food and supplementing with live bloodworms can often be enough to make sure your female betta has a nutritionally complete diet.
There really are a wide range of different potential issues with water parameters that can cause problems with egg yields in your betta fish due to bettas being a more sensitive species though but a decent water test kit will let you know exactly what’s going on.
When it comes to making sure that your female betta feels comfortable and safe in her tank, try to make sure that at least 3 gallons allocated to her using the rule of one inch of fish per gallon of water.
The higher the better though so if you use a standard 10 gallon breeding tank for your bettas, the female and the male will have an allocation of five gallons each which is perfect for keeping the female calm to product high egg yields.
Do Female Bettas Always Have Eggs?
Female betta fish do not always have eggs as they go through egg production cycles. It usually takes a young fish four to eight months to be able to produce eggs and then after each egg release it can take a minimum of two weeks before she will produce eggs again.
As we have touched on above though, there are a number of variables such as diet, water quality, age, and tank size that will all come into play for this.
If any of these conditions are not suitable, it really does have a knock on effect on if your female betta will produce eggs, how frequently she will produce hr eggs, and how many eggs she will produce with each cycle.
Still, breeding betta fish can be a great hobby and it is relatively beginner friendly as far as breeding fish goes. You don’t have to be an experienced breed to produce some beautiful looking betta fish with unique colors or patterns either.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over how to make female betta produce eggs. We hope that we have been able to help you better identify the potential problem areas with your female betta fish where she may have been having problems producing eggs. The majority of the time, they are easy to fish and a young, healthy betta fish will often be able to produce eggs that are easy for the male to fertilize.
