How Common Is It For Female Bettas To Get Egg Bound?

I'm very curious to know how common it is for female Bettas to get egg bound. I had a gorgeous black and silver Crowntail female die from being egg bound. Nothing I tired worked and she finally developed Dropsy and there was nothing else to be done.

I have another female now and I'm really worried that the same thing might happen to her.
How common is it for them to get egg bound? Is there a sure fire way to fix it?

I went as far as putting my Betta who passed in my male Bettas tank to try and see if that would help her to get the eggs out or he would help her get them out.

 

Dude crowntail females has been a thorn in my side in breeding for not wanting to drop eggs and then sometimes literally to the point that they rip open .......but now I know you can squeeze gently on their sides to force eggs out and let them heal , but they can only get eggbound when in sight of a male betta or in the same water( hormones in the water). So I recommend keeping clear of the male with this one

 

That's crazy. So maybe with this one being a Halfmoon I might have better luck?
I would be terrified to try squeezing them out of her.

 

In my experience, it's actually been the opposite. I've only ever had males and females in separated tanks, aside from a sorority, and have never experienced a female getting eggbound (although I've only ever had one female crowntail, maybe they're more prone to it than veiltail or halfmoons). I didn't even know that was a thing that existed until joining this site.

But from what I've read, literally everywhere, the treatment for an eggbound female is to put her in sight of a male, or put her in a divided tank with a male, or even just let them breed and let him squeeze the eggs out of her, and then discard the eggs, because a torn fin or two is much more manageable than dying from being eggbound (although I don't know how that would affect the male, if you took his eggs away. Some have gotten depressed after breeding or being separated from their siblings). I've also read that, while squeezing them by hand may work for goldfish or other species, bettas are more fragile, and it's much easier to seriously injure the female. I agree, I'd be too terrified to try.

My advice, based on personal experience, is to keep a male and female in a divided tank. I love, love, love males and females in divided tanks, for many reasons.

I've got a brother and sister halfmoon in a divided 10 gallon. They're almost 2 years old now, and both very healthy. Nephthys, the girl, has never been eggbound.

She also helps keep Osiris, her brother, healthy. Males are notorious for being sedentary, and this adversely affecting their health. Cardio is just as good for them as it is with us. Being in a divided tank with a female keeps him active and engaged.

He is by far the biggest of my current bettas (the other 3 were rescues from people who didn't want them anymore, and I'm assuming they were pet store buys), with the biggest and longest fins, but he's also the fastest and the most active.

She keeps him fit, and he keeps her from becoming eggbound. Win-win.

If you're worried about your new female, seriously research it, on other places than just this site, and make your own decision based on what you read.

 

Out of the ten crowntail females I've breed . Two of them became eggbound in the process . Lost the first one . Second one I had to squeeze gently because the male wouldn't do his job . But the other types of Bettas never had that issue

 

In my experience, it's actually been the opposite. I've only ever had males and females in separated tanks, aside from a sorority, and have never experienced a female getting eggbound (although I've only ever had one female crowntail, maybe they're more prone to it than veiltail or halfmoons). I didn't even know that was a thing that existed until joining this site.

But from what I've read, literally everywhere, the treatment for an eggbound female is to put her in sight of a male, or put her in a divided tank with a male, or even just let them breed and let him squeeze the eggs out of her, and then discard the eggs, because a torn fin or two is much more manageable than dying from being eggbound (although I don't know how that would affect the male, if you took his eggs away. Some have gotten depressed after breeding or being separated from their siblings). I've also read that, while squeezing them by hand may work for goldfish or other species, bettas are more fragile, and it's much easier to seriously injure the female. I agree, I'd be too terrified to try.

My advice, based on personal experience, is to keep a male and female in a divided tank. I love, love, love males and females in divided tanks, for many reasons.

I've got a brother and sister halfmoon in a divided 10 gallon. They're almost 2 years old now, and both very healthy. Nephthys, the girl, has never been eggbound.

She also helps keep Osiris, her brother, healthy. Males are notorious for being sedentary, and this adversely affecting their health. Cardio is just as good for them as it is with us. Being in a divided tank with a female keeps him active and engaged.

He is by far the biggest of my current bettas (the other 3 were rescues from people who didn't want them anymore, and I'm assuming they were pet store buys), with the biggest and longest fins, but he's also the fastest and the most active.

She keeps him fit, and he keeps her from becoming eggbound. Win-win.

If you're worried about your new female, seriously research it, on other places than just this site, and make your own decision based on what you read.

That's actually something I was considering. I had wondered if maybe having a male in the same tank, but separated would help her to not get egg bound or if she did the male could help "get them out" so to speak.

I was really worried though about it causing them extra stress. I am strongly against divided tanks for male Bettas. Most of the time it's just ends up with a couple of sick stressed out Bettas, but I thought maybe with a male and female it might be different.
Definitely gonna do some research.
I lost that gorgeous female Crowntail (Bellatrix) after only having her about a month and then I had to euthanize my male Betta that I got after she passed and I really, really don't wanna lose another one to something that could possibly be prevented.
Euthanizing my male (Optimus) was absolutely horrible as I had grown very, very attached to him and then he went completely downhill overnight and I had to euthanize him in the morning as he was just suffering.

I haven't had this much bad luck with in the 12 years I've been keeping them.

 

That's actually something I was considering. I had wondered if maybe having a male in the same tank, but separated would help her to not get egg bound or if she did the male could help "get them out" so to speak.

I was really worried though about it causing them extra stress. I am strongly against divided tanks for male Bettas. Most of the time it's just ends up with a couple of sick stressed out Bettas, but I thought maybe with a male and female it might be different.
Definitely gonna do some research.
I lost that gorgeous female Crowntail (Bellatrix) after only having her about a month and then I had to euthanize my male Betta that I got after she passed and I really, really don't wanna lose another one to something that could possibly be prevented.
Euthanizing my male (Optimus) was absolutely horrible as I had grown very, very attached to him and then he went completely downhill overnight and I had to euthanize him in the morning as he was just suffering.

I haven't had this much bad luck with in the 12 years I've been keeping them.

I'm sorry for your loss, it sucks so hard to lose them.

I agree with you, I'm very much against putting two males in a divided tank. All they ever want is to fight each other, and they constantly feel stressed because they see that other male in their territory.

This is my first brother and sister, and I absolutely love it. They were already familiar with each other when I got them (they were shipped to me the day after they, and all their siblings, were separated), they're used to each other, and up until recently, she kept sneaking into his side of the tank, and he was never aggressive with her.

What's more, they were both very upset when I finally figured out how she was doing it and fixed it. For days she was obsessively nosing that spot, trying to get back through. Now they're simply content to move back and forth along the divider together.

She teases him, too. She'll get him all worked up, blowing bubble nests and dashing around his tank. She really keeps him motivated to stay active. And I'm serious, his fins are massive. I had no idea they would get this big. But he has no problem dragging them around, and will often patrol his side of the tank or try to show off for his sister. He's the most physically fit of all my fish.

I love watching them interact with each other. A brother and sister together is my new favorite thing. My others were never siblings, and these two just interact with each other differently. They pay more attention to each other, I imagine it cuts down in any potential stress because they've known each other their whole lives, it really is just awesome.

And I've noticed a definite pattern between male longevity and activity level. I think it's so common for them to die young because they just don't ever really exercise. Those fins are heavy, and keep the fish sedentary. Giving them a reason to stay active can help. I've never had a male in a divided tank live less than 5 years, with most hitting 7 (I've had a few females hit 8, but no males yet).

Definitely do research, and think about putting a male and female together in a 10 gallon. And I absolutely recommend siblings. That's all I'll ever get from now on, just because of the way these two interact with each other. It's hilarious and adorable.

But I still recommend putting a male and female together even if they aren't siblings. They might be stressed for a day or two if they don't know each other, but I've never had a male/female combination that just didn't work, and stressed them out. They've always settled down after a day or two. I honestly can't say enough good things about it. But honestly, try it yourself. Have a backup tank ready if you're not sure, but give it a try for a week and see how you like it, and how your fish handle it.

 

Sibling Bettas usually get along and as long as the males arnt too active , you could keep a male soriority tank sometimes out of siblings( as long as they never have been separated . Once separated they will treat them as an outsider )