a way to reduce the amount of MALE betta excreations?

[metal-otaku]

ok sorry for the grossness of this. and i'll be a little more blunt here than my title block just in case.

my male betta, had an attempt at mating with my female betta twice now, second time by accident. (bf is not allowed to clean tanks unsupervised anymore) and since then his sperm releases have gone from once a month prior to like every few days. i'd like to know how to get him to go back to not for lack of a better word, splooging as much. he can not see the female betta. he's always made nest and done his little deed. but it's just getting more frequent. and gross. and smelly. is there something i can do to deter him?

he's not been put into his own tank tank yet. he's in my turtles old lagon bowl. http://www.turtlesale.com/images/island2.jpg not the exact same but close. this has a little bridge over pass the betta likes to go under. i don't have gravel. and it's about 3 gallons. there is a little bit of duckweed in with him and 2 small snails. (hitch hikers) a stem of some random plant.

his bowl is set on top of the turtle tank close to the heat lamp but not under it. so he keeps a steady temp of about 80. i change the water after every incident. and he has a small air driven filter. very small. hence for the water changes so much. it can't keep up with his mess.

just till i can get the 10 or 20 gallon up. then he gets shrimp and snails and alot more duckweed. (he'll be kept in the food spawning tank for the turtles) he has to wait till i finish my lizards new tank. which means no rain.

[Aeonflame]

Thats odd. I have never known it to be so...erm... copious.

Maybe just keep up the water changes till he stops I guess. I dont see anything else you can do about it.

[Indian Woods Angels]

I breed bettas and have about 60 males. I have never in 37 years of fish keeping seen betta "splooge" Big turds yes, problematic semen excretions, no.

I would have a difficult time believing a little fish would do this. As a matter of fact I have never seen visible semen discharge from any of my fish that was to be an amount that was a problem. I have bred Oscars and some large african cichlids such as Frontosa and even those did not leave "happy" around my aquariums.

I think you are being pranked.

[metal-otaku]

I breed bettas and have about 60 males. I have never in 37 years of fish keeping seen betta "splooge" Big turds yes, problematic semen excretions, no.

I would have a difficult time believing a little fish would do this. As a matter of fact I have never seen visible semen discharge from any of my fish that was to be an amount that was a problem. I have bred Oscars and some large african cichlids such as Frontosa and even those did not leave "happy" around my aquariums.

I think you are being pranked.

i don't know who has access to my tank who'd do that. it's clear, it's gelantis, kinda mucusy. and it floats on the surface. clinging to plants and bubbles. i just cleaned out his bowl yesterday. i'll try to get a picture next time he does. i really can't think of what else it is.

[Indian Woods Angels]

I have watched them spawn. The male holds the female in an embrace. At the point of copulation you do not see any actual visible amount of any type of fluid from either fish, you see one to several eggs all from the female, she stays in a trance state for several seconds while the male retrieves the eggs and places them into the nest.

What you are seeing should be something else. I can't see fish wasting this resource, they are not prone to discharging semen without partnership. It is too wasteful for them to do.

It could be mucous from his labyrinth gland or it could be a mild bacterial bloom from the water in the tank. It could even be snail eggs. I have a guy looking at two females right now. He is displaying and posing and flashing but I don't see him doing any thing beyond that and I don't expect to.

[metal-otaku]

I have watched them spawn. The male holds the female in an embrace. At the point of copulation you do not see any actual visible amount of any type of fluid from either fish, you see one to several eggs all from the female, she stays in a trance state for several seconds while the male retrieves the eggs and places them into the nest.

What you are seeing should be something else. I can't see fish wasting this resource, they are not prone to discharging semen without partnership. It is too wasteful for them to do.

It could be mucous from his labyrinth gland or it could be a mild bacterial bloom from the water in the tank. It could even be snail eggs. I have a guy looking at two females right now. He is displaying and posing and flashing but I don't see him doing any thing beyond that and I don't expect to.

this was there before the snails. and the large amounts can't account for the 2 snails. we are talking large amounts of surface area. when i talked to the guy at the lfs he told me he thought it was the male beta releasing guy stuff.

if it's from his gland. this is like a seriously large amount. is there something that would cause it? and why is it only the male? the female betta was kept in this same bowl for a month till she was put in the big tank. and this never happened. with my male since i've got him and no matter what bowl he's been in.

[Tiari]

I am not certain what the substance is, but assuredly, it is not Male Betta ejaculate. Males do not produce those copious amounts. I too have in the past bred many Betta, and often had dozens at a time, and have never in all that time actually visually seen such, not even a tad.

I am likely thinking, whatever it is, could be caused to its close proximity with the turtle tank. Its a possibility, not sure how though.

Also, what water conditioner are you using? I have had similar build up on plants and surface areas when using Stress Coat, it would form milky gelatinous strands, which resemble what you are talking about.

[metal-otaku]

I am not certain what the substance is, but assuredly, it is not Male Betta ejaculate. Males do not produce those copious amounts. I too have in the past bred many Betta, and often had dozens at a time, and have never in all that time actually visually seen such, not even a tad.

I am likely thinking, whatever it is, could be caused to its close proximity with the turtle tank. Its a possibility, not sure how though.

Also, what water conditioner are you using? I have had similar build up on plants and surface areas when using Stress Coat, it would form milky gelatinous strands, which resemble what you are talking about.

i'd have to look when i get home but i've used many. one with stress coat, and several with out. (i never get the same one.) and i've had this problem with my male betta before we even got the turtles. even when he was the only fish in the house. it just wasn't as often. if as someone said it's from his gland. that would have to mean something is wrong since the female has never had it right?