[bettababy]

It is quite possible that you and your mother are both right. True a male fish can't get pregnant, but it doesn't look to me like this is a male fish. I've noticed that most people think if it has long fins it has to be male, this is not true. I have had 1/2moon females in the past, some with longer fins than the males. The reason I say this is after looking at your pictures. The first picture shows the fish with dark stripes that run side to side... but if you look down through other pictures these stripse are going the opposite direction... up and down. This is common in a female fish that is ready to breed. The way to tell for sure is to look under the fish, at the belly area you will see a pair of fins (pelvic fins). Look behind those fins on the belly, is there a noticable white spot there? If so this is called an egg spot, meaning the opening of the tube that would release the eggs if she was fertile, and ready to breed. I see a beautiful female 1/2moon in the pictures you posted, and ready to breed. If she's not bred her both will absorb the eggs and her stripes will go back to side to side direction. This won't harm her, but I do agree with the others about her feeding schedule. The only bettas I ever feed that much/often are those being prepped to breed. Normally a betta should be fed about 5 pellets/day and only every other day. Their stomach is about the size of their eyeball, and they need time to digest the food before eating more.
I also agree that water changes should be 25 - 50% at least once every wk in that size of a container. Without a filter, twice each week is much safer.
I see nothing wrong with a 1 gallon bowl for a habitat for a betta so long as you can keep it warm enough (78 - 82 degrees) and you do the needed water changes to keep it clean enough.

Check for the egg spot and let me know... I'm curious!
Male or female, that doesn't look like dropsy and if you medicate with just anything you risk killing the fish, especially if it isn't sick or if you medicate for the wrong problem. Most medications can be toxic if the water quality isn't in really good shape, also....

 

[bettababy]

The new feeding schedule sounds ok, but I would offer about 5 of the pellets at each feeding.

As for eggs and bubble nests, the only way to breed your betta would be to put a male into the tank and let them do their thing. The male squeezes the eggs from the female, so without a male, you won't see any eggs, her body will just absorb them again. The male is the fish who builds the nest and takes care of the eggs until they hatch, but I warn ahead of time, unless you and your parents are really into a lot of mess and hassle, please don't attempt to breed your betta. They can have up to 100 eggs in one spawn, the only food for the newly hatched fish are newly hatched baby brine shrimp (which means setting up a brine hatchery at home... brine are hatched in saltwater) and the fry have to be seperated within about 4 - 6 wks or they begin to fight and kill each other. I've been breeding bettas for over 10 yrs, its a lot of fun, but its a lot of work, a lot of mess, and it can be hard to find somewhere to go with 100+ fish that each need a bowl of their own. Pet stores won't take them until they are about 1 yr old, so this would be a long term commitment. Betta fry are slow growing. The fish you see in the pet stores, you can assume are at least 1 yr old or more.

My suggestion, keep the one you have clean and well fed and just enjoy her. The spawning rituals of the betta can be very violent, and if the 2 fish are not compatible it can mean the loss of one or both fish due to fighting. Breeding is best left to those who are prepared for it and have an outlet for the fry (baby fish).