pregnant female betta with no male

Question
Hi Ron,
2 years ago I bought 2 bettas a male and a female...they were in separate tanks facing each other before I talked to Lynda who used to be an expert on this site.  I see she is no longer, so I will explain everything to you...after their first night, my female got pregnant, I guess just from knowing the presence of the male, who did nothing but try to get to her the whole time he lived(poor little guy)as a matter of fact he fatally wounded himself trying. it was too late by the time i found Lynda who informed me they should Not see each other until i pair them!  my heart broke and i never got another male to replace him.  my female has been with me ever since, and Lynda told me not to worry, she would eventually release the eggs herself and eat them..well, 2 years and 2 months later, I can see she is building some rather large bubble nests in her 5 gallon tank...and last night did not eat dinner just laid in back of tank in one spot all night blowing bubbles...this morning she ate a little and swam to greet me, but I can tell she's going through something.  I was hoping this would be easy for her but she still has her white spot and prego belly as always...my main concern here is that today is the day I usually do her weekly tank cleanings.  I do it exactly as Lynda taught me personally, and she has lived longer than any other betta I ever had, so I stay on point with the cleanings...My betta's name is Tippy Toes, she has a 5 gallon, heated, unfiltered tank that I clean 100% once a week.  I feed her pellets as a staple, and frozen food 3 times per week, plus bits of green pea  once a week to help her her clean out.  A lot of people don't know about doing the unfiltered tank with 100% change every week, but I swear by it so far, I use vending machine water with a supplement from Kent Marine called R/O right that puts salts and minerals back into the R/O water, plus I've always used aquarium salt and tap conditioner just to be safe, you never know when a machine might not work right  :)  anyway,I have 3 questions.  Is there anything at all I can do to help her during this time to make things easier for her?  
Next question, since I don't want to destroy her nest and totally interfere with her process, what can I do to make sure her water stays safe and healthy for her without cleaning it?Or is there anything I can do besides clean it?
last, how long do you think it could take before she actually releases  these eggs once and for all? The Bubblenests are getting BIG!!!

Answer
Hi Liane,
 Hmm... female bettas don't build bubble nests. Only male bettas blow bubbles so Tippy Toes is almost certainly a male. A male can easily look like he is full of eggs because they can pack a lot of food into their little belly.  Incidentally, a female betta cannot hold eggs for more than a few days before either releasing them or resorbing them.

-- Ron C.
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