Male and female in a spawning embrace. Of course they did not choose to spawn under the styro cup or under the floating water sprite. No, the male built his nest behind the air line tubing.

I provide the fish with a 5 gallon tank filled with my really really soft water. To this I add about a dozen dry oak leaves and some peat moss. I add a sponge filter for everyday use, or remove it and just let the airline do a very slow bubble for spawning. The pH will drop down to between 5 and 6 and the water will really take up the brown color from the tannins in the oak leaves and peat. A small heater keeps the temp at 78F-80F. I will have a lot of java moss or java fern on one side of the tank for the female to take refuge in until she is ready to spawn. It also provides her a place to hide after spawing, and a great place for the new fry to hide and disappear from sight when they are first starting to swim around.

If I have a mature pair, a couple of weeks feeding live foods will have them spawning. Mosquito larvae, daphnia, live brine shrimp, cut up blackworms. All provide the proper foods to get the spawning mood going.

Mine have only started spawning first thing in the mornings. Never starting in the afternoon. Spawning last for hours. Hours and hours and hours. 10 - 12 hours is common, providing only 40-50 eggs. Everything is done in slow motion. One very slow spawning embrace will result in 1 or 2 eggs that the male will deposit into his bubble nest. Then they may just swim around for 5-10 minutes before getting around to another embrace. Half the time the embrace is stopped almost before it begins, and the fish just swim off again. Sitting with the camera trying to get some of this recorded gets to be very frustrating.

Once the spawing is over I will remove the female when it can be done without destroying the tank and the bubble nest. May be a day or so.

Eggs hatch in a couple of days, with the fish just hanging around on the bubbles and the plants until the yolk sacs are used up. Then I feed them from a paramecium culture. This really gets them off to a good start.

Adult fish are fed live chopped blackworms, some baby brine shrimp, mosquito larvae, Mosquito larvae and daphnia are fed when available. Baby brine shrimp are part of every meal

When I get a spawn, I start the fry out with paramecium. As they grow I will add microworms and baby brine shrimp, then daphnia.They are slow growers at first, but steady.