The Spawning
A ready female
The ritual
When you have let the female go with the male you will notice a certain fight break out between them.This is when the show each other what they are made of.They show each other that they can produce strong and healthy babies.They both may start to flare at each other and strut their stuff or sometimes-just one of them will do this while the other looks on.After awhile you will notice the male and female dancing together next to each other.This is the most awesome thing to see.They actually dance next to each other then the female will nudge the male on the side and he will embrace her and flip her upside down.They will sit like this for a little while as if mesmerized.Then the male will quickly awaken to find eggs being released out of the female he then will gather up as many as he possibly can and spit them up into the bubble nest.While this is all going on the female will stay paralyzed for a few seconds and then awaken to either help the male gather the eggs or to eat the eggs that he has not yet gotten to.This can take on for a couple of hours to as many as 10 hours or so I have heard.Mine only last a couple of hours.You can tell when they are done by noticing the female cowering in the corner away from the male (calling herself a slut and wondering if he even loved her), while he will be taking care of the nest and trying to keep the eggs clean.If she tries to come near him (for a reconciling cuddle) he will drive her away (since he knows that those last two eggs he saw her by she ate and did not tell him).Once I see this I will take her out before she gets too beat up and give her, her own suit where she can recoup (and gather up her emotions again).She will be pampered for the next two weeks so she can regain her strength to go back at it again with another male at a later date.He on the other hand is now the proud daddy of any number of eggs (from 1-500 or even more sometimes) soon to be fry (babies).He will care for them for the next 3 days.They all start out as eggs and after a day or two seem to grow tails and drop from the nest quit easily.The male has his hands full trying to keep them all in the nest.By the third day the fry (babies) will have started to learn how to swim and now cling to the top and sides of the tank in a horizontal (¾) instead of vertical (½) way.This is when they want their independence and do not want daddy continually (sending them to their room) placing them into the nest.I then remove him and pamper him in his own separate suit for 2 weeks so that he can regain (his emotions from being torn from his beloved babies) his strength so that he can do it again with the same or another female at a later date.Now comes the parental responsibility on you the fish keeper.They will depend on you to feed them, clean after them, and watch over them like a referee.