Actually, he is looked down a lot by breeders.. he has his own way, but he makes it sound as if it is the best/right way. The 24/7 isn't 24/7, what he is doing is introducing the pair together and he keeps them in like that for roughly 24hrs before releasing. It's what majority of the breeders do :) Take his videos with a grain of salt.
I have mentioned what needs to be done. I will point out the faults and have told you how to correct. I also point out the faults so you know which ones to research more on :)
But here nor there..
Conditioning is separate from the breeding tank. They tend to do better in their own containers, whether it be half a gallon or a gallon - either way the containers should be heated to about 76-78 (leaving the warm water in the tank, as the introduction to warm water can increase readiness to spawn).
Don't let them see each other but for 10-20 minutes once a day. I have tried both ways during conditioning (separating and allowing them to see each other 24/7) - in my experience females egged up quicker and became more ready when they did not see each other during the conditioning but for the short time. If they see each other 24/7 then nothing is new and exciting.. they get bored of one another. But if they are away from all other bettas for majority of the day, when they do see another they get excited.
Feed lots of live/frozen foods - my males will eat 3+x a day, females 4+x a day. Live/frozen worms and such tend to kick in the instinct to egg up, match it with seeing a male off and on and she will be ready in a short time.
Once the female is huge with eggs (not food - if she is huge prior to a feeding then you can assume she is eggy, but if by the time it's feeding time and she isn't that rounded, then she isn't ready).. once she is eggy you can put them both into the breeding tank.
Breeding tank - 5-10gs (keep in mind the bigger it is the more space the fry has and the longer time they can stay in it, as moving a fry in the first 4 weeks can be very dangerous). No filter - place a sponge filter inside the breeding tank but don't turn it on (turn it on shortly after free swimming, but on very low).
Lower the water level to about 3-5 inches to help the male care for the nest easier.. as he won't be sleeping nor eating for days on end and will be continuously going up and down (why conditioning him is very important). So having a short water level will help him pick up fry/eggs a bit easier.
Bare bottom - so the male can pick up eggs/fry easier, and make cleaning a bit easier on you.
Live plants, IAL, temp set to 82-84F (I personally like 84), nest anchor (IAL leaf, Oak leaf, piece of bubble wrap, half a styrofoam cup).
Now, depending on how ready the female is you can introduce in a couple ways -
If she is very ready then you can place them both in the tank at the same time with no barrier.. observe to make sure they start to flirt quickly.
Place her in the glass chimney, him in the tank and observe them.. if she starts to become submissive shortly after introduction then just give it a few hours and then let her loose.. observe behavior.
Place her in the glass chimney, him in the tank and observe.. after about 24hrs you can release her.. observe behavior.
What you are looking for in behavior is her being submissive (head waay down and bars on her side), him trying to lead her to the nest, her wanting to follow him, etc. If you see them both posturing, both flaring, etc then they are not ready..
They may get really rough.. so make sure to have salts/medication on hand just in case. Once spawning is over (can take a few hours for the actual spawning process), you will see the female as far from the nest as possible.. she may be clenched up and colorless.. she is trying to recoup without getting the attention of the male. Her job is done. You remove her (can place her in the 1g you have with a heater) and get her healed up.. once she is healed up you can place her into the other 10g (or the 8g) tank you had set up for the neons (can't get around buying a 10g tank for them.. they CAN'T live in the 4g you had them in previously, nor the 1g). So after she is better she can go live with them and be happy.. she will not recognize any eggs as being hers, and will eat any she comes across as she will be wanting to replenish her energy from breeding and nothing looks better than protein filled eggs to her at that time.
Leave the male be with the nest.. don't disturb him.. especially new fathers can get a bit antsy if he feels the nest is in danger. So you just leave him be..
Keep an eye on him, and especially after the fry are hatched.. he may eat them all, may not - new fathers are iffy when it comes to eating eggs/fry on their first time, as they are still learning the ropes. Instincts tend to kick in, but you never know.
Leave the male in for as long as you feel the fry are safe. Can offer him food once they are free swimming.. he will decide whether or not he wants to eat. Remove any uneaten food immediately after attempting.
Once the egg sacs are gone from the fry you are going to want to start feeding them - best way to go about it is with micro cultures or BBS (infusoria is good too, but they only eat that for a very short time). You will want to feed at least 3x a day.. siphon the water at least 2x a day with an airline tube.. even then you can suck up the babies, so be careful.. make sure to siphon off the bottom to remove uneaten/dead food.
To add new water in (since the water level is low and they start producing stunting hormones) you will want to drip it in - generally with some rigged drip system. I have shelves above my breeding tanks with multiple glass 1g jugs set up with conditioned water + IAL, heated.. I use an airline tubing and a control valve to adjust the amount of drips - I started out with 1 drip per 10-20 seconds and at around 3 weeks I up it to about 1 drip per 2-5 seconds. Sometimes I will have 2 going into a single tank with no side effects - they have taken the new water with ease.
It's slow going.. but you can't just pour fresh water into the tank as you won't have the exact same chemistry.. so this way they can adjust with no risk.
Depending upon what size spawning tank they are in, will determine when you move them to grow out tank.. but average you move them when they are around 5mm, or 4-5 weeks, maybe later if the spawn isn't that big and you keep up on the water changes.
The 15-20g will be fine for a pretty small spawn, but a couple of them would be better as you don't know what you will have. Make sure to keep it heated, give them light and find a way to trap humidity in (their labyrinth organs start to develop at around the 7th week) without suffocating them. Why I just stick with tanks and glass canopies.. much less of a headache for me.
Jar when the males start to become aggressive.. try to get the clear tubs so you can have some chance at seeing this happen. Some will get aggressive younger, some older.. best they stay in the grow outs for as long as possible, but it's a fish by fish case. You don't want to keep them in there once they start fighting for obvious reasons..
Phew.. okay.. just a tiny portion of the basics there..
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