Isolate ALL your breeders. Exercise them regularly by letting them flare about 5-10 minutes daily. At the same time condition them with nutritious food. They should begin to flirt swim and or build bubble nests within a week or so.
If they are well conditioned, flare them for 30 minutes or so. They should begin to flirt swim the following day. Keep in mind each individual has its own character. Not all will readily flirt swim - some need a longer time/conditioning.
For CT, always use IAL or oak leaves.
That's good to know because I really want to breed him but I have just been using a lid for the moment. I haven't been able to get live plants just yet. I heard they like almond leaves and was looking into getting some. I didn't know I needed to let them flair up for conditioning. I suppose that would explain why any male I put in this fish bowl that is kinda weird and mirror like always build their nests. xD
How long did you introduce them where they could only see each other? How long did you leave them together? Why did you seperate them?
Well when I had the Male CT and the cambodian in the breeding tank(After taking them from my regular tank. I have the two females in my other tank and I was keeping my Male CT in there with them. When I moved the MaleCt and Female Cambodian I put my DTMale in with the DTFemale in the other tank. I continued to feed them the dried blood worms once a dale in the non breading tank and maybe once or twice a week I was feeding the CT and Cambodian. I gave up after about two and a half weeks to try and be exact he just all the sudden started atacking her and also do Cambodians get their stripes? I have never seen out of the four I had get any. Not sure if I answered every question you had..
Rivalry will induce breeding.
If your male is willing to breed, flaring is not needed. But some males are just too lazy. They can be manipulated by flaring. I often flare them between 30 minutes - 1 hour (sometimes longer). My males are in general regularly exercised much longer than others..... !!! make sure they are healthy because long flaring may stress them !!!
I don't change the water for my breeding tank....at all but in my 10 gallon I keep it a 80-85 and change the water maybe twice a week. Depends on how good my Picasimus fish is doing his job. xD I feed them dried blood worms for two weeks(Including the female because I'm keeping them both in the same tank while I do this.(There are only two females in there. I had a huge loss of Bettas recently.)
Your Pleco does not Clean your tank, only eat the alge. Water changes should not be dependent on how much your Pleco moves the shit around....
In the wild, the males will compete with each other for the best bubble nest-blowing locations in the bodies of water. If a male beats his opponent, he inherits his location. Females constantly drift by the males, scoping out the different nests and flirting as they go along. A male with the biggest and best nest will win the female over, they will spawn, and he will chase her away from the area and guard the eggs. A wild male will have several different batches of eggs from different females going at the same time.
So, to sum it up, flaring does stimulate spawning. Several breeders including myself will float bubblewrap in the spawning tank, simulating a bubblenest, making the male think he's come across a great spot for spawning, like in the wild. Keep them separate and every now and then, place a rival male next to the tank for 5 minutes or so, then switch him out with a female, then another male, etc. You will see a new spark in your male to blow a great nest, because it's simulating his natural environment.
I think this tells it all. You need to get frozen or live food and feed them at least twice a day.
Awesome because I did read that you were not supposed to feed them too often when breading. I figured dried would work too but i'll have to go around Denver looking for some. I've tried a petco and smart before but they don't have any. At least the ones I've been to.
The PetCo near me has them. Not sure which part of Denver. I'm in the Aurora-Centennial area. There's quite a few fish stores in North Denver.
Where is it, I'll have to try it out, so far I have been to a Petsmart on Alameda and one on Parker and Chambers, I'm in Aurora but don't know what section. xD Well the ones I went to didn't have it and I saw a petco I'll try.
*edit* Btw, I don't venture out much aside from my surrounding area. xD
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