Dwarf Gourami

[tropicaldave]

Hi all
I need some help on this one, I bought a pair of Dwarf gouramis a couple of months ago and then tried to breed them, in a tank on their own with plenty of live plant he has built several bubble nests which just disapear, this is as far as it goes. I have given them a break and put them back in my comunity tank for a couple of weeks and am now trying again. I have put the female back in the breeding tank, left her on her own for a couple of days then introduced the male. For a couple of hours he is all over her, nothing visious, in fact its interesting to watch but thats as far as it goes, no bubble nest or nothing. Can you have a frigid fish or does she not turn him on? I dont know what to do next, tried turning up the temp as some sites say but getting nowhere. I feed them often with micro worm which gets eaten every time so they are not hungry.
I have kept fish for many years now and had breeding success with many live bearers, danios and even pleco's but cant crack these.
Any ideas guys?

 

[sylvia]

What's the temperature and pH/hardness? It's best to have water on the soft side and a temp of about 80-82 deg F when trying to breed these. Also, make sure any current isn't so strong as to destroy the bubblenest and include lots of floating plants. The female needs to be conditioned for breeding for anything to happen - feed her live foods for a while and she should start looking plump from the eggs. Then introduce the male and see what happens this time. These fish are very prone to stress-related disease so do watch that you don't change any conditions too suddenly. If your water is harder, it's probably better just to leave it that way as changing it may cause serious problems - only do this as a last resort.