Hi all, I'm bored tonight so I thought I'd give soem advice on breeding fish. I've bread blue/gold gouramies as well as sunsets. I hope to breed my bettas soon, maybe this week.
Breeding gouramies can be a bit tricky, but not too bad. First, the question about the container without a filter. I had trouble running a filter when I was trying to breed. Any movement AT ALL on the waters surface seemed to dammage the nest. I had better luck once I gave up on filtering before the fry were free swimming. I would hold off on trying to breed untill you can get a good setup or you are asking for frustration.
I used a 20gal tank, but I think a 10gal would be fine. Gouramies are bubble nest builders and will sometimes include bits of fine leaf pants in the nests. I put some cabomba floating in the tank hoping the male would build his nest in the plant, he did. I put a few other plants on the other side of the tank to give the female a place to hide. I had plastic and live plants, but I would reccomend a bare bottom tank with potted or plastic plants. The water should be heated. The water level sould be low, only 5"-6" deep.
I put the female in the tank a few days before the male so she would be relaxed when it was time. I ran an aged sponge filter and fed her well. I quit feeding her the morning of the 3rd day. That evening I moved the filter to another tank, and introduced the male. It's important to keep an eye on the pair the first hour as males can become overly aggressive. Casing and some nipping is normal, but if the male is doing serious dammage and not getting bussy building a nest oull him from the tank.
The male will build the nest and start chsing the female under it. Once they are both under the nest he will fold his body around hers and shake his head. Eggs are realeased as the pair drif to the bottom. Once they separate the male will pick up the eggs and spit them into the bubble nest. The female will run back to her corner.
I found that if I wanted to watch the pair spawn I had to stay PERFECTLY still. Not easy for long periods of time!
Once they are done spawning remove the female as the male will become extreemly aggressive. He will guard and tend to the nest till the babies ar free swimming. The eggs hatch after about 24 hours. I remember seeing hundreds of tiny tails sticking out of the bottom of the nest. Remove the male 24-48 hours after spawining. Repalce the filter as soon as the fry are free swimming.