He will only make a bubbel nest when mature. When the bubblenest is ready, the male will start courting the female Dwarf Gourami. This will typically occur during later afternoon or in the evening. The male will swim around near the female while flaring his fins. He will then attempt to draw her to his bubblenest. If the female accepts the male and is ready to spawn, she will swim in circles beneath the bubblenest. When she is ready to release her eggs, she will touch the male on his back or on his tail with her mouth. The male will then embrace her and turn her first on her side, and then onto her back. The female will now release her eggs and the male will fertilize them. There are usually around 60 eggs in one batch. The eggs float and will be placed in the bubblenest by the male Dwarf Gourami.
Once the male has gathered all the eggs and placed them safely in the bubblenest, the pair can spawn again. If you keep the male with several females, he may spawn with a new female at this point. The entire spawning process can therefore take up to four hours and the bubblenest can eventually be filled with up to 800 eggs. When the male is finished, he will cover the eggs with a fine layer of bubbles to make them stay in the nest. When you see him doing this, you know that the spawning is over and you should remove the females from the breeding aquarium. The male will be very aggressive when he is caring for his offspring, so keeping him in his own aquarium without any other fish is recommended.
Dwarf Gourami eggs will hatch after 12-24 hours but the fry will stay inside the bubblenest for at least three more days. When the fry has left the bubblenest, you can remove the male Dwarf Gourami from the breeding aquarium. The fry is tiny and must be feed small food types, such as rotifers or infusoria. As they grow larger, you can give them newly hatched brine shrimp.
