Well, after having the females for two months, I finally bred them!I put the male in the tank last night and let him establish a territory. He was a little pale from netting, as he was very crafty and it took me a while to net him out. But as soon as I put the females in today, he colored right back up.I watched for a solid half hour after introducing the females. I had heard from the females' seller that the males could worry a female to death, so I was extra vigilant.The male was interested right away, but the females took a little convincing. One female had already been in breeding colors, but the second female colored up quite quickly when placed in the tank, and I believe this one is the same one he spawned with first. He sort of danced for her-- he would get really close to Female #1, then back away and show his colorful sides. He also chased them a little bit, but not a concerning amount. He also rapidly moved the back edge of his dorsal fin.Finally, after about an hour and a half, Female #1 was appropriately convinced. She went to the cabomba plant and got within the leaves, and finally they spawned. At first I couldn't see any eggs fall from her like I had seen on Lowell's Fish Lab's video on YouTube, but at length I saw 1 egg drop and land on a little red plant's leaf, which is a boon for me, as I can see it very well. I used my 20x macro lens to take some pictures. Within 1 hour I could see development in the egg.The eggs were not as small as I had been led to believe. I figured, from all the fuss about their tininess, that they would be like a grain of sand. Actually, they're probably marginally bigger than the periods on this forum, ex (.).It took a while longer of wrapping once or twice every 10 minutes, but finally she started spraying out 4-8 eggs per wrapping event. I guess they needed a little experience!I'm still keeping a close watch on the tank. He has not yet spawned with Female #2, who is much more interested in the brine shrimp in the water column than breeding.Interestingly enough, Female #1 displayed dominance over Female #2 while in their own tank. #1 would chase #2 away from her territory. I wonder if "dominant breeds first" extends also to female badises? I didn't add a second male, so I don't know how it would have gone with two males instead of the one. I chose this male because he was dominant over the other male I had in the tank. I wonder if a subdominant male would have taken more convincing to breed? And I wonder if dominance equals better genetics, or simply a stronger personality. I really have no idea. It would take a much larger sample size for me to determine that.
Pictures and videos to come if I can figure out how to upload them!
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