I had them in a twenty gallon tank for probably a good week and half, the female was in a little itty bitty 2 gallon bowl that I put inside of the twenty gallon, and the male responded right away with a really nice, HUGE bubble nest. I thought she was ready, she appeared to be quite round, but as soon as I released her into the tank she freaked out. The male was trying to lure her near his nest, but whenever he got her close, she woud rip a big hole right in the middle of it. I thought that maybe she just needed more time, so I put her in the bowl again, he built another nest, and tried again three or four days later, but she did the same thing. Maybe her overall "largeness" that I took for being full of eggs was actually just her getting chubby from the bloodworms.