My male has been chasing my 2 females around for a month now, and at first, he was just being a jerk about it, obviously had no intrest in breeding, just wanted to push them around. But needless to say him pushing them around and me prepping them for breeding made my 2 females become very full of eggs several times. But they arent laying any. Wasnt a problem at first, becuase the male wasnt interested, so then i just had two very egg bound fish (one absorbs eggs very easily, the other, really doesnt, so it has been a struggle) But for the past week or so, the male has been obviously interested in spawning, really chasing the females (the bigger one more so) and im sure shes released a few eggs, as her little vent is pushed way out behind her (shes laid clutches before) But i dont see any eggs anywhere. I know its possible the fish could eat them, but frankly i have sat by that tank for hours and the male chases her for hours and then both get tired and go scrounge for food. When am i getting my fry? All that is becoming of this spawning behavior is 2 very egg bound fish, one of which ALWAYS gets complications, so I am worried about their welfare. I have evan tried hand breeding, to know avail, he isnt putting out much milt, and Mopy isnt dropping a single egg. Whut am i doing wrong? Can some one help me please as to whut i can do to get them to complete their breeding?

Meg, have you been watching them in the very early morning hours as well - say somewhere around 5am to 7am? Thats when a lot of spawns happen, and I have to admit, I have slept through a few myself...
If you hold the two girls and very gently rub their bellies towards the anal area, are there any eggs coming out then?

I have watched them then, i have to get up for work around that time so i <very groggily> peek into the fish tank. They are still asleep, the lazy arses. They drift off at about 2-3 and get up around 6-630 unless i wake them up at 5 with my stumblings around the room. I find they chase between 2 and 6 and then they want supper, and then they chase again 8-10. However I have witnessed their silouettes chasing in the light of the heater at 2, so maybe they lay very very very early. (?)

I have tried hand breeding them. The littler fantail i dont attempt it with as she is far to small. The bigger fantail has not put out a single egg. I used to do that with her all the time because she is so prone to complications id make sure she got all the eggs out if she laid a clutch (she used to lay all the time when there was no male, go figure) However I have tried with her before and she never gave out an egg, but as soon as she went back into the tank she laid a few more. This is very perplexing, and Mopy (the one prone to complications) Is getting very sick, at times floating on her side at the top of the tank because she is just too tired from struggling to stay at the bottom. The egg boundness really messes with her SBDs.

Im going to give some info on my setup to help you, in case i am doing some thing wrong here.

20 gallon, with a loach, a 1 3/4 inch calico fantail (female), a 3-4 inch red and white fantail (female), and a 4 1/2 inch Shubie (male) Tank has soft plants all along the back wall, as well as some large rocks and a bit of gravel. (Not the biggest tank, but i am getting a 50gallon soon)

Temperature is 72-74 degrees, up from the original 61-63 degrees. It has been up for about 3 weeks, the male had lost his stars with the cold temp and has only gained them back about 2 weeks ago (when he developped the interest in spawning)

I feed a mix of boiled riced, peas, corn, and shrimp along with a tiny bit of wheat germ (i put this all in a pot and boil it until its mushy, freeze it, and dethaw and feed each day) as well as wardley's sinking goldfish crumbles, and the ocasional bit of fruit every second day or so(usually bananas)

Hope this helps!!!

Meg, I don't really see anything wrong with this setup (we'll forget the overcrowding at the moment, it doesn't change anything in regards to breeding, and you are upgrading anyhow)....
Here is what I would do - feed them boiled, unsalted rice every morning, as much as they can eat within 10 minutes (yep, they get more in those times), or if you can time wise and are home, take those 10 minutes and do 2 morning feedings of 5 minutes each. Then in the later afternoon, feed them something high in protein. That can be frozen bloodworms, cut and mashed up cocktail shrimp (unsalted), frozen krill, daphnia, plankton, anything in that regard. Or you can make gel food with a higher protein content than usual and ease up a bit on the veggie part. Sometimes I just make a batch of food with hot water, gelatine and bloodworms...
Feed that protein, and as much as they can eat in 20 minutes or so. Do that, and do smaller water changes every 2. day (doesn't hurt, since they eat like the dickens anyhow), and then after a week, feed the same thing during the day, and then do a BIG Water change in the afternoon. Anyting above 50%, that is. Mine get even a 70-80% water change then.
Have a look at your weather while you do that - look out for either a low pressure system approaching, or the full moon. There is the theory that both of those systems are beneficial to spawning, even with indoor tanks. My first spawn happened after a thunderstorm, while the 2. one was after the most recent full moon. Then do the big water change on the day of the low pressure system/fullmoon.
If that doesn't do the trick, then I am out of ideas.....

Thank andrea. The shubie was a rescue, that is the only reason he is in there. So i will be on the look out for full moons and low pressure and go. lmao