I got mine from Bob Beck who breeds the long finned variety. Usually they breed readiliy when placed outdoors in the summer, but this year they did not for some reason. I had 4 fry hiding among the plants. Usually they are not bad eaters. I also lost a few in the outdoors tanks and pond, which I thought were due to the high heat. I also brought the remainng ew indoors and placed them in the basement tank which has a temp around 68oF. I love these fish and I just cant figure out why they did not breed. I ve never mamaged ot breed them indoors.. Might give this a try with a species tank and a sponge filter. Have you had luck breeding them indoors?
Yes, I breed mine almost exclusively indoors. They are so prolific that they end up in tanks that there are no adults in.
I keep them in a tank with blue pearl shrimp and lots of moss/floating plants. They lay eggs continuously, a few at a time, and the fry pick stuff off the plants, and I'll eventually spot them. Eggs must travel well, at least eggs on plants is my best guess as to how they ended up outside and in a grow out tank for cichlid fry this year.
I sometimes feed microworms or decapsulated brine shrimp eggs, but it's not really necessary.
If you want a larger spawn, isolate your females and feed well for a while. Then put the males where they can see the females (a 2-gal inside a 10 gal, maybe?) and feed them really well for a few days, then release them. You will retain the most eggs you have the tank loaded with moss with marbles or that plastic easter grass stuff at the bottom. Move the adults to a separate tank and wait. The adults won't eat fry and eggs, really, so this last part might not be necessary.
Note, this is not how I do it, I just leave them all in a tank and I'll get a few new babies every week or two.