bubblenest

Question
So I bought two Betta fish and as a studying geneticist I thought it would be a cool project to breed them.  The first day that I bought my male, he made a bubblenest.  The tank was only 1/2 gallon so I obviously couldn't use his tank as a spawning tank.  So, a few days later I introduced him into a 10 gallon tank and let the female float around in a plastic baggy for about a day.  They both seemed to like eachother, Tipsy(male) was flashing his fins and then swimming away and Angel(female) was lowering her head in a submissive position but he still had yet to build a bubblenest.  I thought that if I let her out maybe Tipsy would begin building a bubblenest, but it seems as though they've become friends and not mates.  At first they played tag and she definitely is bloated but he still won't build a nest.  Its like he comes over and entices her to follow him to nowhere and she loses interest.  I don't know what to do

Answer
Hello Ora,
Add some floating leaves to the top, keep the water warm, and do frequent small water changes. You shouldn't ever float a fish in a bag for more than 10-15 minutes - there is just not enough air in there and the water will quickly fill up with ammonia, not to mention it's stressful to the fish. It sounds like both of these fish are too stressed out to be ready to breed yet. Keep the ammonia and nitrites/nitrates at 0 ppm, make sure they have plenty of hiding places, and add some aquarium salt and they should be fine.
You'll know when the female is ready to mate because she will develop vertical lines across her body.