Question posted by Darren.
Fighting fish are ready to spawn when they’re about 4-6 months old, depending on the way they’ve been raised. Breeding is a big topic on it’s own, but basically once the eggs are fertilised they hatch within 24-48 hours and the tiny babies (fry) grow to adulthood in about 4 months (given good conditions).
(Several chapters of the breeding process are in the making and will be released in the articles section shortly. Keep tuned!)
Generally you can tell if your fish is a male by its long fins. Females have shorter fins, usually not as good colors and always a small white dot sticking out on their belly. 
There are short finned males (Plakats) that can be mistaken for females and has to be distinguished with the white dot.
You should feed your fish no more than what the fish can consume within five minutes. I generally do it once a day, but you can do it twice or even three times a day.
One of the biggest cause to diseases is left over food rotting on the bottom.
This depends on what type of setup you’ve got.
The water in non-filtrated bowls generally need to be changed every week, depending on the size of the bowl. If your bowl is more than 3 liters and you don’t overfeed your fish you can probably leave it a bit longer.
Never let the water get murky. If it does after just a few days you’ve got problems. Common causes include: