Breeding Malawi Cichlids - Master Plan!

[willbo]

Hi everyone, I've been wanting to upgrade my two fish tanks, a coldwater with 3 fish in, and an algae eater, and a tropical with some neons, danios, kuhli loaches, flying foxes, guppies and some mollies who have had a few babies which grew naturally and i only realised i had babies when i was counting my fish!!! Anyway,I'm wanting to buy a FLUVAL DUO DEEP 1000 from my local Fish shop and im wanting to get some more advanced fish, i was thinking about Malawi cichlids, but then i saw the price of them !! EXPENSIVE !! So i had a plan:


Would i be able to get about 3 females and 1 male and have good breeding conditions and be able to just keep the young and the adults. The problem with buying about 15 fish like some people recommend is that there very pricey and (as i am only 13 that is a big problem)also the tank i want is only 40 UK gallons!

Can you see any problems with this or give me any advise in how to overcome this!!!


Thanks Will!!!

 

[freddyk]

Sure, just choose a type of cichlid that does ok in lower numbers and make it a species tank. Honestly though, you've never even kept any cichlids so your first concern should be about learning about them and keeping them - breeding of these guys is secondary, it will happen either way once you've goe everything else in order. In a tank with the right rockscaping and only a few fish many fry will survive in the main tank, but many will also get eaten because these fish don't take care of their young the way many other cichlids do.

 

[sylvia]

Get yourself some yellow labs. 1 male, 4-5 females. They'll do fine and breed. before getting these fish. Set the new tank up and get your filter. Run the filter in your old tank, along with the old filter, for a week. Then, when you add your fish, move the new filter back to the new tank. This way your tank will be cycled and safe for your fish from the start.

By the way, I'd reccomend returning some of your flying foxes to your local fish store before they turn on each other. You should only have one per tank. Also, that tanks ounds like it's over-stocked. It may be better to move the fish you already have into the new tank instead of buying new fish.

 

[willbo]

Get yourself some yellow labs. 1 male, 4-5 females. They'll do fine and breed. before getting these fish. Set the new tank up and get your filter. Run the filter in your old tank, along with the old filter, for a week. Then, when you add your fish, move the new filter back to the new tank. This way your tank will be cycled and safe for your fish from the start.

By the way, I'd reccomend returning some of your flying foxes to your local fish store before they turn on each other. You should only have one per tank. Also, that tanks ounds like it's over-stocked. It may be better to move the fish you already have into the new tank instead of buying new fish.

Hi Sylvia,

I don't get what you mean with the filter thing

In my tank there is ony one flying fox, and most of the others are 2's or 3's (or on there own)

Could you get back to me with the filter things

Thanks Willbo