Breeding Jack Dempsey Cichlids

[marksayer10@tiscali.co.uk]

hi all. i have just got hold of a male and female jack dempsey cichlids. the male is about 5 to 5 and a half inches and the female is about 4 and a half. the colours the male can show is amazing. what sort of age or size will they be when they reach sexual maturaty? are they easy to breed? what signs do you look for when they start breeding.

many thx

 

[Ripley]

They both should be old enough to breed now. They are not too hard to breed I guess. Like if I were breeding cichlids for the first time they wouldn't be my first choice, but they are still a easy enough challenge. They major thing to look out for is if the male is beating up on the female too much. Even though you have a female and male that doesn't mean they will breed, or at least right away. If they do decide to breed, you will notice the female digging out a cave, or cleaning off a piece of rock to lay the eggs on. Also you may notice them sort of dancing, but this can be aggression as well.

What size is you tank?

 

[marksayer10@tiscali.co.uk]

I have a 60 gallon tank so i know it is big enough. the male and female do seem to hang around together a fair bit.

 

[Ripley]

Ok. Well the best thing to do is feed them well. I use lots of frozen foods when I am conditioning my cichlids to breed. Also water changes will be important in the process of trying to get cichlids to spawn. I usually would do about a 40% water change per week, mainly because I would be feeding them extra.