Breeding Project Ideas

[tsr770]

I am about to set up a small breeding operation for new world cichlids, mostly for fun and the challenge, but hopefully be able to sell off the little ones to atleast pay for their food.

I am looking for somewhat easy to breed species but not quite LFS convict easy. Going to have about a 250 gallon system when I get it all set up, 3 50's for breeders and 2 50's for grow out.

I was thinking maybe Firemouths for one, are they something that the home breeder can accomplish without too much stress?

So shout out your ideas what would be decent fish to start with.

Also what kind of water parameters are needed to keep the eggs and fry the healthiest? My home water is pretty soft, and the PH comes in around 7.0-7.3. I guess I need to test the GH and KH of it too next time i am down in the basement with my other tanks. I have used peat to soften and lower PH in the past, and will again if it is needed.

Thanks a lot!

 

[Waterloo Kid]

Completely depends on the fish you finally choose as far as water params go.
Anyway my suggestions would be any of the following:

Angels
Wild Angels (Altums etc)
Apistos
Keyholes
Discus
Geophagus species
Severums

There are so many to choose from!

WK

 

[james nash]

I relly liked breeding cons and kribes

 

[freddyk]

The truth is that most of these cichldis are easy to breed. More important is that you choose something you know is in demand so that you can find homes for the fry in the end. Firemouths are as good as any if you like them. As it stands your water will be fine for these guys or any of the others mentioned so far.

 

[tsr770]

Today I stopped into my favorite LFS store, they are the biggest one in about a 50 mile radius of me and best of all family owned and run. They have about 8,500 gallons of freshwater tanks, and are adding another 1,500 gallons at the beginning of the year. They are the place to go around here for all sorts of oddballs, expecially Pleco's, if they don't have some oddball plec that you want, they will get it for you, but they normally have over 50 L-number fish in stock at all times. I asked them what would be something that they would purchase that they do not have a steady supply of, and they wrote down some names for me.

First off he said Cryptoheros Nanoluteus, whish is from the same family as convicts are, but are way way less common, he says they only appear on their lists once or twice a year. I did some research on them when I got home and am actually liking them for sure. He is going to be on the lookout for a couple pairs for me!
And of course a pic!

And he also said to look into Cryptoheros Cutteri which is also of course from the same group at convicts are too. They said that those two fish in general are easy enough to breed for someone with the space and time, and they will buy any that I bring to them because they have a hard time getting them, and most people have never seen them.

He also said that about any of the geo's, and apisto's would be worth breeding too.

Now off to figure out who is going to drill my tanks for overflows for me since I planon using a central filtration system.
Any more ideas or thoughts are always welcome!