Breeding Rainbow Cichlids

[firstthebanker]

Well well well, after looking some Rainbow Cichlids for nearly a year I finally found a shop in Liverpool with them I did a 120 mile round trip and purchased all 10 that they had, with the hope of getting a breeding pair out of the 10. I have now had them for about 4 weeks, and I now have 2 lots of free swimming fry, the parents used the same plant pot, one used one side and the other used the other side. I am such a happy bunny . With a little luck and god willing I will get some fish to sell on. I was a little supprised to get some fry at the first attempt, as all the Rainbows are so young, only just starting to see a size dfifferance in them.

Should I partition my tank off? Or leave them as they are. Both sets of parents are doing a great job of looking after the young, fending off fish twice thier own size.

firstthebanker

 

[Dan Robbins]

Well done on your first batch of fry!
Although they are doing a good job of looking after the young now, Eventually, they will want to breed again, and will attack everything that poses a threat to the new young.
unfortunatly, that means your existing fry.
I have bred alot of C.A cichlids and the best advice i can give you is to set up a small tank, maybe a 10gallon with a little sponge filter and a small heater and feed the young on baby Brine shrimp, which you can buy frozen now. If you cant find any, you can always hatch it, and most fish shops will sell hatching kits for under £10.
Iv tried breeding traps, breeding nets, you name it, but havnt had any success when it comes to cichlids.
The best thing, as said earlier is to set up a small rearing tank.
let us know how you get on!
Dan

 

[firstthebanker]

OK, now this is getting interesting. Both lots of eggs hatched, and most are swimming freely.

So I have decided to go and buy another tank, it is 24in x 12in x 15in. I decided to go with undergravel filtration and a small heater the tank temperature is just 25c, is that OK?
I have already taken the fry from both sets of parents, the first lot were doing OK and the parents were fending everything off well, but the parents of the 2nd lot had put the hatchlings next to the external filter intake and they had lost about a quarter of the babies. So rather than wait for all the fry to be free swimming and disturb the tank twice, I did it all in one go, will that be OK?

I have also gone out and got an NT Labs Brine Shrimp Hatcher Kit, another 24 hours and I should have some live food for the fry. In the mean time I am finly crushing flake. Will that be OK?

Any tips or advice will be mosr welcome.

Ray

 

[Dan Robbins]

Thats good! everything your doing is fine.
Small amounts of brine frequently, as opose to lots of food rarely is a great way to get them to gow quickly too.
Let us know how you get on.
Youd be amazed at how fast they grow.