First Time Cichlid Breeding.

[thelaw]

hi i am thinking of cichlid breeding so i want to start with easy one so i want to get convicts fire mouths and rainbow cichlids so can the convicts breed in a 20 gallon long and can the fire mouth and the rainbow cichlid breed in 29 gallons i plan to have pots flat rocks and sponge filters with gravel and the fry tanks will be 10 gallon tanks with sponge filters so is all of this ok? thanks
 
respect the hobby respect the hobbyist and most importantly respect the fish.  

 

[RRaquariums]

This is going to be a long read so yeah

Well you could breed the convicts in a 20 gallon but they get big as adults and I've never liked breeding them in anything smaller then a 29 gallon tank.
As for the firemouth cichlids I wouldn't use anything smaller then a 40 gallon breeder because of there size and when they breed your looking at upwords of 100+ eggs that's a lot of baby's and they will need some space to lay that many eggs and there descent sized fish anyways.
The rainbows need a larger tank a 55 gallon will work but a 75 would be best these guys have huge batches of babies like 400+ per breeding so you can imagine how much space they need plus it helps with any aggressive behavior to have a larger space like the 75 gallon tank would provide.

Now the fry tanks can be 10 gallons no problem but unless you have buyers already set up to take the fry off your hands right away you will need grow out tanks like the 20-29 gallons work great once the fry are 1-1/12 inches they will have to be moved from the 10 gallon fry tanks to the grow out tanks because they will need all that room to grow and be healthy.

Anyways as you can see there's a lot of stuff that you need to really get a good breeding set up going that's why if I was you I'd pick one type to start of with personally I'd go with the rainbow cichlids as they are a little bit harder to get and therefor you should be able to get buyers for them easer then say the convicts which are almost inposable to sell most the time because they are just so easy to breed the market is flooded. If you do go with the rainbows try to get one 55-75 gallon tank for the adult pair, two10 gallon fry tanks and one 29 gallon grow out tank this would be a good start and you could build up from there.

 

[malfunction]

Hi there,

I think rainbow cichlids are a good fish to start with when breeding cichlids for the first time. They're colourful, forgiving when it comes to water parameters and breed easily. As the previous poster said, be prepared for A LOT of fry. There will literally be hundreds.

Also, bear in mind that, like many cichlids, they become very aggressive during the breeding period. If you keep any other fish in the tank, they may be attacked if they stray near the spawning site. I have 4 rainbow cichlids in my main tank. When not breeding, they're the most placid fish in the tank. By the time they have fry they turn into monsters. I think it would be risky to keep a breeding pair of rainbows and a breeding pair of firemouths in the same tank, but it can probably be done if the tank is big enough and if the individuals are not too aggressive. How long is the 29 gallon tank?

 

[thelaw]

Hi there,

I think rainbow cichlids are a good fish to start with when breeding cichlids for the first time. They're colourful, forgiving when it comes to water parameters and breed easily. As the previous poster said, be prepared for A LOT of fry. There will literally be hundreds.

Also, bear in mind that, like many cichlids, they become very aggressive during the breeding period. If you keep any other fish in the tank, they may be attacked if they stray near the spawning site. I have 4 rainbow cichlids in my main tank. When not breeding, they're the most placid fish in the tank. By the time they have fry they turn into monsters. I think it would be risky to keep a breeding pair of rainbows and a breeding pair of firemouths in the same tank, but it can probably be done if the tank is big enough and if the individuals are not too aggressive. How long is the 29 gallon tank?

cool thanks but the i will have 2 29 gallons to them self's 

 

[malfunction]

My apologies, I thought you meant you were going to keep both pairs in the same tank.

One more thing about the rainbows....their first few spawns tend to fail and they'll probably eat the eggs. After a few tries they'll get better though, so no need to worry. I haven't left any info on convicts of firemouths, as I've never spawned them. I'm sure someone who has will come along with some helpful tips though.

Best of luck.

 

[thelaw]

My apologies, I thought you meant you were going to keep both pairs in the same tank.

One more thing about the rainbows....their first few spawns tend to fail and they'll probably eat the eggs. After a few tries they'll get better though, so no need to worry. I haven't left any info on convicts of firemouths, as I've never spawned them. I'm sure someone who has will come along with some helpful tips though.

Best of luck.

thanks for all the help

  i think now i am going to get 2 40 gallons and one 29 gallon tank to breed them in.