Good Beginners Breeding Cichlids

[crazyforcordoras]

Hi. I want to breed cichlids and i wanted to know some good ones to start with. they will be the only fish in the tank besides a few cories. any info will be helpful. Thanks! P.S. No dwarfs please! Oh ya. i've got a 10 gallon.

 

[kaivalagi]

What size tank?
With those Cories in there you may want to go with dwarfs otherwise they'll probably be on the receiving end of some nastiness

Assuming your tank is big enough and forgetting the cories are in there the easiest breeding cichlids to get hold of are convicts of any variety and similar species such as honduran red points etc

Whereabouts are you based, I need to off load some Honduran Red Points...you could have the breeding pair or some younguns if you want but you would have to collect, I'm in Norwich which is probably no where near you!

 

[crazyforcordoras]

I have a 10 gallon and i think i am going to go with convicts. Any fish that can be kept with them?

 

[Nick16]

no way. need a minimum 25G for convicts. preferably more.

 

[kaivalagi]

Yep a 10G is way too small for convicts and alike, I have a pair of HRP in a 29USG tank and that's with nothing else in there!

You need to go get a bigger tank or think about very small dwarfs...

 

[crazyforcordoras]

Any ideas for dwarfs? fish that can be kept with them?

 

[snowflake311]

I that size tank I would not add a breeding pair of cichlids with corys. The cory cats will get chased and nipped with any cichlids. If you had no other fish in the tank you could get away with a breeding pair of apistogramma thats it. Why not get a nother tank that is larger like a 20Gal or 55gal. Then you would have more options.

You could try sparkling gourami they are only 1.5" max.

 

[minnnt]

Kribensis are a great all round species. Cheap to buy, colourful and easy to breed with. Another one to consider if Fairy Cichlids (or L[yretail Cichlids) They're quite plain, but very aesthetically pleasing with their flowing lyretails. Create some nice rocky caverns with some free swimming area and you will have a nice litte setup. I only have 4 at the minute, but if you had a group of say 6 fairies then i should imagine you will have a great group of them. Fairys tend to look after each others young, so say if you have 2 or 3 mothers in the group then all of the fish will look after the young.

As for something like convicts, then Jade Eyed Cichlids are a nice fish. A little different to the convicts, but they have been known to cross breed with each other, although you wouldn't want this to happen. They are prolific breeders. The person i got mine from had probably 200-300 young in the tank so just be warned. The problem with convicts which breed like rabbits is getting rid of the juvenilles once you have them!!

 

[mattlee]

if you have your heart set on breeding then please understand what is needed. first of all a tank suitable for the pair of fish that you intend to breed, that is if you buy an already established pair.... just buying from a shop/lfs may need a multiple purchase to ensure you get both sex fish unless you go for fish like blue rams or kribs that are quite obvious male and female.

once you have the fish you will need to keep them in a tank of their own. this is to stop any other fish trying to eat the eggs and to make the pair feel more comfortable. any fish given the chance will eat eggs.....

breeding tanks are not usually the best looking tanks as they are there for a purpose not to look pretty with lots of movement and colours etc. if your fish do spawn then you can either remove the parents from the tank or remove the eggs or let the pair bring them up. the last option may take a few attempts as the parents may just eat the eggs for the first few times.

once the eggs have hatched and you have wrigglers/fry they are still under threat by the parents so another tank is recomended to transfer either the fry or parents into. it doesnt have to be a big tank until the fry grow out a bit. plenty of daily water changes and 3x feeding will grow the fry on well and once they get to a certain size a bigger tank will be needed for them to grow into adult fish. if they are kept in a tank thats too small then they may become stunted and water conditions will be harder to keep managable with lots of fish in a small space. also most dwarf cichlids can be pretty mean so too many in a small area will cause conflict and eventually torn fins and maybe worse which will stress the fish and could cause infections etc etc etc.

its very time consuming and to do it right a few tanks are required not just 1. lots of maintenance, feeding etc and the tanks will need to be kept as clean as possible for optimal growth and health. if you do manage to be successfull and raise some eggs into fry and into juvinile fish and so on you will then have to think about what you will do with all the fish..... dwarf cichlids are relatively cheap fish to buy and easy to get so shops might not be interested in any from you. if they do want some then chances are they will give you store credit not cash! thats not such a bad thing as you will be needing plenty of water conditioner, food possibly meds etc etc etc from them.

its a great feeling knowing that you have bred something but it isnt easy and doesnt happen over night and certainly doesnt happen without lots of patience and work involved. also are the running costs of several tanks lower than fish price? i would say to find out what price fish will fetch and work it out as you dont want to do it foe a loss!

i use to breed green and gold stripe corydoras and was constantly doing one thing or another with the eggs or fry or juvis and i had them set up in about 8 tanks with different age fish in each tank etc with another spare tank incase i needed a hospital/treatment tank. lots of filters and heaters running and lots of feeding and water changes meant high electricity costs. the lfs near me were giving me roughly £5 per fish but they had to be of a certain size and obviusly healthy. it was taking 3 months at least to get them to a selable size. granted some fish grow faster than others and corys are quite slow but its another thing to think about. how long will you have to keep them before selling them?

 

[mattlee]

just to add whatever your goal with breeding whether for fun or profit good luck