How Can I Persuade My Ciclids To Breed? (two Yellow Labs)

[patchman]

if any one has any advice, please dont hesitate.

i have never bred any kind of fish before but would like to do so.

 

[adambrum]

Make sure you have a male and female and there over 2"

 

[willtang3000]

yes as the first one is very obvious and you can also feed things that will get them in the moods such as "treat" foods which have more nutrition than flaked and dry foods.Also chnage in temperature can also trigger spawning such as raising it
edit: more added

 

[patchman]

just today i have given them a water change, some new hidy places and some blood worm,

will this encourage them?

 

[kribensis12]

It should, but do you for sure have a male and a female? If you dont return one of them for a male/female. And also if they dont breed try tubifex worms and frozen brine shrimp.

 

[adambrum]

Dont feed them bloodworm its to high in protein and will give them bloat which can be fatal to mbuna.

With yellow labs it really is just a case of having a male and female over 2" they breed like crazy.

Do you know how to vent them as its the only way to sex these fish, If not look it up on Google its quite easy once you get the hang of it and an invaluable skill when dealing with cichlids.

There is one thing that can give them a little nudge into breeding which is to do a cold water change just chuck in 20-30% cold water it works, that's how i got my wild caught to start breeding.

 

[Nick Sw]

Adam`s right Bloodworm is unsuitable for Mbuna, BTW Adam how much does your temp change during your cold water change ?

 

[adambrum]

About 4 or 5 deg, I have stopped doing it now as there were to many breeding i have also dropped the tank temp to about 70 which is helping to cut down the breeding but is also making my male drop there colour a bit.

I would really recommend it to give your fish a kick start in breeding.

 

[kribensis12]

Yeah I forgot about not feeding bloodworms to mubuna....... One time I did to my zebras and they died from bloat, but if you ever get it feed them blanched pea's( boil water, then drop them in and pull them out in a matter of seconds, it helps the diggestive track)

 

[patchman]

i tested my ph today and its 6.5, i think it needs to be 7.5, how can i change it.

 

[kribensis12]

Right now the only thing that you could put in is discus( doubt you want those). To raise you ph naturaly try putting in a lot of drift wood and ocean rock. If it dosent get high enough go to artifical stuff, what ever you do get the liquid buffer not the powder. Never get the powder. And your ph should be at about 8.4.

 

[adambrum]

before you start changing things whats the size of the tank and whats in there ?

 

[Nick Sw]

Right now the only thing that you could put in is discus( doubt you want those). To raise you ph naturaly try putting in a lot of drift wood and ocean rock. If it dosent get high enough go to artifical stuff, what ever you do get the liquid buffer not the powder. Never get the powder. And your ph should be at about 8.4.

Driftwood will leach tannic acid and consequently lower pH.

Coral gravel or crushed limestone in your filter would help help to provide continuous buffering as they leach carbonates into the water.

Or use some commercial products to raise the PH but I would try the CF Buffer Recipe http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/buffer_recipe.php

Not sure why you should never buy the powder ? which powder and why ?

 

[kribensis12]

I dont remeber the brand but I have had plenty of different kinds and they all seem to kill my fish during of after the treatment. I have a 30 and a 20. I treated the 20 first and all my agnels got ick and died during the treatment. Then I put the rest in the 30 and my dwarfs got ick and died. Coincidence.... I think not. The petstore said that they have had many complaints about all the powder types of p.h. decreasers and buffers. Then they told me to try a liqiud buffer that dosent cloud the water and the fish did fine and I have never had a problem with them again. Except every time I buy powder buffer increasers and decreasers from any store my fish always seem to get ick and day the same time.

 

[Nick Sw]

I think you might be doing something wrong if all your fish get ick and die.

Never alter the PH by more than 0.3 in one day drastic changes in PH can be harmful to your fish and biological filtration. Also I`d try and make sure you understand what you are doing first.