Jewel Cichlids

[collie166]

hi i am thinking of buying two pairs of jewels can anyone help me with advice on keeping,breeding etc.cheers peter

 

[DrRob]

Well there's this;
 
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/187174-jewel-cichlid/
 
Although I would echo the warning about them being aggressive. They have a reputation for being fine for a while and then reaching a certain size and killing everything in site, including things larger than them. Beautiful fish but only really for a community with careful thought. For a species tank, they're great.

 

[crisycrunch]

Here is some advice from my personal experience :
 
 Very easy fish to keep, maintain and breed.  Once you have a pair you can either give them their own tank to breed in or keep them mixed with other tankmates.  Jewels can get quite aggressive so make sure you give the other tankmates lots of swimming room to get away.  I'd recommend at least a 25 -30 gallon tank for the pair.  Provide them with a cave or hiding spot that they can defend from or hide out in to raise the fry.  I'd keep the temperature around 78 F and to induce breeding behaviour and do a 50% water change to get them going ( water change stimulates breeding).  Once the eggs hatch and the fry become free swimming, crush flake food into a powder form or use frozen baby brine (easier then hatching it) to get the fry eating.  Once they are eating then its smooth sailing from there on.