Rainbow Cichlid Breeding Pair

[celaeno]

i plan to sell my male krib sometime in the future and get a breeding pair of rainbow cichlids.

will they be compatible with my 4 (soon to be 6) rosy barbs in my 20 gallon long tank? i'm particularly worried about when the rainbow cichlids start breeding and get territorial.

 

[Fish0lover]

Hi,
Rainbow cichlids can grow up to 5 inches. They say that you can put them in a 20gal if you only have 2 of them and nothing else. Even if you want small fish in with them you at least need a 30gal. And if you plan to breed them you will need at least a 30gal aquarium anyway as rainbow cichlids can have 200-1000 eggs. I do have a breeding pair of them, but I don't know if I would be willing to sell them. Anyway fancy guppies get along well with rainbow cichlids. But also a lot of other fish as rainbow cichlids aren't very aggresive. Anyway you have to be willing to spend some $$$ on these fish, as the pet stores sell them for $15 each and that's if they have any of them. As they are getting endangered in the wild, so the pet stores rarely have them.
Hope I helped, any questions just email or reply.

 

[River Dog]

I think you would just about get away with it, Rainbows' are not the most aggressive of fish. They are readily available in the UK and not as dear as in the USA. A bigger tank would obviously be better, but as I say, I think you would be OK.

 

[OldMan47]

They are not dear here either. I intend to sell my breeders at a club auction this coming weekend and I am hoping to get $10 for the pair. Although they lay tons of eggs, I often get no more than 10 or 15 survivors after the predators in my tank get done feeding on them. The parents can only protect so many of them and only for so long. If there were no other fish in the tank, I am sure the survival rates would be much higher but I really don't need a whole bunch of fry so I have not separated mine into their own tank. When I first got them, I had 7 in a 29 gallon tank until they got quite large. I finally moved them into my 120 and they are much less crowded there, even with the other fish in the tank.

 

[Fish0lover]

They say not to put over 2 in a 20gal. With no other fish in the tank. You will need over a 35gal to keep 4 rosy barbs, and 2 breeding rainbow cichlids. As both rosy barbs an rainbow cichlids grow up to 5 inches. If you got 4 rosy barbs and 2 rainbow cichlids in a 20gal, all the fish would be squished in there.