Breeding Cichlids - How To Breed American Cichlids

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Fish Breeding - How To Breed American Cichlids

Breeding American Cichlids

Most american cichlids are very easy fish to breed. Providing the water quality, temperature & food supply are sufficient, american cichlids can generally be left to their own devices and sooner or later they will breed on their own and raise their young until the next breeding cycle. Once ready to breed again, the american cichlids will kill the offspring they once protected & raised if not removed from the tank.

During the courting period, the male in particular will begin obsessively moving gravel, cleaning a rock with his body and mouth and swim back & forth to the female, enhancing his colors and flicking her with his body in dance-like movements. If the female is reluctant the male can become quite agressive and sometimes injure or kill the female. He will continue to court and lure her until she shows interest in preparing the spawn site and they will usually lock mouths, pushing and pulling each other.

They lay their eggs on a smooth rock or leaf, sometimes even the glass fishtank wall and fan and clean the eggs for several days until they hatch and become aggressive towards the hobbyist and other fish, guarding the territory. Once hatched they keep their fry together in a swarm, usually in a cave or in a hollowed out area of gravel where they have piled it up against the walls of the tank and feed their fry by taking mouthfulls of food, chewing it up & spitting it out. The fry will also happily eat tube fry food provided or some hard boiled egg yolk for the first one to two weeks until fine powdered dry food or freshly hatched brine shrimp can be provided. Any weak fry will be eaten by the parents.

Any conflict or stress may cause the spawning cichlids to suddenly eat their entire offspring so to play it safe it may be best to gently syphon off the tiny fry using an airline as soon as they hatch and are wriggling although still stuck to the surface the eggs were layed on (This stage can be seen in the photo at the top of the page). Removing all the fry will certainly upset the breeding pair and cause them to fight so removing only about half of the baby fry is best. Care should be taken to avoid large changes in ph and temperature levels when transferring the fry to a new tank.

American cichlids will usually breed continuously every month or so and this can be very stressfull and draining on the female so allowing her some rest time by separation or by placing the male in with a different female for a while is a good idea. Stressed fish become sick and eventually die from malnutrition and infections or growths.

A difficult breeding pair of american cichlids may be encouraged to spawn/breed by an increase in supply of live foods, good privacy or even a piece of carboard to cover the front of the tank aswell as some simulation of natural season changes like cooling and heating the water. A glass separation divider can also be good to allow the pair to see and communicate with each other while being unable to fight or interact. The female is almost ready to lay her eggs when a small, white tube can be seen protruding from the abdomen aswell as a fat belly. During breeding the american cichlids prefer fairly dark lighting. A breeding pair will be much more comfortable with a low wattage or room lamp and dark gravel to reduce the glare from the floor. The gravel should also be the right size - american cichlids tend to turn their tank into a quarry & move gravel all over the place so the gravel should be of a size they can easily pick up with their mouths & not sharp or rough. Any plants in the tank will be destroyed by most of the cichlids except for the more timid types like the angel fish.