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 L# Cichlid Central
  L# Breeding
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RLHam3
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Fingerling
Posts: 44
Kudos: 34
Votes: 0
Registered: 20-Mar-2008
i have a 10 gallon. i was wondering if i could use it to breed firemouths or convicts. i have 2 2.5 inch firemouths right now in a 30 gal but so far nothing has happened. i've read that a smaller aquarium might help.
if the 10 gallon is a bad idea for both fire mouths and convicts, then please give me some pointers on the 30. right now i have a school of 4 tiger barbs as dither fish. the water temp is about 78 F. i have two flower pots in opposite sides of the tank. the bottom is cut out on one. i have recently started feeding them tropical flakes, frozen and freeze dired blood worm, and floating cichlid pellets. any suggestions?
Post InfoPosted 31-Aug-2008 01:34Profile PM Edit Report 
poisonwaffle
 
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Mega Fish
Posts: 1394
Kudos: 591
Registered: 11-Feb-2003
male usa
I'm not positive on this, but I would think that 2.5" is way too small for firemouths to be breeding.

Have you established that you do have a male and a female pair?

Even if you've got a pair of fish, you can't MAKE them breed. The best you can do is provide a good place for them to do it (IIRC, firemouths spawn on flat rocks? or do they dig a pit? Google that...), provide plenty of plants and rockwork for them and the babies to hide in, give them good water quality, and give them plenty of good foods. Once you've got that down, wait for the magic to happen. My JD's showed signs of spawning for months (they kept digging spawning pits and then re-burying them, fighting, etc) before they actually spawned... now I've got hundreds of babies to find homes for o.O

Do some googling and read up on breeding firemouths. Check their profile here on FP, there's probably some info on it there. If there isn't, once you learn about it, post it up there

Good luck
Post InfoPosted 31-Aug-2008 06:43Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
riri1
*****
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Fish Addict
Posts: 537
Kudos: 435
Votes: 44
Registered: 04-Mar-2005
male
ummm well i havent had to much sucsess with the firemouth cichlids one of the more dificult for me to breed and yes a 10 gallon tank is way to small i think. convict can be breed in a 20 gallon tank. try feeding live shrimp thats all i can really think of to help u out man.
Post InfoPosted 31-Aug-2008 06:44Profile AIM PM Edit Delete Report 
amilner
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Big Fish
Posts: 429
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Registered: 05-Jul-2004
male uk
Firstly, poisonwaffle is spot on with regards to sexing - it isn't as easy in fires as with other cichlids. You can't rely on longer finnage or colouring. Only way is to prep them for 'ideal' conditions and look for the display signs. Female will be plumper and 'should' be less colourful (again, not always the case). I've bred mine at approx 2" but to be honest, it was pure luck and they do better as they grow and fully mature.
When they are ready, they'll prepare lots of pits around the tank and female with display to the male alot (fanning and gill glaring but not in an aggressive manner). They'll clean a rock (flower pot is ideal) and she'll do the fry-care thing, he'll protect the area. They'll need the 30G (10G only suitable for raising the fry really) and altough the tiger barbs will be fine with them, even whilst they prepare and then spawn, I'd move the fry out after a few weeks to ensure a higher rate of survival.

The convicts are a hell of a lot easier to be honest. The females have pink shades on their flanks and are easily ID'd. Just putting m and f in water generally guarantees a spawn and then raising is relatively easy - only problem is they are vicious with other fish whilst it goes on.
Post InfoPosted 12-Sep-2008 01:15Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
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