Learn How to Breed Cichlids
I like to say breeding African Cichlids is all about preparing the right kind of environment for them.
The closer your aquarium comes to representing the natural habitat of African Cichlids (which consists of 2 warm lakes in Africa; Malawi and Tanganyika) Well how do you create similar conditions as in a warm African lake in your aquarium? First of all you need a water heater.
You should have one anyways even if you don't want your Cichlids to breed.
Unless the temperature in your house is around 79F what I doubt.
Temperature of water sets the mood of your Cichlids.
The warmer the water the more active and aggressive they are but they also have higher desire to mate and breed.
If your water is too cold the will be just slowly swimming around.
Ideal water temperature is around 25-26C (77-79F).
At this temperature they will be most inclined to breed.
You also have to provide your Cichlids with similar pH as in their natural environment.
Water in Malawi and Tanganyika never drops under 7 pH.
Therefore African Cichlids are not used to acidic water (pH under 7) and absolutely hate it.
Aim for pH from 7.
5 to 8.
5.
Water hardness is not as important as pH but make sure your water is not too soft.
African Cichlids prefer hard water.
African Cichlids are extremely territorial type of fish.
In their natural environment they usually find a small cave or other hiding place where they spend their whole life.
If there isn't enough hiding places in your aquarium they will be very unhappy which will result in the following: oAggression and fights for territory oYour Cichlids wont have a place to mate and lay their eggs oEven if your Cichlids breed, baby fish will be eaten by the adult fish Make sure your aquarium environment features many hiding places for adult fish but also small hiding places for baby fish which are only accessible to them such as small spaces between rocks.
The closer your aquarium comes to representing the natural habitat of African Cichlids (which consists of 2 warm lakes in Africa; Malawi and Tanganyika) Well how do you create similar conditions as in a warm African lake in your aquarium? First of all you need a water heater.
You should have one anyways even if you don't want your Cichlids to breed.
Unless the temperature in your house is around 79F what I doubt.
Temperature of water sets the mood of your Cichlids.
The warmer the water the more active and aggressive they are but they also have higher desire to mate and breed.
If your water is too cold the will be just slowly swimming around.
Ideal water temperature is around 25-26C (77-79F).
At this temperature they will be most inclined to breed.
You also have to provide your Cichlids with similar pH as in their natural environment.
Water in Malawi and Tanganyika never drops under 7 pH.
Therefore African Cichlids are not used to acidic water (pH under 7) and absolutely hate it.
Aim for pH from 7.
5 to 8.
5.
Water hardness is not as important as pH but make sure your water is not too soft.
African Cichlids prefer hard water.
African Cichlids are extremely territorial type of fish.
In their natural environment they usually find a small cave or other hiding place where they spend their whole life.
If there isn't enough hiding places in your aquarium they will be very unhappy which will result in the following: oAggression and fights for territory oYour Cichlids wont have a place to mate and lay their eggs oEven if your Cichlids breed, baby fish will be eaten by the adult fish Make sure your aquarium environment features many hiding places for adult fish but also small hiding places for baby fish which are only accessible to them such as small spaces between rocks.
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