bdo. Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 Hi all! I've had my tank set-up for a couple of months now and have enjoyed adding new fish to it and they all seem to have settled in well and are rather happy. I'm wishing to take it to the next level though and am looking to hopefully breed a couple of varieties. However I am very wary of overcrowding and so I'm not looking at throwing heaps of one species in and so thought it would be a good idea to ask what might be some good options before I start adding anything else in. I've got a 4ft African community tank and at the moment I have a pair of transcriptus, and am about to get a male lombardoi to hopefully pair with the female I already have. Preferably, as its a display tank, I'd like species which have an equally pretty female (or male if it is the case). Despite this, I have a beautiful looking male cobwe and have been told that these guys breed like rabbits...? Additionally, I wanted to try with demosoni but I realise these guys exhibit high levels of conspecific aggression and are quite hard to sex. Any words of advice? Cheers, Bedo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gianniz Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 electric yellow hongi island are one of the easiest fish to breed (imo). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hobcas Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 electric yellow They could also be referred to as "Rats with Fins" they are that easy to breed. You would find that EY's would happily breed in a community tank. Yep cobwe are prolific breeders as you suggest. The best species to breed, well that's pretty subjective, I have been struggling to get a pair of Lion Heads breeding so for me at the moment that would be the best. Cheers Ross Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdo. Posted April 13, 2009 Author Share Posted April 13, 2009 Yeh, I'm after something easy, but I'm also pretty picky so I'd rather something a little more different, or less 'rat-like' perhaps haha. I've contemplated lionheads too. They 'brood' like julies hey, like in a cave rather than in their mouth? Guess the hard part there though is finding a pair who bond... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coreygrant Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 newbie here.got a pair of electric yellow and blue and a pair of venustus only small but should i get more females???how many and how big will they be b4 they breed???sorry if this is outta order though i think it is related to this thread Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdo. Posted April 14, 2009 Author Share Posted April 14, 2009 Go nuts mate, sounds perfectly relevant to me! I'm not sure on those particular species, but generally I think you want a few females just to spread out the aggression as they could get picked on, especially if you've only got those few fish in the tank. Will also depend on the size of the tank obviously? Think yellows and blues can start breeding pretty young, not sure bout the venustus though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave mac Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 generally the rule of thumb is to always have more females than males to share the aggression about. I found good results with a 3 to 1 ratio. as for the size i'm not an expert as ive only breed a few species, but i found mine breeding at about the 3-4 inch mark for your average african cichlid (eg. electric yellow, rusty) however i have seen post of people having found fish with mouthfulls much smaller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coreygrant Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 got 4 foot tank.only jut put fish in on long w/e only tiny as yet...bought them from f,f & feathers dave.do you have a better source??would love to breed??!!who dont Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdo. Posted April 14, 2009 Author Share Posted April 14, 2009 Mate I recommend registering on here so you can check out the classifieds section. Not only will you get some bargains but you will usually get the best strains of fish. It'd also be worth checking out the other big (and small I guess) LFSs around Sydney to see whats on offer. See other thread(s) re: their locations. Enjoy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coreygrant Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 thanx mate been havin a ball since i joined...had cichlids bout 10 yrs ago...got family now and more time and really enjoyin finding out info and look forward to getting back into it.but dont have much idea on breeding etc?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdo. Posted April 14, 2009 Author Share Posted April 14, 2009 Yeh me neither, thus this thread haha, hoping for some more informed advice from everyone! You can only have a go though I guess and hope for the best! Then share your all experiences of course so others can learn. This is my first go at cichlids and so far so good - I'm lovin' it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azzah Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 Think yellows and blues can start breeding pretty young, not sure bout the venustus though... It took a while for me to get my Venustus colony to breed my male and females didn't seem interested in each other until they were atleast 4-5 inches whereas I have yellows and Hongis breeding at 5-8cm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosco Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 I think fish like Cobwe and yellows, are nice fish to cut your teeth on and you can keep and breed yellows in the same tank so that is a bonus. If you colorful females then maybe look at Salousi and yellows or little Demons and yellows. But a word of warning if you plan to breed Lombardoi then I recommend you get rid of the Cobwe male there is a chance they may cross breed and that is just disastrous. coreygrant - Since you live near the gong there is going to be a massive fish auction down you on the 20 something of June at Kanahooka. cheers rosco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdo. Posted April 15, 2009 Author Share Posted April 15, 2009 Cheers for the heads up! The afra and female lombardoi have been in my tank from the beginning though, since they were confined to a 2ft, and I havn't had any issues between them thus far. Will the introduction of the male lombardoi change that do you reckon? I just dropped him in and I dont think he's even taken a glance at his missus haha, he seems a lot more interested in fighting with the chilumba! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fry_2_buy Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 In my opinion, there isnt really a thing a difficult fish to breed. What I mean is yes some fish i.e. frontosa can take years to breed, but if you really enjoy the hobby then you will be satisfied in trying to replicate conditions for any type of fish to breed. So don't be concerned about difficulties, more so the proper care for the fish and a lively passion for the hobby... nature will do the rest if you're successuful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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