I've been just getting males to avoid the m/f ratio issues. If and when I decide i wanna breed any then I'll inquire for females. I do however have 2 female empress and 2 males so we'll have to see how that goes.
A word of caution.
The M:F ratio isn't for breeding purposes. It's to help keep the Cichlids Aggression to a minimum.
As your males get older they will start to do some serious damage to each other, if there isn't a lot of females around to cut down on the testosterone levels.
Even with the proper M:F ratio, boys will be boys, and fight with each other. But not nearly as much, or as deadly, if they have a lot of girls around to impress.
I have
1 female Peacock
1 female Kenyi (her male partner was killed by a killer RZ)
2 female Cobalt Blue
2 female Yellow Labs
1 female White lab (not an albino)
I also have,
2 female Black ? w/ blue fins. Their faces are shaped like the labs and they have markings on their dorsal fin like the lab, but I have no idea what they are, except incredibly beautiful.
1 male Red Top Zebra
1 male Cobalt blue
1 male White Lab (also not albino)
1 male Black? w/Blue fins.
It's not the 1:4 ratio, but it's been enough to keep the violence at bay. So much so that we will be having babies soon.
Our female Kenyi (Rainbow) has a mouthful right now, and the Dad is our Red Top Zebra (Charlie).
I know that they are hybrids and some people have an issue with that, but I don't. In fact I think Rainbow made a great choice in father material.
Rainbow is on the small side, but she has beautiful deep blue coloring and a great, outgoing personality. She's always out in the front of the tank to greet us as we come in the room and until the mouth full of babies she would always fallow the camera whenever I try to take pictures. I couldn't get a picture of any other fish without her in it.
Charlie is a great big strapping Red Top. He's one of the largest Mbunas I've ever seen. He's not quite a year old yet, and he still seems to be growing. Before I put Rainbow in a separate tank, for baby safety, Charlie was being very protective of Rainbow. He chased away anyone that came close to her. At feeding time he would wait for her to come out before he would eat. Even though she's not eating, due to a mouth full of babies. For a fish, Charlie was being very attentive to the mommy of his children. A lot of human dads aren't that good. They were actually very sweet to watch.
Sorry, you didn't need all that information. They are the first babies we've ever had in 7 years of fish keeping. I'm a little over excited.
My point was that you really need the m:f ratio all the time, not just for breeding.
Unless your an expert and know how to vent your Cichlids to sex them, it's a hit or miss proposition. Just make sure that you LFS will let you return any of your female choices, if they turn out to be male. Most of the non chain PS don't have a problem with it, The larger chains usually won't. I can't say which ones, it violates some rule and I don't want to get into trouble. But if you do some more research on your specific Cichlids, on the physical differences between the males and the females. Then add 3-5 new female, every 4-6 weeks.
i always QT my new fish for the first 4 weeks, longer if the new ones are on the small side. The extra time gives them a chance to grow, to be better able to protect themselves.
Choosing females based on the physical characteristics isn't always accurate but it's kind of all you have, unless you can convince someone that knows how to vent Cichlids to go with you to the FS and pick out the females for you. Don't rely on the FS people to pick out the females for you, they rarely know the difference.
Because of the m:f ratio females are harder to find. You may need to special order female African Cichlids.
Good luck and happy girl shopping.
