cichlid breeding beginner advice wanted

[Scott S]

ok so I've narrowed it down to these two at the moment. mainly because both are available and within budget.
Heros SP. Rotkeil (red shoulder or red head Severum)
Cryptoheros Sajica (T-bar cichlid)
they're both available in batches of 10-12, and both rather small. the Tbars are between 1/4" and 1/2", and the Rotkeils are roughly 3/4".
any comments or advice on either would be gratefully accepted.

the plan is, I have a 28 gal which I will use for the breeding pair once I get one established, and then I have a 50 for grow out.
I also have 2, 100gal tanks that are just community cichlid tanks. one of these might go for the 4 Frontosa I just got.

one question I should probably pose right away is the Frontosa. they're somewhere just over an inch. they're in the grow out tank at present. will they pose a threat to 3/4" Severum?

 

[SherLar]

I love severums, and red shoulders are arguably the most beautiful of all severums. Just my opinion, of course. If you choose to breed these, you may want to change your breeding and grow-out tanks around, however, as a 28g tank is pretty small for two 8" fish, even a breeding pair.
At 1", I don't believe your frontosa would be much of a threat to other fish nearly their size, but I would certainly get them moved before they double in size.

 

[Scott S]

I love severums, and red shoulders are arguably the most beautiful of all severums. Just my opinion, of course. If you choose to breed these, you may want to change your breeding and grow-out tanks around, however, as a 28g tank is pretty small for two 8" fish, even a breeding pair.
At 1", I don't believe your frontosa would be much of a threat to other fish nearly their size, but I would certainly get them moved before they double in size.

only one of my 100s is up with a community in it, the other is empty (there's a thread on that situation) would I be better off using the 50 as the breeding and the 100 to grow out, or maybe the 100 to breed adn the 50 to grow out.
my thought was, the 28 is a bit cramped, but growing out a batch of fry in the 28 sounds really cramped.
great advice, the 50 for breeding, easily done.

 

[SherLar]

How large do you intend to grow your fry before offering them for sale? The 28g may be large enough if you don't want to grow them to more than 1.5" or so.

 

[Scott S]

I plan on selling to the local fish stores, so yeah, maybe 1"- 1.5"
ok, so that's solved, 50 for breeding, and 28 for grow-out.
any reason against the Sajica? they're nice looking, easy to breed, and not too common, at least not here, and they don't get too big for people to keep.
p.s. the Severum are my favorite too.

 

[SherLar]

Nothing against them, no. They may be an easier option for starting out than the severum. You may want to talk to your LFS (if you haven't already) to ask which fish they would be willing to take quantities of before you get started though.