cichlid community

[zooking12]

Okay so im thinking about breeding cichlids. I have a 40g (well, an oddly shaped 38g) and im planning on keeping two pairs of kribs, a pair of keyholes and a pair of rams. I plan on breeding them all, and maybe putting some swordtails, danios, or tiger barbs in there as targets. Any thoughts? Is this too many fish? Will they all kill each other? Will any of the fry survive?

 

[bruinsbro1997]

I would stick with just two pairs and leave it at that. Keep some schoolers as target fish if you choose to, but I am wary of three pairs all together in there...

 

[zooking12]

Okay... so which 2 pairs? Which schooling fish? Which schooling fish would survive?

 

[bruinsbro1997]

I would try keyholes and rams, kribs and rams, or kribs and keyholes. Any schooling fish appropriate for that size tank should be fine.

 

[toddnbecka]

I wouldn't recommend more than 1 breeding pair of cichlids in a tank smaller than 4' wide, simply not enough space for 2 adequately seperated territories. A pair of BN pleco's would also spawn along with the cichlids and provide some safe (for fry) diversion for the cichlids.

 

[zooking12]

I do have a 4' tank. Thats what I'm gonna use to create the pairs. I'm gonna have 6 kribs (3m:3f) and 6 keyholes (3m/3f). I'm gonna let them pair up and then keep the healthiest pair. And how do bristlenoses pair up? Could I use the same technique?

 

[zooking12]

Ok... so a pair of kribs in a 30 in long, 18 in tall, foot wide aquarium with a pair of bristlenoses and a school of 15 tiger barbs? Is there possibly any room for anything else?

 

[HN1]

Scratch the tiger barbs. A 30 is too small for that large of a group and they WILL eat fry when they mature. The barbs you have likely seen are way smaller than they're potential.

 

[zooking12]

Scratch the tiger barbs. A 30 is too small for that large of a group and they WILL eat fry when they mature. The barbs you have likely seen are way smaller than they're potential.

Noooo. The aaquarium holds roughly 40 gallons of water. It's just 30 inches long.

 

[HN1]

A 40G is still too small for that large of a group of tiger barbs with paired cichlids IMO. If you want to focus on the pairing and breeding aspect, barbs are probably not the best fish to include.

 

[zooking12]

Then what should I use as a dither/ target? And how do bristlenoses pair up? Do you raise a group together?... do they pair up if you just buy a pair?

 

[toddnbecka]

The width of the tank is fine for a single pair of cichlids and BN, but a school of tiger barbs would eat the fry. You'll need the tankspace for the fry to grow out in any case.

 

[zooking12]

Ok. But is there room for a school of anything?

 

[toddnbecka]

Not really room for a school of anything when the fry grow out, they should be at least 1" before moving along. It doesn't take long for a brood of cichlid fry alone to fill a tank, and adding BN to the mix simply shortens the time frame. BN are easy enough to pair up, just provide a suitable spawning site. The male will take up residence and the female will spawn when she's ready. Plenty of fast-growing live plants like Najas are also helpful for maintaining water quality in a crowded breeding/growout tank.

 

[zooking12]

Water quality shouldn't be a problem. I have a canister filter meant for 100 gallons in that tank. And I do have another 55gallon community where some of the fish could go if it gets too crowded. So far I haven't really had that mush luck with kribs anyway.

 

[toddnbecka]

If you want something easier I have several proven pairs of cutteri available.
Here's a pic of a brood of fry in a 29:

About 3 months later they looked like this:

I have 1 pair in a 40 (36x12) with a Carapo knife and several BN pleco's. The Carapo eats the fry:

I also have 3 more pairs in a 90, with 6 P. typus catfish and more BN. The catfish aren't quite as efficient as the Carapo, there are now 2 juvies around 1" that they missed. Still, out of hundreds of fry that's pretty good predation.

 

[zooking12]

Cool. But you want your fry to get eaten?

 

[toddnbecka]

Ya, nobody wants or needs hundreds of cutteri, or any other fish for that matter.

 

[Bl80]

At first you want to keep, but once you get going... What survives survives... It's just like in the wild... Ones I know aren't hybrids I can take to my LFS.

 

[zooking12]

Ok. So I set up the tank for the kribs on low budget using only what I already have.