Texas Cichlid Breeding

[cichlidcasey]

What age/size are they mature?
Any tips to induce spawning?
They have displayed random spawning acts like "wrestling" female is larger. Also nesting activities but it never leads to anything. This pair is inseperable. I have tried water changes and feeding live food. Water temp is a out 80-82 and is the highest the heater will go.

 

[msumpter87]

I never got into breeding them myself but I do have a friend who has had a lot of success with breeding Texas. Both his male and female were around 5-6 inches and he actually lowered the temp by about 4 degrees. Like I said never done it myself but I hope it helps

 

[cichlidcasey]

Thanks you

 

[AquaAussie]

I'm trying to do the same. Wondering how long it takes them to spawn

 

[cichlidcasey]

Let me know how it goes

 

[Andy Sager]

When I bred Texas's the big key for me was the spawning site. Mine preferred a larger stone or slate laid flat on the bottom. (At least as big as the fish.) I don't recall exactly how large mine where but 5" sounds a bit small to me. (However, take into consideration tho that after many years of inbreeding, it's possible now a days that the fish doesn't grow as large anymore and might be maturing sooner.)
I bred most all of my cichlids between 78 and 80 degrees. 82 shouldn't be too warm but you can lower it anyways without problems. The #1 factor is the water quality. If your water isn't near perfect, you are going to have a harder time getting the fish to spawn. Make sure you check everything!

If all this checks out, make sure you do have some hiding spots for the fish and that you are feeding them a good mixed diet of protein and vegetable matter to get them conditioned properly. After that, it's a waiting game.

Hope this helps...

 

[cichlidcasey]

Vegetable matter?

 

[cichlidcasey]

What should my water levels be

 

[Andy Sager]

What should my water levels be

Water temp: 78-80 degrees
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate under 10ppm (preferably at 0)
PH: I always tried to keep my ph near 7.0 Since I was dealing with fish that were closer to wild stock, the ph values were a bit more important. After years of domestic breeding, I can't say for sure that this is still necessary but if you are having problems breeding with phs either higher or lower than this, you might want to try this level and see.

As for vegetable matter, it's always a good idea to get some "roughage" into the diet to help clean out the fish's intestines. Try adding some algae pellets to their regular pelleted diet (if you feed pellets) or algae flakes (if you are using flakes.) I mixed in Spirolina flakes into their food because there were no pelleted foods when I was raising them. You have more options today

Hope this helps...

 

[cichlidcasey]

They laid eggs last night

 

[AquaAussie]

I think I need to make more hiding spots with flat rocks inside because there is a lot of competition in my big tank.

 

[Andy Sager]

Congrats on the eggs, that's the first step. Next most important...hatching. Since new breeders don't usually have good success, I've always worked on the premiss that "as long as 1 egg hatches, I know I have a fertile pair." The rest will work itself out with time and practice.

Keep us posted

 

[cichlidcasey]

How many days after laying do they hat,h