I want my lake Malawi cichlids to breed

Question

I have a 29 gallon tank with 2 orange malawi cihlids about 2 inches long, 2 south American cichlids that i dont care about, a Elongated Mbuna cichlid, and a little blue Malawi cichlid. I just want baby fish!!! I used to breed all types of live bearers but I want to take it a step up and breed cichlids. But the only thing is that i dont know anything about breeding them or even sexing them please help me!!

Answer 1

I used to raise pseudotropheus demasoni which is from Lake Malawi I found that having more than a few males in the tank helped to encourage mating, When I began I had 4 females and two males and nothing, then I added 20 more fish (100 gallon aquarium) and within a year I had 4 55 gallon aquariums full of fish (actually overstocked.)  

Answer 2

I'd agree mostly with what CC said.  I have a strong feeling you've bought your fish at one of your local chain stores, that don't take the time to know what species of fish they are selling.  The oranges are highly likely to be the Red Zebra's that are largely distributed in stores commercially.  Nothing very special about these fish, but they are VERY aggressive.

You should rehome those South Americans.  Africans across the board pretty much need totally different water.  If you don't care that much about them, then you should not have got them.

Elongatus?  What species?  That covers a large number of fish.  Little Blue Malawi?  Dude, you're going to have to start knowing what species of fish you have before you start thinking about breeding them.  I have my doubts that this is something you should get into, but I'd give you the benefit of the doubt in this case.

The one thing I disagree with CC is that you can very well breed Mbuna types in a 29 simply because Mbuna typically don't grow to very large sizes.  It would be crowded in the tank, but it very much could be done.  If you can or have a bigger tank, that certainly isn't going to hurt you.

Judging by the sizes you've listed, it appears you're fish also are not sexually mature yet either.  It sounds as if you have all Mbuna too, but without you taking the time to research your species, who knows.  Assuming this is the case, you should have a large amount of rock work in your tank.  You'll find the interactions of these fish to be much more if you do so.

Mbuna's are pretty much mouthbrooders.  I've been able to capture a spawning and it's almost the same for all mouthbrooders.  I'd agree that it's in your best interest to learn to s*x your fish if you can, and TRY to keep your fish in a harem set up.  This is important to do, as a male will still harass a holding female to spawn.  Males do not seem to recognize that a female is already carrying a brood.  By having multiple females, it diverts out aggression so that any one single female cannot take the brunt of his spawning attempts.  I've been able to actually breed a couple of my Africans without doing this though.  The difference is that I have much much larger tanks and more space for females to take cover in.  This being said, if you have a large tank, one advantage you get is your females, should you only have a pair, male and female, the female can take cover and hide from the male if holding.

Another issue that you haven't addressed here, is that when the female spits the brood out, if you want them to survive, you need to get a seperate tank in which to put the female by herself.  Males will eat smaller fish, even if they are their own siblings.  Females however don't seem to do so.

Answer 3

Hi,

I had the same problem as you, and wanted my fish to breed so what i did instead of keeping the fish in two then keep them in a group of 5 or more this way unless you are really unlucky then you will get a mixture of sexes, as if you buy two theres a slim chance that you'll get a pair.  

Answer 4

First off, are your orange ones metriaclima estherae? http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/sp...

You will need to do much more than what you are doing to get them to breed. First off, most mbuna (which I am assuming they are) will require being in tanks with a minimum tank length of 4', which typically is about 45-55 gallons. Next, with all mbuna you will NEED a ratio of at least 1 male for every 3-4 females, because the males will kill their females and this cuts down on that aggression. You will also need to wait until your fish are sexually mature. When sexing mbuna some of them you can tell the difference of males and females just by the color. Others like the red zebra, females will tend to be a darker orange color, and the best way to tell their s*x is by a process called venting. Males anal holes and vent holes will be similar in size like oo, and the females vent hole will be larger than the anal hole like Oo. The anal hole is closest to the head. To get baby fish you will first need to do your research on proper keeping of mbuna, before you breed. Then if you follow proper care, you should have no problems breeding most of them.

But the first thing I suggest is finding out what types of fish you have, get them in a larger tank, buying groups of 10 of each species (only if juvies and cannot s*x) or buying the ratio I suggested, and you can thin out your group once you have at least 1 male and 3-4 females.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/br...