african cichlids?

Question

i have a 55 gallon assoted african cichlid tank with 6, 1 - 1.5" i was wondering about around wut inch would they start mateing? and i just got them monday.... so does it take maybe like a week or two for them to mate?

Answer 1

Do you know for a fact you have a females and males? If so, the conditions in your tank will have to be almost perfect condition. (Plenty of rocks, temperature, water ph , etc..) In other words, you may have a while..

Answer 2

Depending on the species, more likely than not, your cichlids are still juveniles. They are not going to start mating until they are grown, which will take much more than a week or two!

Since you did not mention what species you have, I cannot say what size they should be before mating.

A general answer would be around 4-6 inches. And you should have more cichlids in that tank. With Africans, you need to overcrowd the tank, otherwise the most dominant fish will kill off or bully the others.

Answer 3

Well,
Me and my brother have been hard core aqauriests for years. The african cichlids will mate when they want to. If you see one fish chasing all the others "a lot", then thats likely the male fish, they will all chase each other since they are agressive types of fish, but more so than usual. Also, they are mouth brooders, which meens that the female will raise the young in her mouth and often times the mouth will be "buldged", one she does spit them out, you may go up to a few weeks before seeing them, they will hide from the other fish that will try to eat them. Also, many other factors need to be met such as pH of the water, how hard the water is, etc.

These fish love hard water, and whoever tells you that they like soft water is full of it, they LOVE hard water and they thrive off of rocks, if you have plants, they will uproot them and eat them. They even do a good job at algae, especially the pesty hair algae. Lots of rocks and caves is what they like, they love to swim through them, chase each other through them and make territory in them which is ideal for breeding to them. I am telling you from experience, hard water, lots of rocks and caves, maybe the odd plant and a relatively neutral pH. Hope this helps.

Wee Man.

Answer 4

No, it will take them many more months before they reach sexual maturity. You did not specify which african cichlids your have, but generally, they will begin to breed at 4-5 long. So, feed them well, keep their water clean, and be patient. If you have a male and female of the same species, they should mate eventually.

Answer 5

'African cichlid' is a very generic term - they range from 1" to 24" fully grown, they come from different types of biotopes, they have different breeding habits, and they will start breeding at different points in their growth.

The typical 'assorted' cichlid is an mbuna or hybrid of one, and these guys can start breeding quite young - a Lab. Caeruleus (electric yellow) female will start as small as 1.5" and a male at about 2", and it doesn't take long for them to reach this size.

Of course, buying assorted cichlids without knowing what they are is a path to disaster, and you'll probably see them start killing each other even as they start to reach breeding age.

Learn about these great fish, start at (www.cichlid-forum.com) and you can learn how to avoid fatalities in the near future.

Answer 6

species?
water temp.?
rocks?
caves?
egg layers?
mouth brooders?
sex?
ect.?

it all depends on the things above it could be days weeks months!! there really is no answer to this one until you give us more description!!
try again and maybe you will get more accurate answers!! if i were you i wouldn't depend on any of these answers because all you said was 1-1.5"
GOOD LUCK

Answer 7

don't worry about breeding.. Just take care of them and a pair might form and breed... They tend to raise their fries so you don't have to do anything... Although, the community environment of cichlids will eat the eggs and fries.

Answer 8

dont know