assorted african cichlids?

Question

assorted african cichlids can mate mate right in a 55 gallon tank. i have 6, 1 - 1.5", ones blue, yellow, orange, white, brownish, and a green and black one

Answer 1

Oh yes can they breed...but watch out for what you wish for. I have a few different kinds of breeds in my 55...and right now I have 2 pregnant fish, and one of mine just had 9 little babies!! I don't know what to do with all the fish I have now...I always move the pregnant mommys to the other tank (I have 3 tanks), because I can't handle letting the babies get eaten. It's too sad...my boyfriend says I'm too sensitive about it. They say to kill hybrids because they are "bad", but I haven't had any problems w/ my hybrids. Just make sure there are some hiding places and you should have a few of them survive. You can tell they are mating when they shuffle the rocks around (you'll hear it and see it)...then you will see two fish circle around each other repeatedly. You know one is pregnant when they stop taking food, but still look like they are interested it...they just don't want to open their mouths. They will also wiggle their chins around to move the eggs around in the mouth...eventually her mouth will start bulging as the babies grow. Watch her everytime you feed...when she starts eating again, you know she has spit out the babies...so look for them hiding in the crevices. If you want all the babies to survive..get a little 10 gallon for the mom to deliver them in...that's we do. Well...good luck....african cichlids are the funnest fish out there!

Answer 2

If they are labeled as "assorted," then you can have no idea what you are getting, so no meaningful answer to this question is possible. Usually the "assorted" label means the store doesn't know what they are, either. There are around 2000 different species of African cichlids, with widely varying adult sizes and varying rates of growth. Many of the fish labeled "assorted" or "mixed" or the like are (accidentally bred) interspecies hybrids, about which it would be even harder to make predictions.

Answer 3

If your wanting to breed them i sujest setting up a small 10 gallon for a breeder, move over some existing water and gravel and add an inexpensive small fish like a zebra danio in the tank to keep it cycling biologically. When you see that your mouth brooding females are prego move her over to the ten gallon,( the water perameters will be somewhat differant so dont forget to acclamate her in a bag by adding a mix of the waters from both tanks) After she releases the babys try to move her back within the first week or she will start eating the fry. When the fry is larger i usually bring them to a "mom and Pop" petstore and trade them in for store credit and get fish food. my fish do pretty good at paying for there keep lol.

Answer 4

You don't say what species. I used to have lots in a 125 gallon tank with lots for rocks for them to hide in. The mouth brooding by the mothers is cool, but once the babies outgrow their mother's protection, they need places to hide. They were my favorite fish. I saw a big tank in an aquarium in San Francisco, I think it was Golden Gate Park, and got into them big time. Then the tank leaked when I was huge and pregnant. I had to put them into other smaller tanks I had and they all killed each other!
Heartbreaking! No more fish for me. I'd love to go to the Rift Lakes in western Africa and snorkel.

Answer 5

You run the risk of getting some wickedly aggressive hybrids. When mixed cichlids breed the offspring can be much more aggressive than either parent and end up killing everone in the tank.