how do you breed Malawian cichlids?? ...?

Question

is it east or is it hard to?? 40 gal freshwater tank with around 9 or a little more. and can i just leave them in there and let them breed without doing anything like taking out fish and stuff??? and how can you tell males from fem. ??? and do i have to get anything or do anything to encourage them??? and can i make money off the fry when grown?????? also how long will it take them to grow. and is it ok if i feed them brine shrimp everyday in the morning and at night i pick tropical fish flakes or blood worms. is that ok ??

Answer 1

I love Cichlids most are mouth brooders. By the type of cichlid they breed at various ages. also If you watch them often enough you will start learning their spawning habits. once a female stops eating and just appears to be swallowing with out opening her mouth when other are eating separate her. she is holding eggs that have been fertilized. Now convicts lay eggs on flat surfaces the males are bigger than females and they are very territorial parents and have around 200 babies. Pet stores are leery of purchasing from a Lone owner for fear of assorted problems unless you have a rare group of fish to your area. Check it out establish a relationship with the pet store . Preferably a small one big store will prob just give you store credit

Answer 2

Lake malawi cichlids are very prolific once they've matured. You don't need to remove them from the tank for breeding purposes.

Determining gender depends on the species you have. With some species males and females are near identical (for example male and female pseudotropheus demasoni are near identical), while in other species the differences are very apparent (male kenyi are yellowish while females are blue with black vertical stripes).

Most african cichlids are fairly common so making a profit isn't likely unless you've got rarer species or plan to become an online breeder or something. Still, I sell mbuna fry at about $2-$3 each at the local fish store. Purebreed species are worth more than hybrids (which most consider worthless). To prevent your cichlids from crossbreeding, 1 male per 3+ females per species is recommended. They can produce fry when they're as small as 2". Depending on what type of malawi's you have, they''ll grow to 3" to about a foot (most mbuna, however, which are what I suspect you have, max out at 4"5")

If you have lake malawi mbuna, daily brine shrimp and blood worms are harmful, since mbuna are predominently herbivores and can contract Malawi Bloat if feed a meaty or high protein diet for an extended length of time. On the other hand, there are carnivorous malawi cichlids (haps, peacocks, afras, etc) and they'll thrive on that diet. So it depends on what you have.

Answer 3

That's a lot of questions and an awfully big subject for a answers post. Here are some links that should answer those questions plus the ones you might not have even thought of yet. Best of luck with your breeding efforts!

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/breeding_cichlids.php
http://www.zen12048.zen.co.uk/breeding.html
http://cichlid.infocrux.com/Malawi-Cichlid.html
http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/breeding/Cichlids_African/index.html

Hope these help

MM