Jewel Cichlid-Introducing a mate?

C

Copper

Nearsighted master of all I survey
May 11, 2004
168
0
0
49
Arlington, TX
Visit site
I am getting a jewel cichlid soon that is probably about 1 year old, and I would like to try to introduce a mate to it. I'm pretty certain that it's a male. My problem is that I don't have a female available of the same age/size, and I"m afraid that he'll kill a smaller female before she has a chance to grow to a mating size. Unfortunately I don't have another aquarium to raise her in seperately.

My tank is a 38 tall.

Any suggestions?
 
Before you introduce the female to the male, rearrange the stuff in the tank, say right before you go get her. This will confuse him because his familiar territory is gone. Provide lots of hiding spaces where she can get away from the male. For my convicts size didn't seem to matter. There will be lots of chasing and fin nipping at first, but that's normal. Eventually they will pair up. Remember that you are putting in a female that he didn't get to choose himself. If they don't pair up in two weeks or so and the female looks in rough shape I would take her back and try another female. HTH
 
with jewels, you need to be sure of the species before sexing because different species are backwards with characteristics. I thought I had a male and needed a female but it turned out the female was the killer. it took me 3 males to find a mate. What I finally did was remove the female from her 29 and put her in a 10 for a week while the male got used to the 29. after I reintroduced the female, they spawned a couple days later and the rest is history. Kyle
 
It's possible I could time it so that they are both introduced to the tank at the same time. My LFS carries young jewels. It may be hit and miss on sexing them that young though...

thanks for the advise...

If anyone else has any pearls to share, keep them coming.

Thanks.

Copper
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom