View Full Version : general cichlid pairing question
andruboz
02-27-2003, 6:51 PM
just because you bring home a male and a female, does that mean they are going to pair up?
the one situation i can see problems would be aggression. if one is just too violent.
do they ever not pair up for other reasons? what other reasons are there?
I have had this problem before. I have had an awesome pair of dempys and they did nothing and before I separated them they were starting to go at it. And recently I have convicts that wouldn't go near each other. I placed in another female and I have had babies swimming around for months.
ChilDawg
02-27-2003, 7:48 PM
They may just not be compatible. I've read in AFM that, if you get nine juveniles of C/A Cichlid species, and grow them up together, there is almost a mathematical certainty of getting a pair from the group. A lot of Cichlids just aren't compatible with many individuals from the opposite sex.
Tightdog1
02-27-2003, 9:50 PM
normally instead of the nine use 6 and you should almost always get a pair, just like i did i bought 6 blue acaras and i got a pair, so im happy. but sometimes you just get a group that cant tolerate each other and that leads to death and unhappy fish keepers.
Kit Walker
02-28-2003, 4:07 AM
One tip I use is to watch a tank of juvenile cichlids for a while, and chances are you'll see 2 following each other and pairing off. In most cases the aquarium owner will be happy to pick out the 2 you point out. In one case I went into a pet store and looked into a tank of Blue Acaras. A pair had dug a nest in the corner and the male was defending it so my friend bought them. Just today I was watching a tank of surinamensis and noticed a female with her egg tube out and a male follwing her around. I quickly bought the pair!