How To Choose Cichlids For Your Aquarium

Many times, you will find that your fish crowding around over at a point while one or two swim around unchallenged, or you may notice a group of fish lying on their sides with noses above the surface of the water. Or, you see an aggressive fish chasing other fish around causing harm to your to other fish. Certainly, you know that this is a wrong combination of fish in your aquarium.

This is the time you will ask yourself what you can do to maintain the balance in your cichlids aquarium.

What you must do before buying your cichlids

Before you start to get excited and head on to buy your cichlids for your new tank, this is what you must do -

Firstly, you decide on the shop where you intend to buy the fishes and pay a few visits. Make sure you observe how the aquarium kept. You must talk with the people in the shop and get to know about the varieties of fish that are available for sale.

Also, you need to find out more about livestock guarantee and ensure that the shop owner takes it seriously.

Most aquarium shop personnel are helpful and willing to spare the time to tell you about the fish you can buy with your budget and the size of the tank you plan to have. Do find out why he has been isolated. There is always a reason behind it which you do not want repeated in the tank you set up.

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Learn How To Breed Red Devil Cichlids

Red Devil cichlids are beautiful fish but they are kept alone because of their very aggressive nature. For aquarists who have previous experience in breeding cichlids, they will find that breeding Red Devil cichlids is no big deal. To prepare for the breeding process, it is best to keep your Red Devil cichlids in a large and decorated aquarium with the ideal water conditions, and feed them with suitable food. One great method to induce spawning in Red Devil cichlids is to increase your aquarium temperature to 24-28°C (75-82°F).

Creating a spawning environment for the cichlids is the first important part of the breeding process. What happens in the wild is that the Red Devil cichlids will choose rocks, logs or the ceiling of a cave as the breeding site, and thus, it is good to include such objects in the cichlid aquarium.

So, how do you differentiate between the male and female cichlid? You will find that the adult male cichlid has a very obvious bump on his forehead and also a pointy genital papilla. In addition, the male Red Devil cichlid is normally bigger than the female. The cichlids form one-male and one-female pairs and both parents always participate in taking care of their babies.

Before any spawning takes place, the male can become more aggressive towards the female. Therefore, it is important for the female cichlids to find many suitable hiding spots in the aquarium to hide from the male cichlid. So to help her with this, you can put a net in the fish tank with an opening that is too small for the male Red Devil cichlid to swim through. This allows the female to escape to a safe place in the aquarium. If not, she may die of injury or become very ill due to the stress caused by the male cichlid.

On the other hand, once a bond is formed for a pair of Red Devil cichlids, they are to be moved to the breeding tank. The parents will dig a pit together. After the female lays the eggs which is about 600 to 800 eggs, the male will fertilized the eggs. Once the eggs are been fertilized, both parents will participate in rearing of their young ones.

At this time, it is best to leave the family alone. Red Devil cichlids are famous for their aggressiveness in attacking anything which enter their territory especially during this breeding period. The male will guard the territory and the female will tend to the eggs. The eggs will hatch in about 3-5 days.

The cichlid parents will quickly move their fry to various pits which they have dug around the tank. These newly-born babies cichlids feed on mucus that are extracted through the skin of the adult fish. Five days later, the fry has grown big enough to swim around the aquarium. Now, you can feed these baby cichlids with small live food.

In conclusion, keeping and breeding cichlids is a very enjoyable and challenging hobby. Hence, it is very important that you know the secrets of taking care of your cichlids. To learn more about how to take real good care of these cichlids, get more information at http://www.cichlidsecrets.com

Cichlid Secrets - How to Keep and Breed Convict Cichlids

Convict cichlids are a type of fish belonging to the family cichlidae. They are native to Central America. Being distant cousins of the piranhas, these cichlids live up to their name. As a result of their behavior, these cichlids have been subject to various studies dealing with fish behaviors. In fact, they are aggressive especially when it comes to protecting their fry.

Because of their attitude, they are better kept in aquariums with other fish that have the same habit as themselves. It is also suggested that these cichlids be put on their own. If you have an aquarium that has a peaceful environment, do not expect to retain the same peaceful community once you introduce convict cichlids into the aquarium. They have been known to pick fights even with fish that are twice their size.

Convict cichlids are omnivores by nature. They will eat most anything you feed them. But, as with humans, a balanced diet would be ideal to keep these cichlids healthy. A balanced diet could contain pellets, flakes, blood worms and brine shrimp.

For first time cichlid breeders, convict cichlids are the ideal choice. These cichlids are fast breeders and do not make a fuss when it comes to choosing their partners for breeding. They are also very territorial and aggressive when it comes to protecting their fry and they make great parents. They breed fast and have very large broods so be careful what you wish for when you breed them.

Convict cichlids are fun and enjoyable to watch. Their attitude, although, not as calm as other fish is still quite interesting. They are also easy to raise and for those who would love to try their hands on breeding cichlids, these cichlids are a dream choice.

In conclusion, keeping and breeding cichlids is a very satisfying and challenging hobby. Thus, it is very important that you know the secrets of taking care of your cichlids. To learn more about how to take real good care of these cichlids, get more information at http://www.cichlidsecrets.com.