Breeding African Cichlids

Most people who hold African cichlids want to start breeding African cichlids. Most of the African cichlids are mouth brooders. This means that their eggs are brooded in their mouths. So, how to get your cichlids to breed?

To start breeding African cichlids you will need to find fish that will breed in your tank. It’s not as easy to just pick any male/female of same African cichlid species. You need to get a breeding group. A breeding group usually consists of 1 male and 4-5 females. When you have a breeding group you will have to make sure they have a good environment. It’s good to have many caves, rocks and shelves in the aquarium so they can choose their territory and breeding ground.

When the African cichlids are ready to breed you will notice the male chasing the female and do the “mating dance”. If you are lucky the female will drop eggs and the male will fertilize them. After that the female will collect all the eggs in her mouth and guard them with her life.

If you want to save as many baby cichlids as possible I recommend you to move the female to her own tank. A smaller tank with some hiding places is all that’s needed. She doesn’t need food during this time. When the eggs hatch you can start to feed her small amounts of flake food. To feed the babies just crush the flake food into a powder and try to mix it in the water around their location. Allow the female to fully recover before you put her back in the big aquarium.

As you can see it’s not that hard to breed cichlids and I hope this article has helped you on your way to start breeding African cichlids.