Any Cichlid Experts ?

[hammerman]

I have a pair of electric blue acaras, they cost me £38 for the pair. In the shop, they were going through the motions of spawning so i bought them for my 10 gallon tank.

So, I feed them well on high protein food and do lots of water changes. The female gets plump and her ovipositor is very plump and distended. They clean a spot furiously whilst continually cleaning a displaying.....just what you'd expect from cichlids....which i've bred many many times in the past without a hitch.

Then, after much cleaning etc, one or the other seems to bottle it. They turn on each other and i have to seperate them before one kills the other.....it can be either male or female which gets nasty.

So they are parted for a few days, i continue to feed them on high protein food, after a few weeks, they seem to be showing the usual courtship rituals even though seperated (a 5 litre bottle in the tank)

I will release the seperated one and they go through the trials of strength again, start furiously cleaning a site only for the above to be repeated.

I really don't know what to do. Ive added 3 pieces of slate for a different breeding site. They're definately male and female.

This is the 4th month they've gone through this

Any suggestions

[hammerman]

I thought this forum was overloaded with experts ??????

[FrogNog]

Not an expert and there was no need for your little outburst. Not everyone does everything you know, but I found this with a quick google. I hope it helps.

This is why it is risky buying a "breeding" pair. Fish don't mate for life, and often just the move will break the pair bond. Central American Cichlids are much easier to breed when they are young and not fully grown. Serious breeders can appreciate your frustration. One of the most common ways is to put a hole in the egg crate separator that is big enough for the female to escape, but too small for the male to enter. Put your substrate of slate or rock right near this opening, on the female's side, they can breed succssfully through the egg crate, without trashing each other.

Also consider it takes some time for them to get settled, moving fish can really disrupt them, and often they don't breed again for 6 months or more. So, don't give up!