Cichlid thread

[ibpboo]

We used to have a 90 gallon tank of cichlids. They were so cool!
The females would hold the eggs in their mouth till hatching. Then they'd keep the babies in their mouth. Sometimes they would swim to a safe corner and let the babies out. If another fish came by, the babies would jam back into mama's mouth. We kept lots of rocks in there for hiding and breeding places.
Oh, and then when the earthquake of 1980 hit, and we lived in an upstairs apartment, man did that tank get to swaying, and dumped a bunch of water onto the floor. DH was standing there holding it so it wouldn't fall over. Then he decided he'd better run for cover his self.
It never fell though.
At night it was soothing to have all lights in house off except for the tank light, and sit there and watch the fish swim around.

 

[Mak]

I love my cichlids! African rift lake mbuna in my 90 gallon, plus a synodontis catfish. The rusty cichlids in there now are all descendants of the first trio I put in there maybe 10-12 years ago.

 

[secuono]

I have 5 German Blue Rams. They are my newest additions and are doing well.

 

[woodmort]

Quote:
The problem with an Oscar and a large pleco is they are both messy, IMO.
Joe

Any good sized fish puts out a lot of waste--you need a good filtration system and a lot of partial water changes--good idea with most cichlids. I like the pleco because it would eat whatever the Oscar missed and was too armored to be a meal for the Oscar. BTW, I used to feed him big nightcrawler worms, as soon as I came near the tank with one he'd come to the top and splash water all over in his excitement.

 

[Mak]

Quote:
I gave the cichlid tank a good cleaning today, so they didn't get fed at their normal time. After I was done, and I started to drop the food in there, one of them leaped a good 2-3 inches out of the tank to get at my hand. Good thing I was already wet!

 

[Omniskies]

I've been raising Blue Tilapia for a few months. I need to get some pictures of them - they're really looking nice now. They're just now on the verge of realizing that the opposite sex is kinda cute. I'm eagerly waiting for them to completely destroy the tank to build nests. We plan on eating copious amounts of tilapia this fall.

There are five in a 55 gallon right now. Once I'm more confident about sexing them I'll be rehoming the extra males to give them more room.

Eventually I'll have to get them in a 120~ gallon. I keep the tank nice and warm and at this rate they will be 2' long fish by this time next year.

 

[incubatingisfun]

thanks everyone for participating

i got 2 clown loaches to go with him but for now they will need to grow up in a 20 gallon tank i set up upstares.i think i may also get a jewel eyed cichlid to go in with him.i will also be getting a pleco to go with him

 

[knjinnm]

Quote:
Why re-home extra males? Those should be the first pan-fry experiments. Once the pairs start breeding, they will breed at any size if they are old enough. So if they are 15 inches get ready for a lot of eggs, like maybe 500-1000, so 120 gallon tank isn't going to work for raising more than 5-6 at a time and you will need to do 50% daily water changes with plenty of food and aeration. BTW, they can reach two feet much quicker than one year.
Joe

 

[spish]

i have a couple of oscars, Waldorf and Statler, in my larger aquarium. they are getting on in age but still my favourite cichlids

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q99/spishkey/100_3542.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q99/spishkey/100_0898.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q99/spishkey/100_0901.jpg



if anybodies intrested in reading how we came about getting them, you can read their story here, http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/304351-the-story-of-waldorf-and-statler/ its not finished but you get to know a little about them

 

[Omniskies]

Why re-home extra males? Those should be the first pan-fry experiments. Once the pairs start breeding, they will breed at any size if they are old enough. So if they are 15 inches get ready for a lot of eggs, like maybe 500-1000, so 120 gallon tank isn't going to work for raising more than 5-6 at a time and you will need to do 50% daily water changes with plenty of food and aeration. BTW, they can reach two feet much quicker than one year.
Joe

I'm rehoming the extra males because they're just not going to be large enough to be edible once they can be sexed. At least - that's the theory. Eventually I'll be working my way down to either a pair or trio - I haven't decided yet. Probably just a pair since, as you pointed out, as they get older they will produce more offspring at a time.

I have a 3-step plan to avoid all of the fuss of daily 50% water changes. I have a baby tank (which may just turn into a full stock tank in the basement - we'll see) for the mother to brood her fry. Once she's done with them, she goes back into the main tank. The fry can be sold as fish food, etc. And if they become too prolific, I'm not opposed to experimenting with tilapia roe - or simply moving the male into another tank for awhile.

I only want to raise one or two official batches for myself. Those will be in the baby tank for a few months as they grow larger. When the weather turns nice outside, they go into stock tanks to grow all summer. Their poo-water will be going on the plants in the garden when I do water changes. Once the weather cools off they go in the freezer. As a conservative guess, I could probably put 100-200lbs of tilapia in the freezer in one grow-out season. Any extra (live) tilapia can be traded, since I'm a big fan of bartering.

A similar system has been set up for my Redclaw Lobsters. They will breed 2-5 times per year and produce just as many offspring as tilapia. They also require the same feed and temperatures as tilapia do to grow. More focus will be put on the lobsters because, well, they're lobsters. It's a lot easier to buy fish than it is to buy lobster out in the midwest.

I would love a legitimate excuse to set up a couple of 125~ tanks. Eating copious amounts of baked tilapia in a garlic-butter sauce should be enough to justify the space, time, and energy.

Plus they really are lovely looking fish. As they get older more of their color has come in so now they are pearl-like shades of blue, lavender, and rose.​