Jewel cichlid (lifalili vs bimaculatus) which to get?

[c_scherer123]

My experience with cichlids is very minimal, I have 3 german blue rams in a community tank...

I want to get a breeding pair of Red jewels for a 20g (or possibly 25G if it will fit). I am debating between Hemichromis lifalili and Hemichromis bimaculatus.
I think i prefer the lifalili (mainly due to slightly smaller size and "supposedly" brighter reds), but someone commented that they are harder to breed, is this true?
Can anyone give me their opinion? Which would you get?
Which are easier to breed? Which are less aggressive towards their mates? Which have brighter reds and more iridescent speckles?

Any extra info on their tank/decoration/breeding preferences would be great. (how big would a hole into a cave have to be for an adult to comfortably use or breed in?)

Thanks in advance!

 

[gobucks1]

My experience with cichlids is very minimal, I have 3 german blue rams in a community tank...

I want to get a breeding pair of Red jewels for a 20g (or possibly 25G if it will fit). I am debating between Hemichromis lifalili and Hemichromis bimaculatus.
I think i prefer the lifalili (mainly due to slightly smaller size and "supposedly" brighter reds), but someone commented that they are harder to breed, is this true?
Can anyone give me their opinion? Which would you get?
Which are easier to breed? Which are less aggressive towards their mates? Which have brighter reds and more iridescent speckles?

Any extra info on their tank/decoration/breeding preferences would be great. (how big would a hole into a cave have to be for an adult to comfortably use or breed in?)

Thanks in advance!

From what i've heard, if your water is right (about 7.0 and soft) true jewels (Hemichromis Bimaculatus) are like the convicts of the west african cichlids, i.e. very aggressive and very prolific. The only problem is that they're very hard to sex. I would recommend them, as, in my opinion at least, they are prettier than the lifalli.

Here is a picture of my Hemichromis Bimaculatus when he/she gets fired up.

 

[Cichlidfever]

Oh the Hemichromis Bimaculatus is very nice gobucks1.

 

[straitjacketstar]

Only problems is true bimaculatus is practically non-existant in the hobby. Most encountered are H. guttatus (even those commonly referred to as H. bimaculatus) as well as some that are claimed to be H. lifalili, as there are several variants of H. guttatus, some better looking than others.
Whatsmore is the common "turquoise jewel" is non-existant in the wild and seems to be a result of hybridization among the jewel types.
All that aside and you really don't give a rat's behind what your jewel is I would vote for either a nice strain of turquoise or lifalili.
If you did care about finding a non-hybridized strain I wouldn't expect to find anything worth your while at an LFS. You'd have better luck searching on specialized forums or breeders who know how to shop for confused species (preferably from wild stock with collection location) like Ted Judy who you can find on Apistogramma Forums.
I personally have been looking for Hemichromis sp. Guinea I / H. sp. Guinea II. They're quite beautiful.