Cichlasoma Dimerus breeding?

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Runitis

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Dec 4, 2011
1,884
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68
Winnipeg,MB, Canada
I'm new to breeding

There is not too much info on these guys so I have some general questions on breeding cichlids. I've been told they start breeding young. I have 5 right now with the biggest being 2.5" and the rest around 2". Is there a duration when they should pair? Now I have 3 in a 70 and 2 in a 29 should I put all 5 in the 70g in a community with a few other fish or cram all 5 in the 29? What is there maturity size?

Who else has bred these guys? :)
 
Hey, Taylor. the fish you purchased are young from my pair. Mine are F1s from Ray Quennel's wild stock that he brought back from Uruguay two years ago. My pair first bred when the male was not quite 3", and the female about 2". For their size, they lay a large number of eggs. They are very slow growing so I suspect the pair were 8-9 months old at the time. Your fish should be coming up to spawning age within a month or so I would say. I would put all 5 together in the 70G. The larger one is most likely a male. They can be a little rough on one another, as most cichlids are, but as long as they have room and structure in the form of rocks, driftwood and plants, there should be no problem. They come from Northern Uruguay, near the southern border with Brazil so they are not in need of a cooler period, like many Uruguayan cichlids from further south. Keep them at 23-26 C although the temperature isn't critical. Here's a picture of my pair tending wrigglers. Good luck with yours. They are a neat little fish although Ray tells me the male will max out at about 6".
MVI_1147.jpg
pair with wrigglers

MVI_1146-002.jpg
male

MVI_1147.jpg

MVI_1146-002.jpg
 
notho2000 said:
Hey, Taylor. the fish you purchased are young from my pair. Mine are F1s from Ray Quennel's wild stock that he brought back from Uruguay two years ago. My pair first bred when the male was not quite 3", and the female about 2". For their size, they lay a large number of eggs. They are very slow growing so I suspect the pair were 8-9 months old at the time. Your fish should be coming up to spawning age within a month or so I would say. I would put all 5 together in the 70G. The larger one is most likely a male. They can be a little rough on one another, as most cichlids are, but as long as they have room and structure in the form of rocks, driftwood and plants, there should be no problem. They come from Northern Uruguay, near the southern border with Brazil so they are not in need of a cooler period, like many Uruguayan cichlids from further south. Keep them at 23-26 C although the temperature isn't critical. Here's a picture of my pair tending wrigglers. Good luck with yours. They are a neat little fish although Ray tells me the male will max out at about 6".
View attachment 961692
pair with wrigglers

View attachment 961693
male
Click to expand...

Oh yes thank you that's all the info I couldve asked you! And I was hoping you were going to see this otherwise I was going to pm you !

Well I'll put all 5 together again tomorrow and then I'll be waiting

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Good news.

Well I never really did move my other two over to the 70g but the smallest two of the there in the 70 are showing pairing signs!!! I'm surprised the two that are showing the size are smaller and equal in size and the third guy in there is massive compared to everyone else.

the signs include
Lip locking
and dancing? I think thats what its called where they kinda swim in circles and kind rubbing with each other and doing that head twitching movements.

Does this seem right?
 
Hey Jim is another name for these the gold cichlid. We have some fish that look just like that and were told they are called the gold cichlid. Ours appear to be very peaceful in fact lived with a tiny Endler in their tank and never touched him.
 
Runitis said:
Good news.

Well I never really did move my other two over to the 70g but the smallest two of the there in the 70 are showing pairing signs!!! I'm surprised the two that are showing the size are smaller and equal in size and the third guy in there is massive compared to everyone else.

the signs include
Lip locking
and dancing? I think thats what its called where they kinda swim in circles and kind rubbing with each other and doing that head twitching movements.

Does this seem right?
Click to expand...

It certainly sounds like they're in the process of pairing up, and spawning shouldn't be too far away. When mine first spawned, both male and female were pretty much the same size (2-2.5"). Now, the male is about 25% larger than the female.

wild bill said:
Hey Jim is another name for these the gold cichlid. We have some fish that look just like that and were told they are called the gold cichlid. Ours appear to be very peaceful in fact lived with a tiny Endler in their tank and never touched him.
Click to expand...

I've never heard them referred to by that common name or any common name for that matter. I wonder if someone just decided to name them that for selling purposes. Where did you obtain your fish and who told you that that was their common name? It's kind of odd that this species would even have a common name since I don't believe it's commercially produced. My present stock was brought back by a local hobbyist on a Uruguay collecting trip. They are quite aggressive with their own kind and certainly defend their eggs and young effectively, but are the smallest fish in their tank (4"M, 3"F) and don't have much weight to throw around.
 
Ours were brought in by a guy named Harold he imports in a lot of fish in Calgary. After talking to my wife she said ours were cichlasoma Bouqurti or something like that was curious because yours look so much like ours. He told her that there are 3 kinds or colors gold, purple and a third don't remember it. He may even have picked his up from Spencer Jack. Our importer also goes by Fairdeal he has been really good so not knocking anyone. Hope we can all find some more info on both of these fish.
 
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