black barred banana cichlid breeding

[Carpintis Keeper]

i have 4 banana cichlid.All are living peacefully and have black bar on their dorsal fin and according to me 1 is male and 3 are female.they all are near 2"-2.5" but are not showing signs of breeding.So,at what age will a banana first breed and is it sure way to sex them by black bar as 1 have distinct black bar on dorsal and anal fin but 3 are having very faded black bar only on dorsal fin and brown or yellowish brown on both ventral fins.So,are they females and also a male looks disinterested as he has no other male companion to compete with and is having no hurry to breed as he see all females except him but i also tried venting and was unable to guess but i think that 3 were females and 1 was male so please suggest is black bar sure way to guess their gender.

 

[fishman09]

what the funk is a bananna cichlid?

 

[The Bass Hole]

sounds like a yellow lab. its possible for them to breed at that size but its more common at like the 3-4" range (for a start). try a cool water change and crank the temp up a few degrees to replicate the rainy season, thats what i do to try to provoke a spawn.

 

[The Bass Hole]

oh and put a piece of slate in the tank, or a flat surface like a terra-cotta flowerpot. fish tend to prefer to lay their eggs on flat surface, they may even use the glass

 

[Carpintis Keeper]

yes,they are yellow labs and i ussually change water every 3 days with cool water and temp is 26 C but they are not still breeding ,i am also feeding them very little bloodworms but are in a cichlids tank so will it matter and do i need to seperate them from others
THANKS