Breeding in 29 Gallon

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Unratedaccount

Unratedaccount

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 28, 2014
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Vallejo, California
Hello everyone, I had a question about breeding smaller cichlids in a 29 gallon. When I say smaller cichlids I mean anything under 8 inches. I have 3 choices in mind, Honduran Redpoint, Firemouth, or Blue acara. I know 29 gallons is pushing it, but I read on many sites that a 29 gallon is perfect for a pair of either one of those fish. I know you can't believe everything you read online, which makes this post ironic, but I thought I would go to you guys because you guys have experience and I like the MFK community. Thanks for any replies.
 
I use them. duanes duanes said FM grow to 10", but I never seen one over 5", so a pair of any of those as well as Jewels, Kribensis, and most of the other dwarf-ish cichlids would do just fine. The issue will lie within the in-betweens - in between you removing the babies at the right time and in-between the next clutch
 
Frank Castle said:
I use them. duanes duanes said FM grow to 10", but I never seen one over 5", so a pair of any of those as well as Jewels, Kribensis, and most of the other dwarf-ish cichlids would do just fine. The issue will lie within the in-betweens - in between you removing the babies at the right time and in-between the next clutch
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A ten gallon tank is setup for the fry to be put in, as soon as I start seeing breeding behavior I will put fry into the ten gallon, some might also go to my green terror. But thank you for replying.
 
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Unratedaccount said:
A ten gallon tank is setup for the fry to be put in, as soon as I start seeing breeding behavior I will put fry into the ten gallon, some might also go to my green terror. But thank you for replying.
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you'd have better luck setting up a second 29g instead and just moving the parents. A lot easier and quicker and keeping water quality 3X easier in the 29 for the fry. Don't forget, fry GROW lol.....and they grow faster w/ more space and better water quality. I use a 10 or a 20 for Convicts but the Jewels just make too many babies....like 300-400 as opposed to the Convicts' 40-80. Always consider how many babies they can have before u decide what size fry tank is suitable....my GT fry needed a 55g to themselves just to get them growing again at 1"....growth slowed considerably in the 29g after moving them in there for a bit to separate them, ....put 'em in a 55g and they took off again
 
Frank Castle said:
you'd have better luck setting up a second 29g instead and just moving the parents. A lot easier and quicker and keeping water quality 3X easier in the 29 for the fry. Don't forget, fry GROW lol.....and they grow faster w/ more space and better water quality. I use a 10 or a 20 for Convicts but the Jewels just make too many babies....like 300-400 as opposed to the Convicts' 40-80. Always consider how many babies they can have before u decide what size fry tank is suitable....my GT fry needed a 55g to themselves just to get them growing again at 1"....growth slowed considerably in the 29g after moving them in there for a bit to separate them, ....put 'em in a 55g and they took off again
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That does sound smart. And that is a main reason I don't really want a pair of jewels, too many babies. Im just sticking with the New world cichlids. I also want one that not a lot of people have aswell, so when I take them down to the LFS I won't be giving them a species they already have. That is why I am looking at Honduran Redpoints online or maybe something in the Thorichthys genus. I appreciate your help
 
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Unratedaccount said:
That does sound smart. And that is a main reason I don't really want a pair of jewels, too many babies. Im just sticking with the New world cichlids. I also want one that not a lot of people have aswell, so when I take them down to the LFS I won't be giving them a species they already have. That is why I am looking at Honduran Redpoints online or maybe something in the Thorichthys genus. I appreciate your help
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Anytime.

When u breed Jewels, you ALWAYS have a healthy supply of feederfish for the rest of the monsters
 
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The only real concern I'd have with a 29 gallon tank is that in close quarters, a lot of New World cichlids have a tendency to turn on one another if something goes wrong. I've had several species, from severums to Laetacara to angelfish, have disagreements about raising fry and then one of the fish (usually the male) tries to murder the other one. A tank that size, with two 4 - 6" fish, doesn't give them much room to escape one another. You'd want to really keep an eye on them.

If you could find a 40 breeder that's probably a better foot print and you could leave the fry with the parents a bit longer which would likely curb their desire to spawn again.

IMO you need a larger tank than 10 or 20 gallons to grow out fry to salable size. Most LFS won't take them until they're 1.5 - 2" at least, and when dealing with 100 or so fry (usually it's more than that but let's just make it a nice even number) that's never going to work in a tank that size. Even 50 fry at 1" is too much for a 10 gallon. When I raise out fry, I tend to grow them out in 55 gallon tanks with large daily water changes. Plan ahead before you start breeding because you'll be growing these fish out for several weeks and if the tank is too small/conditions are poor due to dirty water, you run the risk of bad fin development and poor growth. You won't want to put in all that work for nothing.
 
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In my opinion a 29 gal is only large enough for cichlids of 3" or less.
If you are thinking about Central Americans, you might be able to house a young pair of C nanoluteus, or HRPs in that tiny tank, but as Ryan said, the biggest problem with these cichlids is aggression, and in a 29 gal, there is no where to go.
I'll bet a good percent of the queries on MFK are "why did my cichlids kill each other?", in one form or another. I believe the reason has most often to do with tank size.
 
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