Chocolate cichlid question

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japbart

japbart

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Jun 1, 2012
1,140
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Los Angeles
I recently got a pair of chocolate cichlids from a friend. What size do they start spawning? The female is around 2.5"-3" and the male is an inch larger. I can already see the females breeding tube and she became gravid yesterday. She started chasing the male too. I've read that these guys can grow to a foot and i think that 2.5" is a bit small for spawning.


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I've read that they start spawning at 5". Clearly my female isn't 5" but her breeding tube is out, she's gravid, and she's chosen a spot that she stays most of the time and digs. I'm so confused.


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if you have read that on the internet forget it.
everything on the internet apart from research logs and articles is opinionated
if your female has breeding tube out it means she is ready to breed and wants to right now.

use that 5" as a rule of thumb, dont always trust what you read, cichlids do crazy things
unexpected things.

this is a blessing.
 
I guess you're right. I just think she is very small to breed. Anyways the male isn't interested anyway so I can grow them a little bit more before they actually start spawning.


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IMO, a chocolate cichlid at 3" in size shouldn't be old enough to spawn if they grew at a proper rate. It sounds like maybe their growth has been stunted/delayed a bit.
 
Most cichlids do become sexually active/mature at around 3" give or take an inch or two. So its possible. If you want to delay them from spawning seperate them or put up a clear divider.

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I'm not sure. I got them from my friend and I'm pretty sure they're not stunted cause he got them as a group of 5 at 1" and he gave me the pair cause when he saw that they paired up he wanted me to take care of the pair and raise their fry. They were in a 75g btw.


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Divide em till they reach 5" or bigger put them back together. Personally I would leave em together so they dont break thier bond cause once its broken they might not pair again. I also heard chocolates are one of the worst parents and it takes them a few tries to get it right.

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