Once again it depends on the type of cichlids but most are pretty easy to breed
hybrid cichlids
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All c. breeze said, all central american cichlids can breed (as long as they don't kill eachother first), almost all south americans can only breed within their genre, however things like kronoheros, mesoheros, and australoheros are closer genetically to central americans and can in theory breed with eachother/central americans. However I have seen accounts of acaras breeding with convicts, but that is unimaginably rare.
As for keeping south americans together, it depends, things like chocolate cichlids, festivums, uaru, geo type things and severums are on the more relatively tame side while things like oscars and acara type things will show more aggression. And then of course things like dwarf cichlids (laetacara, cleithracara, apistogramma, mikrogeophagus, dicrossus) should not be kept with other cichlids as they will probably be killed by things larger than them. Angels and discus I would also not risk putting with other cichlids, and then peacock bass are self explanatory (in case they aren't, don't put them with most other south american cichlids, or any other smaller fish for that matter).
Almost all african cichlids (rift or crater lake/north or west african/madagascan) for the most part cannot cross outside their genus either. While some can, they usually won't, like with julidochromis and rock dwelling neolamprologus from lake tanganyika. Lake victorian cichlids you should not keep together as they can in fact hybridize with most fish in the lake. Some mbuna may cross to outside their genus if they are genetically/visually close enough to eachother like with chindongo and pseudotropheus.
There are only really two ways cichlids will spawn, either substrate spawners that lay their eggs on something and proceed to care for the fry once they hatch, or mouthbrooders, that as the name implies, raise eggs and fry in their mouths. Triggering spawning depends on the species, but for the most part they usually have something to do with shifting water conditions, feeding more, or simulating some seasonal change.
It is not advised to hybridize cichlids purposefully as this reduces your ability to sell them, as most people nowadays will not buy something they cannot identify. If they do however, it then becomes a problem of fish being sold as something they are not, as eventually the original lineage gets lost in time and they end up being sold as a different species, bred to the species they're being sold as, and ruining bloodlines.
Again the ease of breeding also depends on the species itself. Cichlids are the third most diverse group of fish on the planet so there is a lot of variety in terms of how they are bred and the ease of it. The more common mbuna or convicts for example, can be thrown into 20 gallon with mature males and females, and will readily breed on their own if they have optimal water conditions and be pretty hands off. However things like apistogramma, altum angels, or crenicichla will tend to be more hands on in terms of feeding the fry and maintaining water quality. And then things like frontosa, larger central americans, or peacock bass run into the issue of space.
Most tetras on the other hand breed universally the same way. Most are triggered by a surplus of live food, simulated drought, then the introduction of cold rainwater and darkness, scatter their eggs, and don't take care of fry. The ease of which depends on the species however, as some will require you to be more delicate and hands on with the process, and some will again require more specific water parameters that you may need to adjust for, some will spawn more or less readily, etc.
You seem to be a beginner, so if you want cichlids for a 55 gallon I would look into one of the following options:
group of bolivian rams
group of keyhole cichlids (cleithracara maronii)
group or pair of laetacara
group or pair of rainbow cichlids (herotilapia multispinosa)
group or pair of convicts (amatitlania nigrofasciata/siquia)
group or pair of cryptoheros cutteri
group or pair of firemouths (thorichthys meeki)
group or pair of thorichthys maculipinnis
group or pair of neolamprologus brichardi/pulcher
group or pair of julidochromis
group of chindongo saulosi
pair of jewel cichlids (hemichromis lifalili)
group or pair of kribensis (pelvicachromis pulcher)
group or pair of butterfly cichlids (anomalochromis thomasi)
I have color coded them based on where they are from. Green is south american, orange is central, blue is rift lake african, red is west african. The south american options you can keep with most tetras, the central american options can go with swordtails or mollies.
As for keeping south americans together, it depends, things like chocolate cichlids, festivums, uaru, geo type things and severums are on the more relatively tame side while things like oscars and acara type things will show more aggression. And then of course things like dwarf cichlids (laetacara, cleithracara, apistogramma, mikrogeophagus, dicrossus) should not be kept with other cichlids as they will probably be killed by things larger than them. Angels and discus I would also not risk putting with other cichlids, and then peacock bass are self explanatory (in case they aren't, don't put them with most other south american cichlids, or any other smaller fish for that matter).
Almost all african cichlids (rift or crater lake/north or west african/madagascan) for the most part cannot cross outside their genus either. While some can, they usually won't, like with julidochromis and rock dwelling neolamprologus from lake tanganyika. Lake victorian cichlids you should not keep together as they can in fact hybridize with most fish in the lake. Some mbuna may cross to outside their genus if they are genetically/visually close enough to eachother like with chindongo and pseudotropheus.
There are only really two ways cichlids will spawn, either substrate spawners that lay their eggs on something and proceed to care for the fry once they hatch, or mouthbrooders, that as the name implies, raise eggs and fry in their mouths. Triggering spawning depends on the species, but for the most part they usually have something to do with shifting water conditions, feeding more, or simulating some seasonal change.
It is not advised to hybridize cichlids purposefully as this reduces your ability to sell them, as most people nowadays will not buy something they cannot identify. If they do however, it then becomes a problem of fish being sold as something they are not, as eventually the original lineage gets lost in time and they end up being sold as a different species, bred to the species they're being sold as, and ruining bloodlines.
Again the ease of breeding also depends on the species itself. Cichlids are the third most diverse group of fish on the planet so there is a lot of variety in terms of how they are bred and the ease of it. The more common mbuna or convicts for example, can be thrown into 20 gallon with mature males and females, and will readily breed on their own if they have optimal water conditions and be pretty hands off. However things like apistogramma, altum angels, or crenicichla will tend to be more hands on in terms of feeding the fry and maintaining water quality. And then things like frontosa, larger central americans, or peacock bass run into the issue of space.
Most tetras on the other hand breed universally the same way. Most are triggered by a surplus of live food, simulated drought, then the introduction of cold rainwater and darkness, scatter their eggs, and don't take care of fry. The ease of which depends on the species however, as some will require you to be more delicate and hands on with the process, and some will again require more specific water parameters that you may need to adjust for, some will spawn more or less readily, etc.
You seem to be a beginner, so if you want cichlids for a 55 gallon I would look into one of the following options:
group of bolivian rams
group of keyhole cichlids (cleithracara maronii)
group or pair of laetacara
group or pair of rainbow cichlids (herotilapia multispinosa)
group or pair of convicts (amatitlania nigrofasciata/siquia)
group or pair of cryptoheros cutteri
group or pair of firemouths (thorichthys meeki)
group or pair of thorichthys maculipinnis
group or pair of neolamprologus brichardi/pulcher
group or pair of julidochromis
group of chindongo saulosi
pair of jewel cichlids (hemichromis lifalili)
group or pair of kribensis (pelvicachromis pulcher)
group or pair of butterfly cichlids (anomalochromis thomasi)
I have color coded them based on where they are from. Green is south american, orange is central, blue is rift lake african, red is west african. The south american options you can keep with most tetras, the central american options can go with swordtails or mollies.
I'm going to bring up a touchy subject, the ethical part of hybrids.
Some people like the idea of combining two legitimate species to form a hybrid.
I'm of the opposite view.
I find combining 2 legitimate true species, to form a non-species (a mutt) abhorrent.
And there is so much of it occurring these days, its hard to know if what you are buying in a LFS is what its claimed to be.
Because in any hybrid spawn, a certain percentage (perhaps 40%) will look like the mother, another 40% like the father, and the other 20 % could look like something else, some may look better, some may be drab, and many of these aspects may not manifest until the fish is mature.
But just because it looks like one or the other, does not mean it is, because its genes are scrambled and cannot be called a true species, because its a mutt.
As you can see I find hybrids worthless.
Try to give me one for free, I won't take it, it is useless as breeding stock, because its not a true species.
If any of my true species spawned with a different species, I would use any that lived, as feeders.
Some people like the idea of combining two legitimate species to form a hybrid.
I'm of the opposite view.
I find combining 2 legitimate true species, to form a non-species (a mutt) abhorrent.
And there is so much of it occurring these days, its hard to know if what you are buying in a LFS is what its claimed to be.
Because in any hybrid spawn, a certain percentage (perhaps 40%) will look like the mother, another 40% like the father, and the other 20 % could look like something else, some may look better, some may be drab, and many of these aspects may not manifest until the fish is mature.
But just because it looks like one or the other, does not mean it is, because its genes are scrambled and cannot be called a true species, because its a mutt.
As you can see I find hybrids worthless.
Try to give me one for free, I won't take it, it is useless as breeding stock, because its not a true species.
If any of my true species spawned with a different species, I would use any that lived, as feeders.
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but what if they told the truth? ?
One thing regarding rams.
There are only 2 species, Mikrogeophagus ramirezi, and M altispinossa, so unless you breed these two species together, you are not producing hybrids..
All other rams, such as German Blue, Balloon shapes, or short bodied, are not separate true species.
They are line-bred color or shape variants.
So breeding them together is not hybridizing.
The German blues are ramirez, where because they were noticed to have more blue, were line bred over generations to provide progeny with more and more blue.
Breeding a normal Ramirez with a German blue would(?) arguably produce less blue progeny.
The short/balloon bodied rams, are simply mutants, where those with deformities (like curved spines, etc) have been bred together to produce the odd shapes, in the same vein as balloon goldfish (these would have been culled back when.
Or the same as red, yellow, veil tail oscars. These oscars are not separate species, just line bred morphs of Astronotus ocellatus.
.
There are only 2 species, Mikrogeophagus ramirezi, and M altispinossa, so unless you breed these two species together, you are not producing hybrids..
All other rams, such as German Blue, Balloon shapes, or short bodied, are not separate true species.
They are line-bred color or shape variants.
So breeding them together is not hybridizing.
The German blues are ramirez, where because they were noticed to have more blue, were line bred over generations to provide progeny with more and more blue.
Breeding a normal Ramirez with a German blue would(?) arguably produce less blue progeny.
The short/balloon bodied rams, are simply mutants, where those with deformities (like curved spines, etc) have been bred together to produce the odd shapes, in the same vein as balloon goldfish (these would have been culled back when.
Or the same as red, yellow, veil tail oscars. These oscars are not separate species, just line bred morphs of Astronotus ocellatus.
.
The only thing unethical about keeping hybrid fish, is the act of selling same as something that it is not. I have no issue with a hybrid fish, anymore than a "mutt" dog. Equal love all around for me. ?
What I detest, is when someone knowingly breeds and sells fish (dogs, etc) as something they are not. I don't know about anyone else here, but neither my dogs, or my fish, that due to near extinction levels in nature, are going to be used to re-populate any near by streams or lakes, or fields, so what their genetic make up is, or isn't, shouldn't involve anyone beyond what my personal taste in (fill in the blank) is.
What I detest, is when someone knowingly breeds and sells fish (dogs, etc) as something they are not. I don't know about anyone else here, but neither my dogs, or my fish, that due to near extinction levels in nature, are going to be used to re-populate any near by streams or lakes, or fields, so what their genetic make up is, or isn't, shouldn't involve anyone beyond what my personal taste in (fill in the blank) is.
In actuality, there are a number of new world cichlids on the ICUN red list, listed as threatened in their natural habitat.
Not many because of hybridization in nature, but for some. at some future point ,the only way to sustain the true legit species may be in aquariums, of pure bred species.
Cichlids of the genus Paretroplus are also under threat in Madagascar.
Habitat destruction, introduced species, over fishing for food, are all contributors.
The yellow form of Herichthus labridens is threatened in the waters of Media Luna not only because of habitat destruction, but because other Herichthys have been introduced to their habitat, resulting in hybrids.
Another on the IUCN threated list are H minckleyi.
there are more.
below H labridens Media Luna
In spawning color this species becomes bright canary yellow, a trait which may be compromised by the introduced species, and hybridization.
With dogs, its not the combination of species, they are not hybrids, dogs are line bred for certain characteristics (they are breeds)
All dogs, whether an Akita, poodle or St Bernard, are Canis lupus familiarus.
Just as all goldfish, whether Black Moore or your regular Pet Smart goldie are Carassius auratus, they are line bred, not hybrids
Not many because of hybridization in nature, but for some. at some future point ,the only way to sustain the true legit species may be in aquariums, of pure bred species.
Cichlids of the genus Paretroplus are also under threat in Madagascar.
Habitat destruction, introduced species, over fishing for food, are all contributors.
The yellow form of Herichthus labridens is threatened in the waters of Media Luna not only because of habitat destruction, but because other Herichthys have been introduced to their habitat, resulting in hybrids.
Another on the IUCN threated list are H minckleyi.
there are more.
below H labridens Media Luna
In spawning color this species becomes bright canary yellow, a trait which may be compromised by the introduced species, and hybridization.
With dogs, its not the combination of species, they are not hybrids, dogs are line bred for certain characteristics (they are breeds)
All dogs, whether an Akita, poodle or St Bernard, are Canis lupus familiarus.
Just as all goldfish, whether Black Moore or your regular Pet Smart goldie are Carassius auratus, they are line bred, not hybrids
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duanes
...... I think you missed my point, let me try this again. lolThat's not me saying that some species of fish in the wild aren't threatened, or facing extinction. I have stated here in the past, that in certain parts of the world numerous species are most likely becoming extinct, before they are even discovered. But that has nothing to do with respect to what I said regarding ME-MYSELF-AND I, re-populating anything in the wild, anywhere. Because I won't be. I'm guessing the same holds true for the vast majority of hobbyists world-wide.
As far as dogs, again, not what I said. What I said was
Like selling a dog as a purebred (sans papers), when the seller knows it is not. This happens every single day in North America, probably millions of dogs a day. It's a big problem, to the unsuspecting buyers. Ditto regarding breeders selling hybrid fish as something they are not.
Don't lose sight of the forest, when staring at the trees.
if u like hybrids that’s your thing..do some look cool yes they do…but trying to get the real deal be it a vieja or an amphilophus it’s a hard one with people breeding stuff or the trash coming out of asia it’s tough….some of the above mentioned i won’t even risk it that’s the problem i have w hybrids along with the dumb names and terms like grooming and the ever popular questions “does my fish have potential” or “is my fish a stunner”? then again those questions aren’t really restricted to hybrids just dumb questions all the way around haha
