Is it possible to have multiple breeding pair

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I have had several pairs breed together in the same tank. A lot of the time I do it intentionally. If I have a pair that has shown signs of spawning but have never done so, I will stick them in with a breeding pair of something else, or visa versa, and a large majority of the time, it has worked very well. I Also had a pair of Jags, Zonatus and Hoga all spawn in the same tank at the same time. That was definitely a site to see.

As for your response dogofwar. It is quite possible that a breeding pair of whatever can have eggs fertilized by a different male in a different pair. Some male species do spray, they dont have to be right on top of the eggs. My male red devil fertilized my female Xilo's eggs through a divider and the eggs were easily a foot + away from that divider. Hundreds of little fry 4 days later. So you dont have to be an incompetent hobbyist to have something like this happen. Stranger things have happened.
 
No you don't need to be an incompetent hobbyist for accidental hybridization to occur...but that's the first step of many before a case of random accidental hybridization results in "seriously messing up fish lines"...

In other words, the threat of keeping two pairs of cichlids in a tank on "seriously messing up fish lines" is minimal in the absence of lots of other irresponsibility, stupidity, dishonesty, etc.

Matt

I have had several pairs breed together in the same tank. A lot of the time I do it intentionally. If I have a pair that has shown signs of spawning but have never done so, I will stick them in with a breeding pair of something else, or visa versa, and a large majority of the time, it has worked very well. I Also had a pair of Jags, Zonatus and Hoga all spawn in the same tank at the same time. That was definitely a site to see.

As for your response dogofwar. It is quite possible that a breeding pair of whatever can have eggs fertilized by a different male in a different pair. Some male species do spray, they dont have to be right on top of the eggs. My male red devil fertilized my female Xilo's eggs through a divider and the eggs were easily a foot + away from that divider. Hundreds of little fry 4 days later. So you dont have to be an incompetent hobbyist to have something like this happen. Stranger things have happened.
 
The OP asked if it is possible to have multiple breeding pairs in the same tank, not about the ethic of doing it. The answer is yes if the tank is large and the species are not overly aggressive.

This youtube demonstrates that multiple pairs of large CAs can get along and breed regularly in a 180 gal tank. The tank isn't huge relative to the size and population of the fish. The species are big Paratheraps species which are only mildly aggressive, and the owner raised them together from juveniles and this is why it works. I don't think it will work with super aggresive amphilophus species because they can't even tolerate their mates.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLlk_y-0N-M&feature=youtu.be
 
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