Hello mfk, I come to you with a question. I feel like I am a seasoned fish keeper because I have been keeping cichlids and others for almost 20 years. I have kept and bred (kinda goes hand and hand) so many cichlids. Mostly smaller ones though. I have a 10 inch female managuense, she is about 2 years old. My brother broke down his tank and had a male (thought it was a female as it still retains some striping and total size of only 12") managuense. I put the two (female) jags in a 125 gallon "community" with a 10" black belt, 8 inch male freddy, and 10" male nicaraguense. Did a water change and the next day my nic and freddy were both dead. The black belt was sitting in a corner. And my (female) jags were defending eggs. Well this was about 5 weeks ago and the eggs hatched (not females, a pair). I had pulled the black belt right away after seeing the eggs. The 300 or so eggs are now about 60 fry (there great feeders). And my male and female jag seem very happy. Now the question. Is a 125 gallon aquarium big enough for a 6 year old 12" jag and a 2 years old 10" jag breeding pair? I think it seems ok, not the best, but ok. I would rather give them a 180 but that's not an option because of space. So what do you think?
This is fine, right?
- Thread starter fish_n_vw
- Start date
Well it sure as hell beats Pico Locs 58 Hex or whatever size tank he has today. Your tank seems ok to me for a breeding pair but I don't have that much experience with Jags. I'm sure a slightly bigger tank would be better but as you stated you don't have the space so I would keep up with water changes and do the best you can to maintain good water quality.
Thank you, I. Don't know why I'm so unsure. I think its just because I have never bred such large fish. I apprieciate the feed back. My current water change schedule for that tank is 3x 25 percent a week with one of those being a vac.
If the biggest Jag is 6 years old and only 12" the 125 will be more than enough for them. They will be happy in it. Good luck!
Thanks everyone. I had never bred jags before now. My biggest issue with doubting the size was I had a pair of salvini (7" male and 5" female) they were in a 75 gallon. And I felt like they were cramped because the male was so aggresive. Anyway, thanks again I'm sure they will live and breed the rest of there lives happily.
