# African Ciclids Breeding



## jackson150 (Jul 4, 2008)

I have a 150 gallon tank with about 300 to 400 pounds of stacked rock.

I have about 17 to 20 large (6+ inches) african ciclids (haps, zebas, peacocks), two clown loachs (4 inches) and one pleco (10 inches).

The ciclids are continuously breeding. Right now I have about 50 babies under 1/2 inch in the tank. I have gone through over the past couple of years and removed all the adult females. But from what I understand the africans can morph from male to female.

It is too much to remove all the rock to fish out the babies. With this many babies I don't want them to grow to adulthood. Plus they are crossbreeding and creating "mutts".

Is there anyway to discourage the breeding?

Or is there a fish that I could add that would eat the babies? What about an eel or something?

The fry even at 1/4 of an inch will swim with the adult ciclids. For whatever reason the adults have zero interest in eating the fry.


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## Chris2500DK (Feb 15, 2006)

A couple of Altolamprologus calvus might do the trick. They only eat small fry but they're pretty effective.


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## Gibbs (Apr 21, 2008)

It's impossilble for a fish to morph from a male to female. If a fish is born male it is male for life.

Your best bet would be to either go all hap/peacock so you have almost a 100% chance of telling between male and female (only males colour up) or you continue on your path and add a few Synodontis Multipunctatus for fry control. In a tank that big about 4 to 6 would be alright


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## jackson150 (Jul 4, 2008)

Actually many different species of fish can change from male to female - clown fish are a prime example - as in the Nemo type clown fish.


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## remarkosmoc (Oct 19, 2005)

jackson150 said:


> Actually many different species of fish can change from male to female - clown fish are a prime example - as in the Nemo type clown fish.


true true. However I dont think mbuna do.


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## Gibbs (Apr 21, 2008)

African cichlids that are at the centre of this topic, cannot.
The loaches will have to be atleast 10" larger and a number of years older to think about breeding


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## renegade545 (Jul 4, 2008)

Maybe try and get some Synodontis cats, they would most certainly take advantage of any fry that they spot.


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## BurgerKing (Jul 1, 2008)

something that _might_ work is skipping a few feedings. When they get hungry they might eat the babies.

Im not sure if it'll work [/u]


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