# Talk to me about rainbow cichlids -- especially breeding



## hollyfish2000 (Aug 23, 2007)

My pair of rainbow cichlids laid eggs in my main planted tank (58-gallon) within two weeks of being introduced and are now protecting a HUGE group of fry. They are wonderful parents, pretty to look at, not too aggressive, and large but not too big. I'm convinced they are the perfect cichlid.

I'm looking for those of you who have bred rainbows before. What can I expect? The fry have been free-swimming for about three days. I'm feeding them First Bites and encapsulated brine shrimp eggs. They are incredibly tiny, but active. Mom and Dad really have their hands full. The tank also has tetras, cories and BN plecos. I'm not a breeder, but would like to give the babies a fighting chance to make it. My questions:

how many fry are likely to survive in the long term?
how fast will they grow?
how long can I leave them in the main tank? Or should I plan on moving them in a few weeks to a grow-out tank?
will mom and dad wait a while before breeding again or start in right away after fry are mature enough?

any other advice?


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## nater79 (Nov 30, 2009)

hollyfish2000 said:


> how many fry are likely to survive in the long term?
> how fast will they grow?
> how long can I leave them in the main tank? Or should I plan on moving them in a few weeks to a grow-out tank?
> will mom and dad wait a while before breeding again or start in right away after fry are mature enough?
> ...


I have a pair of constantly spawning Rainbows and these answers are from my experience with them.

A lot of the fry will probably survive, Rainbows are good parents. However, when they are ready to spawn again they will go after and either eat or kill most of the fry that left.

You will see a big difference in size in a week, they grow fast if fed well.

I would plan on moving the fry in two weeks or so.

Mom and Dad will probably not really wait to spawn again. They know what to do now and will probably have more fry with each spawn.

My only other advice is more of an observation. The fry get bigger quicker in a large tank.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

My rainbows are just starting to work up to breeding so not much help there. On another point I will second the idea that fry do grow faster in larger tanks. While I have not been able to measure a difference, I think the larger tanks have better water quality. I know if I don't keep after the water constantly in a 10 gallon, it tends to slip much quicker than if I'm feeding out fry in a big tank. A lake sized tank would be even nicer. :lol:

Ideal seems to be having a large tank with folks who do not want to eat the fry. Kind of hard to find those fish though.


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## hollyfish2000 (Aug 23, 2007)

Thanks guys.

What other fish do you have in with your rainbows?

What do you do with all the fry????


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## exasperatus2002 (Jul 5, 2003)

hollyfish2000 said:


> Thanks guys.
> 
> What other fish do you have in with your rainbows?
> 
> What do you do with all the fry????


Theres several things you can do.

-Trade them in at your lfs for store credit.
-Sell them on craigslist or aquabid
-contact your local fish club to see about auctioning them off at the club meetings.
-feeders for other fish


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## Europian (Jun 14, 2009)

Hi,

I have had a pair for a couple of months now - they produced eggs for the first time 3 weeks ago.
There were about 250 fry, and the number seemed to halve each day. When there were about 50 left, I put them in one of those plastic breeder boxes, but my Gourami's were sucking them out the slats on the side, so I put what was left of them in a net breeder box - and it seemed ok. The next morning they were all gone.

I have them in a moderately planted 60 gallon tank with cories, 2 bristlenose plecos, swordtails and Pearl Gourami's.

So apart from putting the fry in a separate tank (which I can't) I'm not sure how to save them either.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

One thing not mentioned on moving your fish along to others is the trading post here on this forum. Seems it gets pretty good exposure for a free service. It lets you set out if you are willing to ship or only have local pickup. I feel it might be a better alterative than Craigslist. Maybe I'm prejudiced but there seems to be a larger percentage of sane folks here than on Craigslist. =D>


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## hollyfish2000 (Aug 23, 2007)

The fry do seem to dwindle each day, but since I really don't want 300 rainbows, that's probably not a bad thing. I'd guess there are least 50-100 left. I figure the fewer there are the easier it will be for mom and dad to protect them.

I do have a LFS and a local cichlid club to offer fry to. But I'm not really interested in doing shipping. I only have a small 20-gallon tank to grow them out in, if I can't leave them in the main tank. Well, it might not be that big of a problem over time as they clearly are not all going to live to maturity.

In the future, if I take out all the tetras, will that make the rainbows more or less comfortable?


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

I feel mine are more comfortable with tetras around. If you are thinking of who might be getting the fry, I would bet on the pleco doing his share at night. One is they are hard to run off and two they go shopping at night when the rainbow sleep.


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## hollyfish2000 (Aug 23, 2007)

Help again -- Mom and Dad are fighting. Yesterday, Dad wouldn't come out from the back of the tank, although he ate food I dropped to him back there. I was afraid he was suddenly ill. Mom was still guarding the babies. Now down to probably 30 or so. This morning, Dad tried to come out, but Mom pushed him back. Later, they appeared to be at a stand-off, staring at each other, flaring a bit and doing some lip-locking. She then chased him away again to the back of the tank.

Is this a permanent divorce? Or is he a danger to the babies now? Does he want to breed again and she's still wanting to protect babies . . . ? So much drama!


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## DGT (Mar 28, 2010)

Hollyfish - I have a pair of Rainbows in a 55. They exhibit the same behavior as you are describing. I suspect the male is ready to spawn again and is picking off the fry. The female is still trying to protect them. The male eventually wins out and will eventually get all the fry. Mine have been spawning about every 20 days. Eventually I may get a grow out tank and raise some of them up.

I really like the Rainbows, except for some of the drama! It drives my wife crazy.


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## hollyfish2000 (Aug 23, 2007)

DGT -- thanks for the insight. I do have a grow-out tank set up for the babies, but I was hoping to get them a bit bigger before I attempted to transfer them. Mom, at this point, appears to be winning . . . I agree, rainbows are fabulous. I just don't like the current fighting.

BTW, it sounds like you've never been able to get fry from your pair ever? My fry, at this point, are about 10 days free-swimming. At what point do yours seem to disappear? What else do you have in the tank with them?


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## DGT (Mar 28, 2010)

Mine have spawned twice and are about to spawn again. The fry last about 2-3 weeks. They spawn soon after the fry are gone. They are the only fish in my 55.

Dave


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