Breeding Red Devil Cichlids

The Red Devil cichlids are a very lovely fish. However they are commonly kept alone in an aquarium because of their extremely hostile nature. For fish lovers who are have experienced breeding cichlids before, breeding Red Devil cichlids will be very effortless. To begin preparations for the breeding process, it is best to keep your Red Devil cichlids in a large and decorated aquarium with the ideal water conditions, and feed them with suitable food. To start inducing spawning in Red Devil cichlids, you will need to increase the aquairum temperature to 24-28°C (75-82°F).

An important point to remember is the need to create a suitable environment for spawning. This helps improve the chances of a successful breeding encounter. In the wild, it is common for Red Devil cichlids to select places with rocks, wood logs or cave ceilings to use as the breeding site. Therefore you can help give them a hand by including these things in the aquarium.

How can you tell the difference between the male and female species of Red Devil cichlids? It's easy -- the adult male cichlid has a huge bump on its forehead, plus it will also have a pointy genital papilla. In addition, the male Red Devil cichlid is normally bigger than the female. It is unusual to note that cichlids form monogamous pairs, and that both the father and mother cichlids share the heavy responsibility of raising their new-born.

You will need to take note that before they start spawning, the males may start to act a lot more aggressively when they are around the females. It is thus crucial for the female cichlids to have enough hiding spots around in the tank to shield herself away from the aggressive males. So to help her with this, you can put a net in the fish tank with an opening that is too small for the male Red Devil cichlid to swim through. This thus enables the female to have a safe hiding place to rest. If you don't do this, the female may easily die of injuries or she will become very sick ill because of the stress caused by the chasing male cichlids.

But after a male and female Red Devil cichlid has paired up, you must then move them to a separate breeding tank. They will dig up a pit, and after the female lays about 600 to 800 eggs, the male will fertilize them.

After the eggs are fertilized, both parents will take part in taking care of the eggs, and the baby cichlids after the eggs have hatched.

During this period you are strongly encouraged not to disturb the family. It is well known that Red Devil cichlids are very aggressive during this breeding period, and will attack anything which enters their territory. Usually it is the males who are the ones who will guard the territory, while the females will tend to the eggs. Just wait for 3-5 days and the eggs will hatch.

The cichlid parents will quickly move their fry to various pits which they have dug around the tank. FYI, baby cichlids feed initially on the mucus found on the the parents' skin. But in just a short five days, the fry will have become large enough to wander around the aquarium on their own. At this point, you can start feeding the babies with pieces of small live food.

You will no doubt find that breeding cichlids is very satisfying and challenging. That's why it's crucial for you to know the secrets of taking care of your cichlids. To learn more about how to take real good care of these cichlids, get more information about keeping cichlids and breeding cichlids now!