# Lake Malawi breeding



## 07candyr6 (Jul 21, 2009)

so I got some cichlids from this guy and they have breed before. they are showing signs of mating, chasing eachother in a circle getting low to the substrate and shaking but nothing drops? do I have to have a sand substrate or are they just acting like it?


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## jrodriguez (Jul 20, 2009)

i am pretty sure that there is sand where they live naturally and they might require that they have sand as a substrate

how are the water parameters??


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## 07candyr6 (Jul 21, 2009)

im not sure what the parameters are of the tank.


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## JIM (May 27, 2009)

*cichlids dont require a sand substrate to breed successfully, ive had many produce lots of fry with a normal gravel substrate. the behavior you described is cichlid breeding behavior if you have a male, you will most likely see what are called egg spots on his lower fin, this shaking is done while fanning those egg spots right on the substrate, to entice the female to deposit eggs for the male to fertilize.*


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## 07candyr6 (Jul 21, 2009)

yes the egg spots are there.
<a href="http://s193.photobucket.com/albums/z302/civicswapjdm/?action=view&current=c1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z302/civicswapjdm/c1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
you can see about 4 in the pic.


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## Fishboydanny1 (Jun 13, 2008)

Nice cichlids! how long have you had them? all they may need is time... if you want to mimmic their natural water perameters, buy some malawi lake salt and some rift lake buffer made by seachem (I highly reccomend this, because I have a 120 gallon cichlid tank and have never lost an african due to water chemistry). good luck with them!


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## 07candyr6 (Jul 21, 2009)

Thanks with the luck don't mind if they mate or not just curious about the substrate for them. Also haven't had them long maybe at the most 3-4 weeks I wanna say.


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## Fishboydanny1 (Jun 13, 2008)

substrate doesn't matter, as long is it isn't toxic to them...


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## 07candyr6 (Jul 21, 2009)

well it has happened she has eggs in her mouth!! i noticed it today while feeding them she swam up to the food but didnt eat anything but was moving her mouth, I looked closer and I can see some eggs in there. but now what? how long do i wait to remove the eggs?


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

The female will usually release the fry once they are big enough to be free swimming. Usually 10 to 14 days.


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## 07candyr6 (Jul 21, 2009)

ok well Im thinking about taking the fry from here just cause there are other fish in the tank and I dont want them to get eaten. should i wait till I see eyes and some tails to take them from her?


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