Peacock cichlid is a type of fish that many peoples breed in there home aquariums. To breed these fish, individuals must understanding the growth stages of the fry, as the growth stages informs the way in which the breeder should care for these fry. Using a growth chart for the fry allow individuals to understand the timeline by which the fry will grow to there maximum size.
Using this information, individuals can avoid guesswork in the breeding process of these fish. Breeding begin with mouthbrooding; the female will hold her eggs in her mouth for approximately three weeks while she does not eat any food. During this period, she will release the fry when they are six to eight millimeter in size.
How to Raise Peacock Cichlid Fry
At this point, the breeder must move the fry to a grow out tank. If they are moved too early, they will be weakly fry. Similarly, if the mother holds the fry for too long, they will starve the female peacock cichlid.
The growth of the fry isnt linear. Their growth depend on the environment in which they are kept. During the first two weeks of there lives, fry will eat microfoods due to there small size.
By the first month, they will have doubled in size and taken on the physical characteristic of juvenile cichlids. The temperature of the water in the aquarium can influence there growth. Warm water increases there growth rate, but cooler water will slow there growth so that they become more hardier when they grow to there full size.
High density within the same tank may stunt the growth of the fry, so monitoring the number of fry in the tank is also important. The feeding of the fry has a major influence upon there growth. Feed live nauplii to the fry as there jaws are too small to eat tank flake.
Three weeks after the fry are first released from there mother, feed crushed spirulina and daphnia. Once the fry are large enough, switch to feeding them tank pellet. Feed them small amounts of food to be consumed throughout the tank, and siphon any leftover food.
Offer a variety of food to maximize there muscle growth. The rate of growth of the fry also differ according to the species of peacock cichlid. Hybrid species, such as OB or Dragon Blood varieties, will grow faster and produce more fry then the pure strains of the species.
The pure strain of the cichlids will take longer to reach maturity, but will have better coloration once they reach there maturity stages. Thus, individuals can choose a strain to breed based off whether they wish to produce fast growing fry or those with better coloration. Coloration within the species develop over time.
Juvenile fish have little coloration and brown bar over there bodies, making it difficult to determine the sex of the juvenile fish. Males may begin to develop blue coloration on there faces at six month of age. Full coloration develop at fifteen months of age.
If the fry are under stress or lack protein in there diet, there coloration wont develop as fast as it should of. The aquarium in which the breeder raises the fry should mimic the environment of Lake Malawi. Fifty-five gallon of water is the minimum recommended for a harem of peacock cichlids.
Provide rock cave for the fish to establish there territories. The water should have a pH of near eight, with hard water. Use sponge filter in the tanks where fry are raised.
The tank should be maintained at a temperature of seventy-eight degrees. Maintain a sex ratio of one male to three female. Maintaining these conditions will allow the female cichlids to spawn once a month, and the fry to reach there target size on schedule.
