Acara Breeding Advice

[rob_cool1]

I have a couple of blue Acara, one male and one female in my 120L aquastyle 620T.
I have been told that it is best to has 2 females but no aquatic shop has them in stock at the moment

When i got my first lot of blue Acaras they were both males, the guy insisted they were one of each sex but oh well. when i went back the following week they had sold out. i went to another shop and they had 1 female left, so i swapped the smallest male with that female as the guy said that males sell better (it's still there after nearly 2 months).

Currently the female is not ready to breed, she's about 3" big and the male is just over 4" big. She is always hiding and when she comes out gets chased away by the male, i have been told that its nothing bad its him ready to breed but she's not.
They are both healthy, he is a dark blue colour and she is really brown, i will get pictures up soon, but yeah she doesnt really look very blue like the male

i have quite a few other fish in my tank so if they do spawn should i take the eggs out and put them in a breeding tank straight away or wait till they hatch?

This is my list of fish in the tank at the moment:
X2 Kirbys

X2 peppered corys

X2 Blue acara cichlid – 1 male 1 female.

X2 dwarf gourami

X5 cherry barbs

X2 Cory schwartzi

X5 Red banded barbs

X1 bristle nose Plec

X1 Clown Plec

X1 Pario-AncistrusPleco (L-048)



If you need any other info please ask




Cheers everyone

Rob

 

[thereverendturtle]

Just keep an eye on them, if your male starts to very to aggressive you may want to move the male or female to another tank for a week or so.
Give them a few tries before you pull the eggs. See if they make good parents or not. If after 6 spawns they continue to eat the eggs or just can't protect them, then yes pull the eggs.

 

[onidrase]

I'd be worried about a majority of the fish of yours getting annihilated by them when they start breeding. Even a few might just become snacks for them when they get full grown. your tank doesn't leave a whole lot of room for them as it is, none the less for the other fish to avoid their adult territorial disputes and breeding aggression.

 

[snowflake311]

Been there 4 years ago I had a blue acara pair my female killed my male in the end. They would lay eggs I even got wigglers from them. I watched them spawn a her time so I say who the female was. My female was a nasty Beotch if you know what I mean. She use to beat the crap out of the male. They were in love up until the eggs were 2 days old then they would turn on each other. The female often would win and guard the nest from the male. They had a true love hate thing going.

Cichlid are crazy. Their love life is complicated. Yes a male will beat up on a female if sexualy frustrated. The female will too sometimes.

It's better to have another mate for them to pick from then remove the 3rd wheel.

Cichlids are crazy that's why we love them.

 

[rob_cool1]

Shall i try putting another female similar size to the male in and see what happens?
i think i might take the cherry barbs out, although they dont bother the Acara, the neons got eaten straight away but they dont even chase them :L

there five[font="Verdana][color="#222222"] banded barbs not red banded barbs, dont know what i was thinking there.[/color][/font]
Will they get aggressive towards all the fish? i have been told that barbs are good as they can out chase the Acaras.
With my tank though its just as tall as it is wide (about 60cm) so there is quite alot of space is the acaras do spawn as the fish can just hang out higher up in my tank lol
Is it worth taking any of the fish out? i was thinking maybe the kirbys and the gourami's as these are aggresive at times.

Were you acaras similar sized snowflake? my male is about an inch or so bigger

I also have an apple snail and a tiger blood snail.

Thanks for all the help guys

 

[trapidz]

hi, can i just say your tank is 130 Ltrs , im not sure but aint 130LTrs (28G) too small for all them fish?

maybe the tank is too small for the acaras to "want" to breed? please mistake me if im wrong.

i have a 500ltre tank and i think my stocking is heavy. but as im trying to get breeding pairs soon as they pair off the others will be going.

but please do let me know if im wrong

 

[onidrase]

Post above is right, 130 liters is too small for them anyway, the fact that it's tall is even worse for the acaras, as they get a good 8 or more inches, and are pretty overall bulky fish. Not to mention cichlids are mostly bottom dwellers, all that height is wasted space to them.

I don't think this will effect their ability to breed, but when they breed all your other fish are going to be toast, and you'll be left with two fish that will get too large for your tank. I'd honestly take the acaras back, but it's up to you.

barbs and such tend to make good dithers for them, but that's a dang small tank, they won't have any place to run.

If you want any cichlids to breed and not kill everything in a tank that small, you're limited to apistos and bolivian rams. The tank is too small for one acara, none the less two trying to breed. Breeding is always nasty with cichlids, sometimes they turn on each other as snowflake said, and id two 8 inch fish turn on eachother on a 130 liter tall tank where there is nowhere to run, one of them will bite the dust. The fish will be much more territorial when the breeding happens, which would lead to definitely the gouramis going down first,and the barbs being chased and banged into walls til they get caught, and if they don't get caught chances are they'll get sick.

 

[snowflake311]

The blue acara gets 6" not over 8". Over 7" is Not common in the aquarium. My female was 6" at 4 years. In the wild maybe some males get to be 8".

I say a 55gal with some dither fish like barbs would would be a good breeding set up. My acaras could never be trusted with small fish. They are hunters. Your tank is 34 gal. I kept mine in a 35 gal bow front that was tall but only when they were 3". It's a fine grow out tank but not long term. Yeah depth dose not matter because they don't like to chill at the top. They are mid to bottom dwelling fish. Longer tank helps when they turn on each other.

One more thing they do become aggressive with each other right before they spawn. They will fight and kind of side slap each other even lip lock. Fighting is all part of cichlid love. But if one is not fighting back and just getting beat up. That is not good and can cause death.

 

[onidrase]

The blue acara gets 6" not over 8". Over 7" is Not common in the aquarium. My female was 6" at 4 years. In the wild maybe some males get to be 8".

I say a 55gal with some dither fish like barbs would would be a good breeding set up. My acaras could never be trusted with small fish. They are hunters. Your tank is 34 gal. I kept mine in a 35 gal bow front that was tall but only when they were 3". It's a fine grow out tank but not long term. Yeah depth dose not matter because they don't like to chill at the top. They are mid to bottom dwelling fish. Longer tank helps when they turn on each other.

One more thing they do become aggressive with each other right before they spawn. They will fight and kind of side slap each other even lip lock. Fighting is all part of cichlid love. But if one is not fighting back and just getting beat up. That is not good and can cause death.

The OP's tank is said at 2 feet long, keep in mind that means they might as well be in a 20 gallon standard tank.

 

[rob_cool1]

Thanks guys for the help. I was told that the Acara's would be fine in my tank, and when i said about breeding they said it would be ok and it should be fine.
I do think that my tank has too many fish so il probably take the cherrys barbs and the peppered corys out to make some more space.

I have always been told that fish grow to their surroundings, the male who is about 4" hasn't really grown for months. I don't over feed them, they get fed flake food one day lasts about 3 mins and the acaras dont eat loads of this, and bloodworm the next day (the bloodworm is 2 frozen cubes you get in them packets, defrosted, lasts about 2 - 3 mins before it goes) which is what the Acara's like best :L

They have been really good today, he hasn't chased her away and they've been swimming together all day, how strange lol

My tank setup isnt cluttered up, a pile of rocks one side which i've positioned into a cave, a couple of pieces of bogwood one with a plant on and a couple of other plants. im not an expert on these so i don't know what types of plants they are. Also has a sand bottom, so there is enough swimming space for them aswell as hiding spaces

Cheers again for the help.
Rob

 

[onidrase]

Thanks guys for the help. I was told that the Acara's would be fine in my tank, and when i said about breeding they said it would be ok and it should be fine.
I do think that my tank has too many fish so il probably take the cherrys barbs and the peppered corys out to make some more space.

I have always been told that fish grow to their surroundings, the male who is about 4" hasn't really grown for months. I don't over feed them, they get fed flake food one day lasts about 3 mins and the acaras dont eat loads of this, and bloodworm the next day (the bloodworm is 2 frozen cubes you get in them packets, defrosted, lasts about 2 - 3 mins before it goes) which is what the Acara's like best :L

They have been really good today, he hasn't chased her away and they've been swimming together all day, how strange lol

My tank setup isnt cluttered up, a pile of rocks one side which i've positioned into a cave, a couple of pieces of bogwood one with a plant on and a couple of other plants. im not an expert on these so i don't know what types of plants they are. Also has a sand bottom, so there is enough swimming space for them aswell as hiding spaces

Cheers again for the help.
Rob

IMO given an acaras territory boundaries, a 4 foot tank is ideal, 3 foot minimal. They will need a lot of decorations to keep them from killing each other. Fish don't only grow to the size of their surroundings, and if they do, they become mutated and deformed from it, and die early because of it.

Given your tank size, I'd honestly say once again you're limited to dwarf cichlids realistically.