Given a large enough tank, could one colony-breed something like dwarf cichlids?

[JackGulley]

I've always wondered this. What I'm talking about is fish where, the parents claim a territory and will guard the fry within their territory for a while, but then eventually try to drive the fry out of their territory because, in the wild, they would be expected to go live on their own. But what happens in most fish tanks is, the parents eventually just kill the fry because we keep them in a relatively small tank, causing them to see the whole tank as their "territory." So I wanna know, if you had a large enough tank, and disciplined yourself to keep smaller fish in it, like a 100 gallon with kribs/rams/apistos: would the fry be able to just wander off and live somewhere else in the tank, setting up their own separate territory out of sight of the parents?

 

[Magnum Man]

"large enough" says it all... but how big, pretty much depends on the fish... I've seen tanks as small as 55 gallons, with colonies of Dwarf Cichlids ( species dependant ) as well as have a tank with several line of sight breaks... but bigger would ultimately be better

 

[Colin_T]

The only fish I know that could do something like that are the Lamprologus brichardi (Neolamprologus brichardi group). The parents set up a territory and the first batch of fry grow up and become defenders guarding the area while the mum and dad breed again. Each new batch becomes defenders and pushes the earlier fry further out, expanding the territory. However, the only fish that breed in this area are the original parents.

In an aquarium (even 100 gallons) there isn't room for multiple generations of cichlids to live happily ever after. The first batch of fry would disperse around the tank and set up territories. A few dominant males would kill the weaker males and the females would be distributed among the male's territories. The next lot of young from any of the prs in the tank would have nowhere to go and would be killed when they reached sexual maturity unless they were strong enough to kill one of the older bigger males, and that is unlikely. With all this happening you would end up with inbreeding and loads of dead fish.

In a river or lake the fish that can't get a territory locally have the ability to travel long distances to find their own place. Along the way they might find unrelated partners who they can set up home with. That simply isn't possible in an aquarium. It might happen in a large pond 10,000+ litres but the smaller the area, the sooner bad things will happen.

If you're going to breed cichlids, move the fry out when they are no longer being cared for by the parents.

 

[GaryE]

You could do it with the group Colin mentions - hardwater Lake Tanganyikans. I also suspect Apistogramma borellii might work. They are small Apistos, and their behaviour is a bit off beat for the group.
It's a question where labels like Apistogramma become a negative, as it would be species by species. For the Genus, I'd say no, but nature makes exceptions.

West/Central African? I have had colonies start to form in a 75, with Steatocranus sp "Brown pearl", but not with other Steatocranus. I had one group of Pelvicachroms kribensis where the fry grew to adulthood in with the parents, in a 60 gallon, very heavily planted set up. One parent died before the young paired, but I had two pairs spawning and a couple of territories. The experiment was cut short by outside circumstances.

Beyond that, your question shows why aquarists jumped into mbuna with their boots on when they arrived in the hobby. The idea of Cichlids that could live crowded was wildly appealing to a then large Cichlid hobby. Dealing with smaller numbers and a lot of space is the most difficult thing for dwarf Cichlid fans.