© Carmen Brehm Butterfly cichlid in front of a drinking jug
The eggs are laid on smooth surfaces, e.g. B. flat stones stored. Sometimes the parents dig small pits in which the eggs are laid.* Source Schmetterlingsbuntbarsch
At first the eggs are transparent white. They later turn orange.
At 26 to 28° C, the young hatch after about 2 to 3 days. After hatching, the young are so small that you can hardly see them. After another 3 to 4 days, the young swim freely. So it takes 5 to 7 days from spawning to free swimming.
After hatching, the young are reburied by their parents.
The chances of raising young butterfly cichlids in a community tank are very slim. If no breeding tank is available, you can try to divide the community aquarium with a partition.
As a rule, breeding is only successful in a sufficiently large species tank with very good water values.
Even then it is very difficult to raise the young. The effort depends on whether the parents are caring for the brood or not.
Arguments for letting the young only be raised by the parents:
- The young do not learn parental care if they are raised artificially without parents.
- Due to the frequent artificial rearing, there are fewer and fewer breeding pairs that care well.
- Butterfly cichlids can of course be raised, even if that is more effort than artificial rearing.
- Hobby breeders should avoid artificial rearing if the fish naturally take care of their brood.
- Because at least 90% of the animals in the trade come from professional breeders, hobby breeding has little influence on the trade and there are no fewer animals in the trade.
- Increased importation of wild-caught animals to avoid degenerative phenomena is not necessary if breeding is carried out responsibly.
Arguments for raising the young without parents:
- In a small aquarium, which may still be densely stocked, the animals behave differently than in nature and eat the spawn faster.
- Degenerative phenomena are largely due to professional breeders for whom cost and effort are more important than regular crossbreeding with wild-caught breeders.
- Hobby breeders put in more effort and do not cause degenerative phenomena, even with artificial rearing without the parents.
- The ideal would be to only keep wild animals to reduce susceptibility and deficiency symptoms. But then there would be far fewer animals on the market.
Butterfly cichlids Photo: Sophie Weirauch
Like other dwarf cichlids, butterfly cichlids first have to learn how to breed successfully. The first two or three clutches are often eaten by the parents. If the parents keep eating the eggs even though the water parameters are suitable for rearing, a night light can be useful. The light makes it easier for the parents to take care of the brood at night.
Normally, butterfly cichlids take turns in caring for the brood. The male is usually the more active partner in grooming. It can also happen that one of the parent animals is significantly less involved in the care than the other animal.
If the water is not suitable for the eggs to develop, the eggs will be damaged by the osmotic pressure. After a short time, the eggs then fungus and are eaten by the parents.
Rearing butterfly cichlids in a breeding tank
© Steffen Hochdorfer
Small aquariums with a water content of 30 liters or more are suitable for rearing. Smaller tanks are only suitable for correspondingly fewer young animals. The aquarium is filled with water from the tank in which the butterfly cichlids want to spawn or have already spawned. An alternative is pure osmosis water or distilled water.
As a filter z. B. small internal filter with cartridge suitable. The water can also be removed from such a filter, e.g. B. run into an Aquaclear external filter and from there back into the breeding tank. The external filter can be filled with biological filter material. This leads to a very good filter effect with relatively little water turbulence. Nevertheless, the water movement ensures a good supply of oxygen. The tank should be moderately aerated. The filter must be run in in good time or filter sludge from a run-in filter is brought into the breeding tank.
If possible, young catfish or armored catfish can be placed in the rearing tank to remove leftover food, etc.
Butterfly cichlids taking care of their brood Photo: Markus Voetzsch
A few hours after spawning, the eggs are placed in the rearing tank together with the stone, gravel or other spawning substrate. In the case of plants, a leaf or stem may be cut off. Substrate and eggs are placed in a container underwater in the originating tank and removed from the container underwater in the rearing tank. The eggs should not come into contact with air.
The temperature in the rearing tank can be increased to 28°. However, a temperature of 25° is sufficient. True, it is often written about high temperatures in Amazon tributaries. This ignores the fact that the fish usually breed in areas shaded by trees. The water is cooler no later than 30 centimeters below the water surface. High temperatures of up to 38°C, which are occasionally mentioned, will hardly be reached by the water in which they breed.
The tank can be completely darkened until the young hatch, so that the eggs do not become fungus. A mild antifungal agent can also be used preventively. Fungal eggs must be regularly removed from the spawn.
©Michael Petersen