Mating behavior of Chocolate Cichild

[jake37]

I'm noticing my chcoolate cichild which now have frys are relatively passive. The tank is fairly well stocked with 7 Mesonauta festivus and 13 clown loaches - some serpae tetra and some other schoolers. Don't get me wrong they protect the frys - but for example as a M festivus was approach the female simply flicked her tail and the m. festivus swam the other way rather than challenge her.

My question is this expected - others have suggested they would tear the tank up with viciousness but i'm not seeing it - probably the only huge negative so far is the damage to some vals they did when they dug their pit. They have gotten to the point where they have begun to marshal the frys around but mostly staying in the plants - the ghost knife did relocate as he used to stay in the back corner near the location where they spawned.


And no the last thing i want is a bunch of little chocolates so i'm not feeding them or explicitly raising the frys.

 

[Alexxxxsv14]

Chocolate cichlids are gentle giants. Passive for the most part. Maybe they don’t feel threatened. Congrats on the spawn
Super cool cichlids.

 

[troublesum]

How is the male acting? he's the one who is supposed to chase away intruders.
Congrats on the spawn its not everyday you see and hear about Chocolates breeding

 

[jake37]

How is the male acting? he's the one who is supposed to chase away intruders.
Congrats on the spawn its not everyday you see and hear about Chocolates breeding

He's been extremely passive. During food time he is more interested in eating than guarding; though truth be told the male and female look nearly identical. Also they are very young and far from full grown - i've had them since approx april 1 2024; they were around 3 inches when purchased - i'd say they are around 6 inches now - also unlike most of my cichild their first spawn was successful. Under the log they use as a boundary for their pit; my two largest clown loaches have their nest and the serpae are about 8 inches from their nest as their natural hang out area in the plants. The black ghost knife and angelfishes did relocate to the other side of the aquarium. One of the fiesty female Mesonauta festivus tried to approach and she just sort of stared it down - it bristle and swam off - that has been the only interaction i've seen. Since their colour hasn't changed radially i'm a bit unsure how they are signaling other fishes to stay away. My largest mesonauta festivus is near their size though a little less bulky but he is 3 1/2 years old and more or less full grown.

Btw in another aquarium i have a group of mesonauta egregius. These little things breed like bunny rabbits. They are a bit smaller (so far) than the festivus and more colourful - but it appears i have two pairs in the group of 7 and every two weeks one of them want to spawn - i stole one tiny leaf with some wrigglers and it had something like 80 frys (they are doing well but alas i couldn't raise them with their parents). For the chocolate i'm just letting them do their thing - no direct attempt to raise the frys so we will see what happens - for the last 3 days anyways they are doing fine but i presume they are likely mostly still on egg sacks. Also they have the advantage of eating a fair amount of plant matter which is plentiful.

[all three named groups are wild caught]

 

[tlindsey]

he's the one who is supposed to chase away intruders.

In my experience cichlids it's not always the males

 

[neutrino]

Some espouse the mistaken idea that virtually all cichlids will terrorize a tank during breeding. Not so. It varies first of all with species, then individual pairs, which can be influenced by factors like tank size and arrangement, and the behavior of other fish in the tank.

It annoys me how some people stereotype things like behavior, species size, or requirements for tank size and water conditions. On the other hand are those who want to 'do something different' and completely ignore good sense. But that's life, everyone has an opinion.

 

[FINWIN]

Some espouse the mistaken idea that virtually all cichlids will terrorize a tank during breeding. Not so. It varies first of all with species, then individual pairs, which can be influenced by factors like tank size and arrangement, and the behavior of other fish in the tank.

It annoys me how some people stereotype things like behavior, species size, or requirements for tank size and water conditions. On the other hand are those who want to 'do something different' and completely ignore good sense. But that's life, everyone has an opinion.

Good point. I also get amused when people assign chauvinistic behavior to fish. Makes no sense at all. I read all the time about absolutes that supposedly fish do, but mine never got the memo.

Just like the assumption that males are the forerunners in aggression. Depends on the situation and fish personality. I think that stems from a lot of fishkeepers preferring males of the specie due to size/color. So they form opinions based off that and what they THINK makes sense. It also comes from matching large mature males with small female juvies for breeding so of course that will feed the stereotype. Watch what happens when the female is mature as a breeder and see the difference.

My own experience has been the males will take each other out with aggression and damage, but not the females. On an individual basis I've had far more issues with females being aggressive which caused me to to get multiple tanks. They don't kill as much but will fight relentlessly and harass. I did have one female who killed another. Again, this is a specie /personality/circumstance thing. The one exception was my blood parrot Patch, a female with a mouth of teeth who shredded another hyper aggressive parrot and attacked every other fish including the oscar.

The females with eggs are a whole different level of loon! I've had small female hrps chase and attack the huge males, running them around the tank. Most ridiculous thing you'd ever see. The males would bang into each other trying to get away.

It also surprises me people don't get more female flowerhorns who don't appear to have the health problems of the males and can be just as colorful. But everybody is stuck on "koks".

 

[jake37]

Well.... having 15 or so species breeding i under stand the wide diveristy but on another forum i mentioned that my chocolate had laid eggs and some guy who is suppose to know something said they would tear the tank up. To be honest they are a lot like my k. xinguensis and l. araguaiae - though those are dwarf cichild. they are quite a bit more passive than my angles who always look for someone to yell at.

 

[Mazan]

You might find that with subsequent spawnings they become more aggressive...however the large tank size definitely helps.

 

[jake37]

And today both parents abandoned the frys - went and ate and then return - guess folks have learned that the nest is a nono place... and the parents feel comfortable taking a break now and then to eat. Bit different than my m. egregius for example where the two parents take turn eating.