cichlids in community tank had babies.

[ahuwood]

so i have a yellow cichlid with a black stripe on its fin and a bright orange one. I went to a fish store where they sold them to me as community fish, i knew very little about fish at this point! So they are in a tank with molly's, gouramis, guppies, and a chinese algae eater. Well they had two babies and they are doing fine and growing well. One appears to be a male (i see a spot on it's bottom fin) and one appears to be a female (no spot, and smaller). With two males in one tank should i worry, or is it ok since i have a female for each one? My cichlids have been in my community tank for roughly a year and they havn't bothered my other fish at all.

[Allie]

Wow that's unusual that the cichlids didn't kill everything in the whole tank. Especially when they were breeding. I would get them their own tank...Lake Malawi African cichlids are aggressive by nature, plus they need a ph of 7.5 to 8.5. Tropical don't like that high of a ph.

[Trpimp147]

its also odd for them to breed with another type of cichlid... usly they require other sex of its type...

[Allie]

Originally Posted by Trpimp147

its also odd for them to breed with another type of cichlid... usly they require other sex of its type...

LM African cichlids will breed with any female available if they don't have one of it's own type.
I had a hap brownae female from Lake Victoria which was holding for a red top zebra. She swallowed, thank goodness. Weird looking kids they would have been.

[Butterfly]

yep certain Cichlids are able to cross breed.
Carol

[ahuwood]

i totally agree that i have a strange case. At this point there would be no way i could get them there own tank, but hopefully in the future i can. or maybe someone will want them before then. The babies don't look strange at all though! It's funny because they look exactly like the yellow one. But maybe as they grow into adults i will see some unique characteristics in them. So is it ok to have the males together as long as they each have a female? I had a red devil growing up and he had to be alone because he killed all the other fish.

[bandito974]

I've got a Green cichlid with brown spots I never can remember the latin name for it, My kids and I call it Shrek. It has been getting cozy with a large mouth bass I put in my tank last month, what are the odds of it cross breeding with a bass?

[Trpimp147]

vary odd but any thing can happen... i gess haha