breeding cichlids

[jisatsuguy]

i let my male and female flowerhorns "play" together today, for the first time.the male chased his gal around a bit, but to my surprise didnt try to outright kill her... they were in a 48 gal bowfront and i just took out the divider. well, at some point, she got a cut on her face, so i split em back up... i guess ill just keep em separated except for supervised together time.

anyway, i want to cross a couple fish, my first tries will be carpintis x red devil, carpintis x flowerhorn, and red devil x flowerhorn... how in the heck am i supposed to get em to pair up? do i have to keep the prospect pair in a tank by themselves so theyre alone???
any advise would be appreciated... and please no hybrid bashing on this post
thanks

[eklikewhoa]

Probably would want to keep the two so that they can see each other but not harm themselves. After awhile then you can combine them and normally they will be beating on each other till one submits to the other.

[Zulaab]

Another thing I have have seen with good success... with the female being smaller than the male (usually) make a cave where she can go in (sideways) and stay there if he gets to rough for her liking. If you see her constantly under the rock, chase the male back to his side and put the divider in there.. If they spawn she will usually spawn on the house above (you should run the tank bare bottom so this is the only thing in the tank.. You have to have observed her long enough to know she can get into the cave and hide without a problem, and make sure its small enough where he cannot get in there and hurt her.

[jisatsuguy]

thanks zulaab!!

[Rico]

eggcrate divider with a hole big enough for just the female to pass through