Firemouth Cichlid - How To Care Correctly For This Cichlid Fish

The Firemouth Cichlid is one of the oldest fishes kept by aquarist because of its incredible beauty and stunning colors. It is basically an aquarium fish with attractive silver coloration with black spots lined up across its body up to its tail. They have distinctive red colored belly which makes them special compared to other varieties of the cichlidae family. It also has its intriguing features which is when threatened will have the tendency to widely open its gills to exude fierce to scare away other fishes who tries to take away its territory. This is however not a sign of aggression firemouth rarely attack other fishes except during the mating season.
When kept in an aquarium freshwater, they thrive well with water temperature of 26 - 28 degree Celsius with a pH level of 7 which is close to neutral. Firemouth can grow as much as six inches in length. The appropriate tank size for this beautiful species is about 40 gallons. They also prefer soft water with plenty of vegetation like live aquarium plants. Java fern is ideal to get this type of species acclimated to its new habitat. Firemouth is a wonderful community fish as long as tank mates would not fit its mouth and are calm. An appropriate size would be the same with your cichlid or even larger but never smaller. Specifically they live best with corydoras catfish, bolivian rams cichlids, and clown loach. These varieties are perfect for your firemouth.
Breeding cichlid firemouth is not just enjoyable but are greatly rewarding as well. Their young fry when well develop are very saleable to hobbyist. What is so amazing in breeding them is that the demands for their young are highly contemplated by fish lover. In order to produced a healthy specimen is to have the appropriate approach and technique in spawning. The first thing a breeder must do is to enrich its diet with live foods.
They would love to be fed with fish flakes, pellets and tablets but with higher feeding proportion of live foods. Live foods may aid to stimulate the spawning process. The color of both male and female firemouth will exhibit fuller and brighter shade during the mating period making them extra marvelous. During the process both firemouth will look for a spot that is free from treat where breeding will occur.
The female may lay up to 300 eggs on a flat, hard surface which will be followed through by males to fertilize. Both parents will be actively on guard with their eggs to protect them from any potential predator and an egg eating fish. The female will patiently and painstakingly fan the eggs for oxygenation. Once they have laid their eggs it will hatch in two to three days depending on its water temperature. And it will take another four days in order for the fry to be swimming freely. The parents will continue to take of their fry until they are able to take care of themselves.
The Firemouth Cichlid is easy to feed and care for. More so, they are the most sought after fish by many hobbyist and enthusiast.