How to breed jewel cichlids

Jewel cichlids are bright red West African cichlids with sparkling blue spots. A bonded pair lays hundreds of eggs on a flat rock or piece of wood, then both parents guard the eggs and lead the fry around the tank. It's one of the best things to watch in the hobby, as long as you plan for their temper.

I've bred jewel cichlids in my own planted tank with driftwood, one of the 18 tanks in my fish room.

Jewel cichlid facts

• Latin name: Hemichromis species, most often sold as H. bimaculatus or H. lifalili
• Size: about 4 to 6 inches
• Tank: 30 gallons or more for one pair, bigger if they share the tank
• Temperature: 72–80°F, warming to the top of that range helps trigger a spawn
• Water: pH about 6.5 to 8, not fussy about hardness
• Eggs: about 200 to 500 per spawn
• Difficulty: easy to spawn, but aggressive while guarding

Males and females

Males and females look very alike. Males tend to be a little bigger with longer fins, and females often turn the deepest red when they're ready to spawn. The surest way to get a pair is to buy about 6 young jewels, grow them up together and let them choose partners. Once a pair forms, move the other fish out before the pair starts to chase them.

Setting up a breeding tank

• A flat spawning site. A smooth rock, a slate, a clay pot on its side, or a flat face of driftwood. The pair will clean it before laying.
• Sand or fine gravel. The parents dig pits and move the wrigglers into them.
• Plants and wood to break up the tank, so the pair doesn't treat the whole tank as one territory. See easy aquarium plants.
• A sponge filter or covered intake, so the fry don't get pulled into the filter. See best aquarium filters.
• A heater and steady water. Size the heater with the heater calculator.

Triggering a spawn

Feed the pair well for a couple of weeks with good pellets plus frozen bloodworms, brine shrimp or mysis. Keep up with water changes, and warm the tank toward 78–80°F. A ready pair colors up, cleans a flat surface, and chases anything that comes near.

Eggs, wrigglers and free-swimming fry

Leave the eggs with the parents. Jewels are good parents, and the eggs rarely do better in a hatching box. A first-time pair may eat a spawn or two before they get it right, so give them another try before you give up on them.

Feeding the fry

Once the fry swim freely, feed newly hatched baby brine shrimp or microworms two or three times a day. Crushed flake or fry powder works as a backup. After a couple of weeks they can take crushed small pellets. Small, frequent feeds and clean water are what grow them fast. See how often to feed fish.

When to move the fry

The parents usually protect the fry for a few weeks, then start to see them as rivals and get ready to spawn again. Move the fry to their own grow-out tank at about 4 to 6 weeks, or sooner if the parents start chasing them. Have a plan for them before you start. A spawn can be hundreds of fish, so ask your local fish store whether they take home-bred jewels.

Tankmates while they breed

A spawning pair will attack anything that comes near the eggs, including much bigger fish. A tank of their own is easiest. In a big tank, fast fish that stay up high are the best bet, and some keepers add a group of dither fish to keep the pair from fixating on one target. Avoid small, slow or peaceful fish. Check a mix with the fish compatibility checker.

Keeping track of spawns? Jewels aren't one of its 8 species, but the Fish Breeding Planner ($9) has a fry food guide and printable spawn and fry logs that work for any fish.

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