The flamingo cichlazoma belongs to the cichlid family of fish, the order of perciformes. In another way, this fish is called black-striped cichlazoma. She lives in Guatemala, Honduras, the waters of Central America. The flamingo cichlazoma is unpretentious, it can live in small streams and in huge lakes. They only need a reservoir with dense vegetation. These fish love greenery, various caves in which to lay eggs.
The cichlazed flamingo is so nicknamed for its interesting color - from deep pink to pale pink. In nature, the length of the fish reaches a maximum of 10 cm, but in an aquarium up to 15 cm. Of the cichlov family, this is the smallest fish.
Features of breeding flamingo cichlazoma
These fish reach sexual maturity at the age of 9-10 months. First you need to determine the sex of the fish - it's easy. Their sex differences lie in color and size - females are brighter and smaller than males, have red sparkles on the sides. Males have a powerful forehead. Keep no more than 2 males and females in one tank.
Breeding lasts all spring and summer, the female can lay eggs several times. She can lay up to 300 eggs. When the female has laid eggs, wait a couple of days for the fry to hatch. The female takes care of the eggs herself, while the male keeps order. He is very collected and alert - he can even start attacking the net when he is guarding the clutch.
Then transfer all the large fish to another aquarium. There are times when the parents themselves care for the fry, but do not risk it - they can eat the eggs. Although you should not be very upset, even if this happened - the next spawning will occur in a few weeks.
Then transplant the fry into a shallow aquarium of 20-30 liters, provide fine aeration. Maintain the water temperature within 27 degrees. The fry will start feeding on 3-4 days, first feed them with crushed flakes or live food. After a couple of weeks, start feeding like adults.
