# The Key for Breeding, Mouth Brooders (egTropheus)



## Alan Mawdsley (Sep 12, 2008)

Mouth Brooders are reasonably easy to breed. However there is quite a number of mouth brooders that people struugle to breed for example Tropheus from lake tanganyika and Geophagus from South America. The key is to high very high ph levels and water quality. Also weekly or daly water changes helps a lot. And choseing the right type of weeds, plants and rocks. 

The filterage is very important i have an fuval fx5, fulval 4, eheim fliters, sand and sponge fliters makeing sure the fish have the best quality water and comfort. 

Also feeding them the key is to feed the fish little but often this will really help them grow faster and keep there health up because feeding lots one of twice a day can damage there health. 

The healther (feeding, plants, space, rocks) and the more comfortable (water quality, ph, water changes) they are the more likely they are to spawn and produce good quality fry. 

THE TEENAGE EXPERT ON RIFT VALLEY CICHLIDS AND MOUTH BROODERS
THANK YOU VERY MUCH

Here is a little something from my 5ft tank to show how my technikics really bring out the best in fish


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## Guest (Sep 16, 2008)

THe most, MOST important thing in regards to breeding tropheus is water quality, and diet. Tropheus are known for bloat due to the wrong types of foods, they need a high fiber diet, so they can digest the food, otherwise they bloat. Algae based foods are usually good ones, as well as NLS (never had a problem feeding NLS to my tropheus), and dianichi (i have had tropheus bloat with dianichi). 

Another important aspect to breeding tropheus is colony size. Tropheus do well by themselves, or in large groups. In smaller groups they will.......WILL... slowly pick on another off until you are left with 1 (sometimes you are lucky and remain with a couple). If you are lucky you will have a group with a few males, and lots of females. 

Ph never was a factor to me at all, except for stability. In the wild tropheus live in a ph of 9.0 or so, i had no troubles breeding them in a ph of 7.6-7.8. Instead of wasting the time, money and possible devastation when you do something wrong, dont worry so much about the ph, just keep it stable, and reasonable. With that, i would not recommend a ph of 6 for these fish.

Tropheus are not a beginners fish for many reasons, but for those who want to dive into a VERY interesting and fascinating world with in fish keeping, tropheus will fulfill that. There are many behaviors and rituals you get with tropheus (and many other tanganyikan fish) that you just dont get any where else, not from malawi, SA, CA, or anywhere. By far, tropheus rank up there in as my favorite fish.


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## Guest (Sep 16, 2008)

cool article, or at least the beginings of one.

Spelling would help alot though.


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