I started with about 5 cichlids 4 years ago. I think I had 2 males and 3 females. The males are solid bright orange with pitch balck fins. The dominate male has black spots on his face. Kind of reminds me of a silver back gorilla. The females have clear fins, except for the top fin which has a little black in it. Does anyone know what kind of cichlids these are? I'd download a pic but not able to. Like I siad, started w/ 5 in a 55 gal. Now I have about 20 big males and females in that tank, and 3 other tanks with at least 50 or 60 more ranging from mid sized to fry. I clean out the big tank every 3 months and find another 10 babies each time. What can I do with all these fish! I can't keep buying more tanks. I tried to sell a few to a local aquarium store and they only deal with licensed breeders. Wouldn't even swap a few fish for pet supplies. I love watching them and seeing them multiply. They're beautiful and interesting pets. I've only had a couple die the whole time I've had them and they were from the original 5 I started with. I think they died of old age. Very healthy tanks. Just as a little side note, ever since I've had them, I've only fed them the tropical fish food you buy at Winn Dixie. And like I said, they're thriving and multiplying, big and bright and full of energy. So the cheep food seems to be working great. Any thoughts on that? I'd like to get my frieds into cichlids as well. I was glad to see a website/community full of people who like their cichlids as much as I like mine. Look forward into reading other posts and suggestions and checking out the site.

Welcome to ACF.

Can you post some pics of your fishes? If the fish you have are carnivorous then most any food should be fine but if you have the group of cichlids from malawi that are strict herbivores then you need to pay attention to the diet. If they are breeding then you must be doing something right congrats on that.

When this happens to me I usually post them on craigslist.

Since your fish are doing well why dont you give us a rundown so we can help you improve your set-up

ie. Tank dimensions, filtration, water changes how often and how much. Additives to your water during water changes. pH, nitrate.

Hey skemper2112, welcome to ACF!!

Always nice to have a breeding group going. As mentioned can try craigslist, aquabid, other LFS's, etc., but will need to know the species. From your description, am still not sure on an ID. Could you give more of a description i.e. shape, size, etc.- anything you can think of would help. Maybe ask the LFS or where you purchased them from?

If you have a camera, can follow this Link on how to post pictures.