Most cichlids are easy to breed, provided you have a male and a female, offer them suitable conditions and can manage their territorial behaviors. After all, given that cichlids look after their young, they do most of the work for you. The reason some appear to be difficult to breed is because they have more or less specialized environmental requirements that not everyone can meet, or because serious problems develop between male and female unless you are an expert at behavioral management.

For this reason, the novice cichlid breeder – or perhaps I should say cichlid keeper (because keeping them successfully usually results in breeding, planned or not) – will do well to stick to species that have been in captivity for some time and are hardy. Such fish will do well in the water conditions you are able to provide and do not have any other specialized environmental conditions. Plus, they are reasonably well behaved.