With a fiery personality to match its fiery red coloration, Hemichromis bimaculatus, also known as the Jewel Cichlid or Jewelfish, is a fearless fighter. It will even take on and defeat much larger competitors! This lovely but pugnacious fish is covered with bright blue green iridescent flecks on its red and orange body. When Jewelfish are spawning, their colors become extremely vivid and intense and indeed, they are comparable to dazzling jewels.

The Jewelfish originates from the forested areas of West Africa where it lives in streams and rivers.

Thus, a suitable aquarium setup should include some hardy plants and vegetation, driftwood, and lots of rocks and stones that form caves for shelter. The substrate should consist of a fine gravel or sandy bottom. Adult Jewelfish can reach a length between 4 to 6 inches, so a minimum tank size of 55 gallons is required for full grown specimens. It is also important to use an efficient filtration system along with regular water changes in order to keep them healthy and in good color.

The temperature in the aquarium should be kept between 72-80 F with a pH of 6.5-7.5. Jewelfish are carnivorous by nature but will eat almost all types of foods that are offered. Be sure to vary their diet and include meaty fare such as shrimp, fish, and worms, as well as specially formulated cichlid pellets.

Jewelfish are very territorial and require a lot of space. They will fight with their own kind and consume smaller fishes. It is best to house them in a species only tank or with other large, hardy fishes.

Breeding the Jewelfish is not too difficult but it can be a violent affair, with a lot of chasing and nipping. It is best to begin with a group of young fish and raise them in a large tank. In time they will pair off and the couples can be transported to a tank of their own. Jewelfish are substrate spawners and will prepare for mating by digging a hole in the gravel or cleaning a flat surface. The female will then lay her eggs in the chosen nesting site and the male will fertilize them.

Both parents will share in guarding the eggs, which can number up to 500! The eggs will usually hatch in 3 to 5 days time and the fry can be fed newly hatched brine shrimp as well as finely ground flake foods.

A disease outbreak in your tropical fish tank can wipe out your entire community of fish. Most freshwater fish diseases come from either poor water quality or from introducing new fish into the aquarium. Everyday I hear and read about how people have bought fish from their fish store only to find out later it is disease ridden. There are some ways to prevent fish disease from entering your freshwater fish tank. Following these few will help reduce fish disease.

1. Don’t add fish straight to your new setup.

2. Quarantine all new fish.

3. Don’t add too many fish at once.

4. Don’t overfeed your fish.

5. Use only feeder fish that you have grown and know do not have diseases..

6. Perform scheduled water changes.

All new aquarium setups are on the list for New Tank Syndrome and its deadly affects. New tank syndrome usually takes place within the first 3 months of setting your new aquarium up. This happens because your tank does not have enough bacteria built up to break down the ammonia to nitrite and from nitrite to nitrate.

Live plants are great to have in your home aquarium because, not only do they add character and builds the natural look and feel for the fish but they also can help breaking down the built up ammonia and nitrites levels in the water. But you also need to remember that any dead or rotten plant matter is going to add extra stress to your aquarium and water and it will make the ammonia levels climb if not removed regulary.

Once you have place the first fish in your aquarium, you have started the cycling process ( The Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle ). The fish will start producing waste which is going to start your ammonia levels climbing. By feeding the fish, the more waste it is going to create and the higher the levels will climb before the benificial bacteria called Nitrosomonas has a chance to colonize in the tank and filter which breaks down the ammonia. It can take anywhere up to 5 weeks or more for this bacteria to fully establish in your tank and filter. If you have too much ammonia in your tank, it can damage your fish’s gills that can kill your fish very quickly and is more dangerous at a higher temperatures and ph levels of 7 and above.

You can do a water change to help drop your ammonia levels in your tank or there are products you can purchase that will neutralize the ammonia if the levels get too high but don’t forget if you neutralize the ammonia, you are preventing bacteria from colonizing and forming so you need to be very careful.

Now you have nitrites in your aquarium water and it is very important to keep the nitrites to minimal levels, or ever better none at all like the ammonia. Now your aquarium will start colonizing a bacteria called Nitrobacter in your filter and tank that will break down the nitrites to nitrates. Like the first bacteria mentioned above, this one as well takes quiet a few weeks to establish well. Nitrite will irritate your fish and it also affects the blood and they develop Brown Blood Disease. This stops the fish being able to absorb oxygen from the water which can result in death.

A water change will help drop the nitrite levels.

Now the nitrites is being broken down to nitrate. Nitrate is the last one of this process. Nitrate is no where near as dangerous as ammonia or nitrite. Even though this is not a deadly chemical, it is still best to keep it to a very minimum. Regular water changes will help keep nitrate to a minimum.

At any time when you are trying to treat your water for one deadly chemical, usually another will change in level, so make sure you keep a eye on them all. Huge fluctuations in the levels of these chemicals will most definately end up in death for the fish. Most fish that die in the first few months of a tank setup usually have fallen to New Tank Syndrome.

There are a number of things that influence the growth rate of your freshwater fish. While I won’t list them all, I will list a few.

• Water Volume -The more room a freshwater cichlid has, the better it’s growth rate.    Keeping a freshwater cichlid in an environment too small for its needs will “stunt” the fish.
• Food -Feedings of high quality foods in small amounts 4-5 times a day are better than one large amount once a day.   The quality of food greatly influences growth rate and health of your freshwater cichlid, so don’t cheap out here.
• Water Quality -Fish waste and uneaten food add to the bio load of the tank, and also have an effect on both growth rate and health of any freshwater fish.   The better quality the water is, the better growth rate. Be sure to do regular water changes.
• Temperature -Warmer water raises the cichlids metabolism, and increases growth rate. Cooler water slows the metabolism, putting a slow on a fish’s growth rate.    Be sure to keep temperatures within your particular freshwater cichlids needs.

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.

Other cichlids are predatory and eat little if any plant matter. These include generalists that catch a variety of small animals including other fishes and insect larvae, as well as a variety of specialists.  A number of cichlids feed on other fish, either whole or in part. Crenicichla are stealth-predators that lunge at small fish that pass by their hiding places, while Rhamphochromis are open water predators that chase down their prey. Paedophagous cichlids such as the Caprichromis species eat other species’ eggs or young (in some cases ramming the heads of mouthbrooding species to force them to disgorge their young).  Some species feed on the scales and fins of other fishes, which is a behaviour known as lepidophagy, along with the death mimicking behaviour of Nimbochromis and Parachromis species, which lay motionless, luring small fish to their side prior to ambush.

Habitat – Cichlids are largely freshwater fish and are less commonly found in brackish and salt water habitats, though many species will tolerate brackish water for extended periods; Cichlasoma urophthalmus, for example, is equally at home in freshwater marshes and mangrove swamps, and can be found living and breeding in salt water environments such as the mangrove belts around barrier islands. Several species of tilapias (species of Tilapia, Sarotherodon, and Oreochromis) are euryhaline and can disperse along some brackish coastlines between rivers. Only a few cichlids are found primarily in brackish or salt water, most notably Etroplus maculatus, Etroplus suratensis, and Sarotherodon melanotheron.

Freshwater Cichlids Map

Dyed Cichlid

With all of the beautifully colored fish in the world, it is amazing that people feel the need to “improve upon” natural beauty. And yet, fish stores around the world stock fish that have been dipped, tattooed, or injected with dyes. These fish suffer a very high immediate mortality rate, and those that survive often have a greatly increased chance of future illness.

The results of the coloring process varies depending on the type of fish and the method used.

Tattoos
Some fish are tattooed with very intricate patterns that would look gorgeous on a human. Unlike human recipients of tattoos, these fish have not given their permission to painfully modify their body. Further, it is harder for a fish to protect against follow-up infection than it is for a human to protect against the same.

Injection
Painted Parrot Cichlid Other fish are injected with dye. In some cases, this creates an all-over color change. In others, it creates little pockets of dye. One of the most considerable changes comes from the injection of fluorescent dye into the Glassfish. This creates little fluorescent pockets in the fish. While neat-looking, the process involves a needle bore that would be the equivalent of using a #2 pencil as a needle for a human.

Dipping
Another process involves dipping fish in a chemical that burns away the slime-coat followed by a dip in high-concentration dye. Though not as invasive as tattooing or injection, it removes the fishes’ first line of protection and then coats the gills and probably stomach of the fish affected This affects respiration and likely other body functions, as well.

There are some claims that fish are colored by feeding them heavily colored food, but there is little to substantiate this claim. Even if it were true, it is unlikely that such a high concentration of dye would be good for a fish.

It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to realize that any of these processes would be painful. Science has shown, repeatedly, that fish are capable of feeling pain, and that they have a long-term memory. It is unconscionable to put a creature through this kind of torture merely for the sake of aesthetics, especially when every fish has a beauty of its own.

What Can You Do?
First of all, don’t buy any painted fish. For the most part, it’s fairly easy to tell if a fish has been dyed. Most such fish just don’t look natural. It’s never a good idea to buy a fish on a whim. If you see an unrecognized fish at the pet store, go home with its name (and a picture if you can get one) and identify it and its requirements before you buy it. This is a good way to weed out dyed fish. In addition, ask your local fish store to not carry any dyed fish. In some cases, these fish are automatically sent to them, and in others, they have been misinformed as to the fish’s origins, so be kind when talking to the employees.