Citron Tsichlazoma - care and maintenance in an aquarium

Citron cichlase is called citric due to its specific color. Fish belongs to large-sized, it quickly attracts attention and is constantly found in aquariums at various exhibitions. This type of water pets is the most sought after. Therefore, people who have become happy owners of such inhabitants, ask questions about the correctness of its content. This type of tsihlazom enjoys great popularity, let's look at everything connected with it.

Description

The first time the fish was described by Günther in 1864. The preferred habitat for fish is Central America. You can meet representatives of the family in Costa Rica and near Nicaragua. Usually fish live in lakes, they also prefer slow flowing rivers and other similar sources of water.

Inhabitants love warm springs with a depth of 1–35 m. Again, this is due to the peculiarities of the tsikhlaz family itself. Fish prefer not pebble, and sandy or muddy bottom.They try to keep close to roots and koryag, they are close to fry, snails, other aquatic insects. This is due to the peculiarities of the "lemon" diet.

Lemon fish differs in body density, it is powerful and rather large. Fin on the back, as well as the back, elongated and pointed. Representatives of the family can reach about 25 cm in length, and this is not the limit.

No matter what kind of gender is an individual in front of you, upon reaching maturity, she will have a developed fat cone. In males, it is much clearer peeps, females neater. Regarding the duration of existence, this species can live up to 12 years, provided it provides comfort.

From the name you can understand that the representatives of the family are famous for their lemon color. This criterion refers to the aquarium dwellers. In nature, fish, by contrast, are dull, have a brownish-gray tone and 6 stripes on the lateral parts of the body. But some species for living in an aquarium can also be dark, you should not discard this color scheme from the accounts.

Since the discussed species of fish successfully develops and multiplies, today we can distinguish other colors related to the main colors.So, we are talking about the white tsikhlazome, fish with orange and yellow patches.

Many are interested in how difficult it is to care for the represented family. In fact, there are no difficulties, except that it is worth knowing about the excessive aggression of the little pineapple in relation to the neighborhood. It is necessary to approach the choice of roommates with all responsibility. The neighborhood should not be small-caliber, it is desirable to select other large individuals from the same family.

Diet

1. Earlier it was already mentioned that lemon tsihlazomy prefer to eat fry, snails and other insects. But these characteristics relate to habitats in nature. Absolutely any food is suitable for keeping in aquarium conditions, these fish are omnivorous.
2. Feeding is allowed with dry, live or frozen food. When choosing, look for a label on the package stating that the product is suitable for inclusion in the diet of large cichlids.
3. If you prefer dry feeding, periodically it is necessary to pamper water pets with live food. As a supplement, choose worms, moths, koreter, fish fillets, mussels, shrimps, crickets, pipe makers, etc.
4. To replenish the mineral and vitamin reserves, it is necessary to treat tsikhlazami feed, which include spirulina. Also, chopped vegetables (zucchini, leaf lettuce, cucumbers, etc.) will not be superfluous.
5. It is important to provide fish with fiber, which prevents serious pathological changes. Namely, it blocks the formation of a non-healing wound on the fish's head. Tsikhlazoma dies from this, despite ongoing therapy.
6. Representatives of the family like to collect food debris from the ground, but this should not be allowed. Feed your menagerie three times a day in small portions.
7. If you are a supporter of the fact that mammals should be given meat products, you should give up this experience and keep up with the times. It was found that meat harms fish (not all). It leads to deterioration of the esophagus, fish quickly gain weight. Food with meat base is given no more than 1 time in 10 days.

Content

1. Like most cichlids, the citron cichlasome needs a fairly large aquarium. This criterion will be especially relevant if you are going to contain different types of fish.Consider, on 1 female tsikhlazomy about 200 l have to have. water. The male needs 250 l. Accordingly, a couple of cichlids will need about 500 liters.
2. If you do not want skirmishes between different types of fish, you will have to get a very large aquarium. Without fail, the water must be carefully filtered. In addition, the water must be replaced every week by 20-25% of the total water volume. The temperature in the aquarium should be within 25 degrees.
3. When decorating an aquarium with different equipment and decor, it should be protected. Such cichlids often undermine decorations, break and move. Try to hide the heater behind a powerful object. Be sure to cover the aquarium. Tsikhlazomy can easily jump out of it.
4. As a basis for the soil breeders recommend the use of sand. Stones and large snags will perfectly fit into the decor. Cichlids like to actively dig up all the soil. It is for this reason that the plants in the aquarium do not survive. In addition, the fish can eat algae.
5. If you decide to decorate the aquarium with ornamental plants, you must choose artificial ones.As an alternative, stark algae will do. In this case, they should be planted in separate containers or pots.
6. As for nutrition, tsikhlazomy eat absolutely everything. Fish are predatory species. Therefore, cichlids can be fed absolutely any live feed. They perfectly eat pipe makers, bloodworms, insects, various larvae and even small fish. Also tsikhlazomam can be given lenten beef and fillet of marine fish.
7. In addition, we should not forget the vegetable dressing. Most often they are presented in the form of cabbage, lettuce leaves and dandelions. Before feeding fish, such products must be scalded with boiling water. To keep the fish beautiful color, they must be pampered with dry branded food that contains carotenoids.

Compatibility

1. Keep submitted cichlids strongly recommended pair. At the same time the fish should be in a separate aquarium enough volume. Do not forget that tsikhlazomy - it is aggressive and fairly large individuals. If the aquarium is large, then such fish will be quite patient with other inhabitants.
2. As mentioned earlier, if the capacity is not large enough, then skirmishes between the fish can not be avoided. You can keep tsihlazom with severum, horny flower, astronotusom, Nicaraguan and Managuan tsikhlazomoy.

Breeding

1. Under aquarium conditions, the cichlids under consideration reproduce without any particular problems. In order for everything to happen “smoothly”, it is necessary for the fish to provide a cave, a shelter or a block of stockings. An alternative is a flower pot.
2. Before mating in fish, a special ritual is performed. Cichlids begin to swim in circles one after another. They open their mouths wide and spread their fins. During mating games, both individuals significantly increase the fatty bump.
3. Separately, it should be noted that such games before spawning can last up to six months. Only after that the female will begin to spawn. It is also worth knowing that the male at such a time may show aggression towards the female.
4. If you suddenly notice that the male clogs the female, be sure to put a separating grid. More experienced breeders put a grid with holes into which only the female can slip in the event of male aggression. Further, the female spawns, and the male will fertilize her.Before this, remove the grid.

Even if you belong to inexperienced owners of aquarium fish, from all of the above, you can make a conclusion on feeding, maintenance, selection of the neighborhood. Keep in mind with which fish lemon tsikhlazomy can live without conflict. Provide enough space for pets, watch the water temperature.

Video: citron cychlasoma (Cichlasoma citrinellum)