Two ways that you, as a cichlid keeper, can truly understand the behaviors of your fish are through observation and experience. The longer you keep certain species, the better acquainted you’ll become with their behavior. Over time, your intuition will guide you. Trust it!
Julidochromis dickfeldi
A shellie tank rescape

If you recall my post a few days ago on the excitement of cichlid spawning behavior, it included the above photo of my recently set up 33g long tank. In that tank are six ‘Lamprologus’ ocellatus and three Julidochromis dickfeldi.
Spawning cichlid behavior excitement

One of the absolute greatest joys of cichlid keeping is witnessing spawning behavior. Because I have new fish from an order I placed several months ago, I have been anxiously awaiting some pairings and subsequent spawning. All the fish I received were older juveniles or sub-adults, so I knew that pairing up would begin in a few months. You can read about the new fish in this post from back in May.
Quarantine chaos!

Even the best made plans can go awry! Revisiting my recent fish order and the subsequent quarantine plan I implemented, a little problem developed. Thankfully, the problem wasn’t a health issue but rather a behavioral one.