<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="1" > cichlid: one of the few good parents in fish</h1>
In addition to humans, there are many conscientious animal parents in nature, and most of these animals that take care of their children are mammals or birds.
In most mammals, they do not have the concept of a father, and in many cases it is the female that takes on the responsibility of feeding and caring for her offspring.
Birds are special, and biologists have found that many birds have the behavior of females and males to co-breed their offspring. But if you read today's article, you will find that in fact, there is another type of fish in nature, although grumpy, but will take care of their offspring meticulously, knowing that small fish can live independently, this fish is called cichlid.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="23" > a wide variety of cichlids</h1>
Many people have some prejudices against fish, believing that fish have a low IQ and a memory of only 7 seconds, let alone taking care of their offspring, but these evaluations of fish are one-sided and inaccurate. Cichlids, as the largest of the fish, can take good care of their offspring.
Cichlid is a general term for the fish of the suborder Perch, Suborder Bulbophyllum, Cichlididae, cichlid family, and cichlids, and more than 2,300 species of cichlids have been found, which is the largest family of vertebrate phyla on Earth.
Like the common tilapia, map fish, angelfish, parrot fish, luohan fish, three lakes cichlid, etc., all belong to the cichlid family, and these cichlids are mainly produced in Africa and the Americas.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="25" > many cichlids were introduced as ornamental fish</h1>
Take the Three Lakes Cichlid, for example, native to Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyika and Lake Malawi in Africa, and Lake Malawi alone contains nearly 700 species of cichlids, all of which evolved in closed fault lakes millions of years ago.
Most of the cichlids are smaller, the color under the circumference is more vivid, the average small cichlid will not exceed 12cm, the large cichlid is only about 20cm, their bodies are flat, and some cichlids will have bulges on their heads.
Cichlids do not swim fast, but the swimming posture is very beautiful, coupled with the low requirements for water quality, so it is often introduced as an ornamental fish by various countries.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="27" > cichlids can incubate eggs</h1>
Cichlids are characterized by having a "pharyngeal jaw" for grinding food in their throats, with the teeth in the mouth of the fish, they digest and prey on foods such as small fish, shrimp, insects, molluscs, algae, etc. As long as they can be put into the mouth, cichlids basically do not refuse.
Scientists first discovered that female cichlids would put fertilized fish eggs into the mouth of the fish for hatching, and when the eggs became fry, cichlids would continue to protect their offspring, which is indeed valuable for fish with low IQs and no hands.
In addition, male cichlids also play an irreplaceable role, a small number of males will incubate fish eggs with females, while most male cichlids will hover around the female and eggs as bodyguards.
Depending on the breeding method of cichlids, cichlids are mainly divided into two factions: mouth-hatched cichlids and non-mouth-hatched cichlids. The mouth-hatching cichlid is mainly distributed in East Africa and other places, and many cichlids of the genus Jewel lid will contain the eggs in the mouth to hatch.
For nearly a month after that, the female cichlid stops eating and swims around, and it stays quietly in the nest waiting for the eggs to hatch.
After the eggs are successfully hatched into fry, the female cichlid will also patiently wait next to the fry, and if there is danger, the fry will quickly return to the mouth of the female cichlid, knowing that the baby cichlid can live independently, and the male cichlid of individual species in East Africa will also take turns with the female cichlid to incubate the eggs.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="31" > parents of non-oral brooding cichlids are equally conscientious</h1>
Most of the non-oral cichlids are distributed in the Americas and Eurasia, such as cichlids in the genus Angelfish or Mesercera, most of which belong to the non-oral cichlid.
But they also take good care of the eggs, the female and male will lay the eggs in the bottom of the river or in the crevices of the rocks during breeding, taking advantage of the favorable terrain to protect the eggs, while the male and female will always stay by the eggs, stop eating, guard the eggs until they hatch.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="34" > reason why cichlids are conscientious to their descendants</h1>
Scientists have analyzed that the reason why cichlids are so conscientious to their offspring is the result of millions of years of evolution.
Cichlids are small, and in freshwater environments with many predators, competition is fierce and living space is limited. In order to spread their genes and improve the survival rate of fry, cichlids must provide meticulous care for their offspring.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="39" > the role of male cichlids cannot be underestimated</h1>
Male cichlids also play a very important role, both industrious and brave.
During breeding, they build bowl-shaped underwater nests with stones, sand and mud underwater, and have a decent "home" to attract female cichlids to lay eggs.
Individual female cichlids are very fond of laying eggs in the shell, so male cichlids will find shells of different sizes for females to choose during the nesting period, and scientists have even found that the "snail shell delivery room" of different sizes can even determine the size and health of offspring.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="43" > "thunderbolt fire" in fish</h1>
Don't look at the small size of the cichlid, people who have raised cichlids know that they are actually very fierce, if there are other kinds of fish in the tank, the cichlids will attack them in groups, absolutely "thunderbolt fire in the fish".
There are no other kinds of fish, even their own people have to fight, cichlids are very aggressive, either in the fight or on the way to fight. Because of this aggressive personality, it also makes many fish lovers very headache, perhaps as soon as they wake up, the ci eagles in the fish tank will all be killed.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="47" how do > cichlids fight? Glaring at the next fight</h1>
Cichlids are aggressive, especially male cichlids during breeding, and the owner is never soft on other male cichlids who covet their nests.
When other males approach the nest, the male owner will rush out of his nest, and then the two males will look at each other intently, trying to scare each other away through their eyes.
At this point, they will stretch out the pectoral fins on both sides to make themselves look a little stronger, and when they find that the warning is ineffective, the male owner will fight with the intruder, they will hit and bite each other, and their only goal is to drive each other out of the nest.
The victorious male has a chance to reproduce, and although the male is fierce to the other cichlids, he leaves the tenderness to the female and the fry.
During the female hatching, the male fish guard the female and fry all the time, acting as a bodyguard, and it has to be said that among the fish, the male cichlid is a rare good mate and good father.
The picture comes from the network intrusion link must be deleted.