Spawning strategies in cichlids part 4 – Substrate brooders

" Unlike the livebearing fishes, where females produce eggs that are internally fertilized, giving birth to fully formed and self-reliant progeny, all species of cichlids use external fertilization, which may seem like a more primitive technique, but it has so far supported their evolutionary success. In cichlids, unlike in other fishes such as characins which don’t provide post spawn care to their progeny, egg care has evolved into a high degree of specialization "