African Chiclid

Question
    I'm getting an African Chiclid from my mom's friend. She has it in a 20 gallon aquarium, but I would like to put my goldfish in their. So I would have to switch the Chiclid to my 5 gallon aquarium. Is that okay or will I have to keep things the way they are?   

    I also have a male betta. He's in a 2.5 gallon aquarium. I would like to put him with a female and have them breed. Is the 2.5 gallon tank big enough? Or should I get a bigger aquarium?

Answer
Hi Tara,
Goldfish and African Cichlids do not mix.  The reason for this is that African Cichlids are very aggressive, and territorial.  Your goldfish would be killed.  The African Cichlids need heated water, and Goldfish need cool water.  The African Cichlids also need big tanks.  You cannot keep an African Cichlid in a small tank.  He would be miserable, and would get sick.

Bettas need a five gallon tank to be healthy and happy.  I their habitat the betta may live in shallow water, but they have lots of room to swim.  They also need a heated tank of 78 degrees to 82 degrees.  Bettas kept in cool water do get stressed, and will eventually get sick.  When heating a tank, this must be done very very slowly.  If you decide to heat your tank, this must be done one degree every two days, as raising the temperature too quickly will cause death.
Breeding Bettas is something you must read on, and go by the rule.  You must never leave a female in with a male.  
You must have at least a five gallon tank ready, and you then put your male, and female in this tank together at the same time.  You must provide lots of hiding places for the female.  If all goes well, the betta will blow his nest.  She will go to him, but if he isn't ready, he will chase her away with intent to kill, so you must watch them during the spawn.  Once his nest is ready, he will give her a sign, she then goes to him.  This can go on for 4 hours, sometimes less.  Once the spawn is over, you must quickly remove the female.  She will be weak, and maybe hurt from this experience.  You must then feed her very well to nurse her back to health.  Vary her diet.  Betta pellets, Betta flakes, Glassworms, Mealworms, Plankton flakes, Daphnia, and bloodworms.  The more your vary a Betta's diet, the healthier they will be.  Three days after the Betta has been with his fry, remove him or he will eat the fry.  The only food you can feed the fry is mealworms once they are free swimming, and water changes every day should be made thereafter.  You must order mealworms well in advance to be sure that you have food for your fry.
They are very very small, too small to eat baby brine shrimp, or any other food.
The female is ready to have fry when you see a little white tube near her anal fin.  Make sure she is pregnant, and ready.
Never leave them to spawn on their own.  Watch them!
I hope this helps.
Lynda