Blue Acara tropical fish - Breeding and General information please (Preferably own experiences)

Im thinking about getting 1 male and 1 female blue acara and try to breed them. Some websites say it is quite easy - they lay eggs on a "Pre-cleaned" stone/rock (What does pre-cleaned mean??) I have a 3 foot 28 gallon(?) tank would that be ok? Are blue acaras ok with other fish like guppys or even clown loaches? so some information please! :-)

Acara's are very nice fish, and not terribly aggressive for cichlids, but - they do reach a respectable size and a 28 gallon tank will be rather confining in the long term - though you can start with it you should have plans of upgrading in the future. To keep them with additional tankmates you most certainly need to provide a larger tank.

For tankmates: A breeding pair need a species tank - they become defensive when they have a brood to protect and will pick away at any smaller fish, and do their best to deter larger. If you want to just enjoy the fish and not worry about breeding then you can make a nice community tank around the Acara pair - the important part is including an egg preditor in the tank so that the brood can't hatch. To do this you still need that larger tank.

(They are very easy to breed, which is why it's sometimes best just to enjoy keeping them and not bother with breeding, and don't forget you will need more tanks if you want to grow the fry out to a sellable size)

To keep your acaras peacefully you need to have a mated breeding pair. If you are lucky you might find a pair of adults for sale, but more often you need to start with a few juvenile specimens and let a pair form from them as they mature - then the rest would be removed. Just randomly buying a male and female could result in fighting and certainly doesn't guarantee compatibility.