how to breed convicts

[MrGrayMySkipper]

the pink convict i have is a female and the male is a jelly bean convict will they breed the male is smaller than the female so the female dosnt seem to like him that much does the male need to be larger give me all the advice you have. the female was in there first do i need to switch up the environment

[excuzzzeme]

Stick a male with a female and let nature take it's course and when they are old enough to spawn it may happen. It she doesn't show orange on her, either she isn't a she, or she isn't old enough to spawn. Even as a juvie she should have orange on her lower half. The orange will become prominent when she is ready.

[MrGrayMySkipper]

ya she has orange on her but she is beating up the male

[BettaFishMommy]

i would always move decor around when adding fish to another fish's territory, especially if that other fish is the only fish in the tank.

i once heard 'convicts are the guppies of the cichlid world, give 'em a tank, they'll breed". lol.

[SubRosa]

Ship them to a fellow aquarist. They'll breed in the bag on the way!

[bgcoop8784]

lol, i couldn't make mine stop breeding, doing a massive water change will often induce breeding.

[petluvr]

A wise man once said about breeding cons "Add fish and water". Mine however I have had for months, they are all breeding age and I have yet to see a single egg. I just set them up in a new tank so I may be eating crow soon :)

[snoopy65]

I have gotten eggs and wigglers but then they eat them. So who knows!

[camothebeast]

i had a male and female the female was older...they dug out a cave but not babies...added a small female breed straight away...

[petluvr]

I have gotten eggs and wigglers but then they eat them. So who knows!
Those two still haven't gotten it right?

[snoopy65]

Nope, they take care of them until they wiggle and then eat them. Maybe I need to put in something that they have to defend their brood from.

[petluvr]

Nope, they take care of them until they wiggle and then eat them. Maybe I need to put in something that they have to defend their brood from.
Need another convict :D

[camothebeast]

when my convicts had the babies the female defended them pretty well the male didint seem to be intrested..they lasted a while but each night when i turned out the light the next morning there was less till there was none..neva figured out if it was the parents or the other boys

[zpromoter]

Maybe the female is less interested in the male due basically to his size. He is less mature and females look for this in males. I have the other situation happening right now. I added my smaller female convict into my large male convict's tank just three days ago and poof I see eggs this morning! My male seemed to not be interested at all in her at first but she persisted on chasing him around. Males must not care as much... I will say that he has remained dominant black strips through this ordeal. He never flushed his light colors in attempt to lure a female. Further pointing to the fact that the females are attracted to dominant males. For the first time they met, I pulled my male out of his tank, did a complete rearrange of things and added her in the tank and let her get used to it for about an hour and then released him back into the tank. He was not aggressive at all due to the fact he thought it was a different tank.


Size difference:

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m318/maddogs2004/DSC00689.jpg

Look to the left of her on the driftwood. The little bumps are the eggs, I can only see so many of them.

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m318/maddogs2004/DSC00694.jpg

Camping out front of the eggs

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m318/maddogs2004/DSC00691.jpg

[livebearerfreak]

wow nice male!! how big is he?

[zpromoter]

Right now I would say he is about 4.5"-5" roughly.