pregnant or dying?

[prerunnedyota]

my female convict for the last few days has been hiding in a cave and only comes out sometimes to eat shes never done this before and when ever any one comes by the cave she chases them awayi lifted up one of the rocks and didnt see any eggs but i havent checked in the last 2 days i dotn want to disturbe the eggs if there are any but i also had a psot a few days ago about something liek this white little bulge coming out of her butt and i posted a pic and they werent sure but said it might be a parasite so i dont know wats goind on thnx

p.s. i know this isnt relative to this post or thread but jw if any u know how big thai devil crabs get just got one for one of my little tanks boy is he aggresiive gots the tank to himself accept for a feeder fish

[cichlidiot]

She is probably getting ready to or already has layed eggs. That white thing you oyu were refering to is her egg tube. If you have a male in the tank that is mature you will probably see fry in a few days.

[prerunnedyota]

well thats good to hear thats what i got them for well thnx for the help better go get a tank divider or breeder net soon now

[cichlidiot]

What else is in the tank with them? If they are the only thing there, you shouldn't need adivider or net. Convicts are very good parents and will not usually eat their young.

[NatakuTseng]

Well, you didn't mention a male convict, there has to be a male to have fry. If you only have one convict in there she may very well have laid eggs, but there will not be fry if you don't have a male in there, or another suitable father, such as another type of cichlid. There is no need for the breeder net or anything like that, in fact I'd reccomend doing nothing. Convicts are very good parents, Puma and I have a pair who spawned in our CA tank with a Jaguar in there, and the Jag won't go near them. Frankly put though if you do end up with fry, you most likely won't be able to give them away. You'd be better off removing most the fry, leave maybe 10, and use the ones you took out as feeders. This is of course if you do have fry.

[prerunnedyota]

Ya i have a mature male convict around 3 or 4 inches and there a jack dempsey in there that loves his meat so thats the only fish im worried about eating the fry so should i use the net still?

[cichlidiot]

How big is the dempsey. If it's not too huge it should be ok. Cons are very protective parents and will defend their fry nearly to the death.

[prerunnedyota]

2inches maybe a little bigger

[prerunnedyota]

i was just wondering if the female convict can lay eggs but the male wont fertalize them because my female is in the cave all the time looks like she has dug some rocks out but the male isnt in their that much and thats the only fish she doesnt chase away so im not sure wat to think

[prerunnedyota]

Ok i havent seen any fry yet and i cant tell if theres eggs becayse its in a place where i cant see if they are their but shes just been diggin the cane deeper and deeper wat does this mean