Convict 'misfires'

[Rocketman]

I have a pair of convicts breeding in a 20H. I know this technically isn't large enough for them, but there are 4 plants, PVC, a rock, a skull, slate...you get the point. The convicts have bred 4 times, yet each hatching was eaten except for the first, (of which I still only salvaged 4 from.) I suspect the male is behind it, he has killed his previous mate, (I got him from work; he actually had kids with another convict in the display tank.) The female spends most of her time hiding in the skull where the male cant get to her, although they seem to get along fine. Any ideas? Also, (it's been a few years since my "Punnent Squares" in Biology, what would be the genetic consequences of pairing the female with some of her offspring, which where born 9-11-03 and seem about full grown.

[caz]

i think it would be fine to breed the mother with its offspring. is it the mothers first few times laying eggs? sometimes it takes them a few times to be good parents. i had a pair in a 75 gal, they ate a the offspring the first few times, then eventualy they became good parents, really run to watch, they would keep the offspring in a big cloud, if there were any stragglers, one of the parents would pick them up in their mouth, and spit them out with the rest. wicked cool :)

[ScottoMacD]

What I have found from my breeding pairs of convicts. ( I use the fry for feeders) Is that the two easiest ways to keep your fry and increase your fry yield (for lack of a better term) is to
1) remove the nest after it had been fertilized and place it into another tank for hatching.

2) remove the fry 3 days after free swimming. This is usually the time when the pair will start to prepare another nest and then see the fry as competition. Siphoning the fry out and placing them in another tank will great increase the survival rate.

Keeping a place that the female can escape to when she is not ready to breed when the male is. Is a good idea. He will kill her if he can get to her.

I currently use egg crate as a divider with holes cut into it just big enough for her but small enough that he can't get to her.

This works great with my blue jd's and my regualr jd's as well as my convicts.


The females will come out when they are ready. Then go back when they aren't. No harm done.

[Rocketman]

Alright, Scott, I assume you mean I can do either of those? I planned on using the fry as feeders but I can feed 4 to my fish...it isn't worth it for the pain I've taken to keep them alive. When do you feed your fry to your fish? How many weeks?

Also, to Caz, this would be the female's first partner. I don't think it's her that's doing the eating, although I'm not sure why I think that.

Maybe I should remove the fry earlier, (say 2 weeks,) just to be on the safe side anyway. It's possible that the parents see the growing fry as a threat to their own lives as they eat more and more, isn't it? Sometimes I'm not home for 4 or 5 days at I time, during which my mom feeds the fish, and this seems to be the times the fry disappear. Is it possible that she isn't feeding them enough, which would cause them to eat the fry?

[Tightdog1]

a few days after they are free swimming siphon out about half to fry and place them into a bare bottom tank. if you take out all the fry then the male has a tendancy to kill the female for not taking care of the fry.

[Rocketman]

Alright they just had babies again. And once again I wasn't home for it. What if I just took the male out and left the female in with the fry, then just reunited them later? I have a 10G tank thats emtpy but cycled.

[Rocketman]

I'm usually not gone for more than 4 or 5 days. All she has to do is feed them, she never cleans it or anything.

The fry are gone again.

[Rocketman]

My bad, the fry are fine. My bad. It's been about a week now, and I've watched them in a few 20 minute periods to get as much out of it as I can. The only aggression I see is when the male sometimes randomly charges something, (i.e. the ground) with really no reason. Still, no ideas on whether I can move just the male out?

[Tightdog1]

yea take them out to get the highest yield, i would say to leave some in the tank to the male doesnt get mad at the female, as ive seen happen.

[Rocketman]

The convicts are in a 20G High by themselves.