OMG convict bliss!!

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latazyo

Grisled
Sep 17, 2002
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so, my suspiciously acting convicts now have about 65 babies

my question is this

please help ASAP

do I need to remove the male, will he eat them?

also

they hatched today

how long before they are big enough to recognize as actual fish

and when and what do I need to feed them

and how many do you think I"ll have at the end?

please help ASAP about removing the male

thanks again for everything

Leighton

this is a VERY happy day for me
 

latazyo

Grisled
Sep 17, 2002
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thanks for replying, 23 views only one reply, THANKS

I'm pumped, my favorite fish bred
 

Anton Wernher

AC Members
Feb 24, 2002
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Congrats, observing the breeding and fry care of cichlids is really my favorite part of this hobby. You will really start enjoying your tank now:). The care of the eggs/fry is done by both parents. As said above father poses no more a threat then the mother. However being that this is their first spawn, one of the parents may decided the eggs are better off as lunch. It might take a couple of spawns for them to get it right( parents that are several times removed from the wild seem most prone to this ). The fry should become free-swimming about a week after hatching. The parents will probably continue to care for the fry for a month to so after. Once they spawn again the earlier clutch will then be considered a threat and delt with accordingly. You probably have a small number of eggs this time around, as they get a couple more attempts under their belt you will see larger numbers. Good luck and enjoy.
 

latazyo

Grisled
Sep 17, 2002
387
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but see, the eggs already hatched and they are wriggling around

lst night I could see like 65 of them, today I only see about 15 of them, perhaps the others are in the cave

last night the mother kept grabbing them and moving them on top of their cave

then she changed her mind and moved them inside

I hope that all of the wrigglers survive, this is outstanding


Anton- you said that they'd care for them for a month...

I just bought my 75g and I was planning on moving them into it, should I wait until their done caring for the young, or could I move them all over to the bigger tank or should I just hold off on that?
 

Anton Wernher

AC Members
Feb 24, 2002
181
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Care time varies from fish to fish but my experiance has been 2 weeks - 1 month - favoring the longer end of the scale. You can go ahead and move the parents (assuming it is cycled right:) ) to the new tank. I would leave the fry where they are(if there isn't any other fish in the tank).
 

latazyo

Grisled
Sep 17, 2002
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the only other fish in the tank is a 2" common pleco, but he can move to the 75g with the other fish

and I haven't really started teh cycle over there yet, all I have in there is a plate of gravel from an already established tank, but no fish yet, because I haven't had time to get down to the store this week

I would put the biowheel of my other tanks in there, but I had a bout with ich a few weeks ago and don't want to contaminate the new water, so I think I can just wait

they'll be very happy to be in their new home
 

Molino

Alien or ugly Fish?
Oct 1, 2002
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Alberta, Canada
members.shaw.ca
As already mentionned it depends a lot on the fish. The first batch my convicts had has survived only because I moved the parents from the 10g to a 33g, seperating them from the fry. Since then they've had 2 other batches of fry, both of which have been eaten after hatching.

One thing I noticed with mine is that initially when the eggs hatched both parents cared for them, then the male turned on the female and took up the job of guarding the fry. I had to add more hiding spots for the female at this point as she was very stressed. Shortly afterwards the fry were eaten (not sure by which parent).

As for how long it takes for the fry to start looking like fish here is a pic of some fry about 1.5 months old:

There are starting to look like fish but are still very small. I have heard that they will grow faster if left with the parents.
 

FishmasteR2002

Pescatore Napoletano
Dec 2, 2002
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CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! :D

I just bought a small convict myself and I love him. I hope to breed him when I get more room for tanks. Good Luck with the fry. :)
 

latazyo

Grisled
Sep 17, 2002
387
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0
alright, well, I haven't decided what to do about removing the parents yet...

if the parents eat this batch, will they eventually learn and become good parents?

also

what do you feed the fry?
 
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