Breeding Convicts

Sonjamo

Sonjamo

AC Members
Jun 11, 2007
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I've been told and read that breeding convicts is as easy as adding a female and male to the tank (which by the way i have done). The male is 4" and the female about 3". They are alone in a 40 gal. So far nothing.. I know the female can lay eggs because she's been laying them for about a year (in another tank) and the male can definitely fertilize because i have his fry from a previous spawning with a different female.

Can I get some suggestions on how I can encourage them to breed?

Also, What is the perfect temperature range for them when they are breeding and when they are not. I've read they should be in temp between 68 and 76 and others say 78 to 85. Its all so confusing :S
 
My cons have bred 3 batches since i've joined this forum. I keep them at temp 78 deg F.

Do they have caves and/or pots that they can hide their eggs in? How about large stones? those help too sometimes they dig behind them and that's where they'll deposit the eggs.

Sometimes it's a matter of mates. They seem to pair off monogamously for life starting at a young age. I had a pair of cons prior to this one and the female died. No matter what female i tried to introduce him to, he wouldn't spawn with her. Sometimes you'll just have to get a pair of them already. It's hard to make them create a new bond when they already had one in the beginning. Basically i don't know how you could make the male recreate a bond that it used to have with another female because they usually start developing it while juveniles.

Maybe you could get a few more females and see if it will pair of with any of them. But do this at your own risk. They are aggressive afterall.
 
Convicts really are some of the easiest fish to breed. I think there is a saying that they will breed in the bag on the way home from the fish store.

I'm still on my first pair of cons and they are on their 3rd batch of fry. They bred and layed eggs within a week after I got them. I keep the tank temperature at 80˚F. They are cave breeders so have plenty of rockwork and flowerpots for them to choose from. That pretty much worked for me! A 40 gallon is more then enough room for a pair of convicts to breed in. Good luck!
 
I think my cons are the exception to the mates for life rule. I have 4 cons and the alpha pair have had 2 batches of fry and the alpha male and sub alpha female have mated and have one batch of fry. My sub alpha male just swims with my firemouths at the top of the tank. I keep my temp around 80 and I have a plant pot and lots of rocks so they can hide there eggs.
 
I feed my convict fry to my Jaguar Cichlid, Oscar, Florida Gar, Jack Dempsey and Loisellie. And a few to my Musk Turtle. I'm always willing to give them away to people who want any.
 
Try uping the tank temp to 78*, everyday empty out 5% water(DO NOT REPLACE THE WATER) til the tank is down to about 70% full, then add in the 30%, what this simulates is a dry to rain season. In the wild the rainy season in central america stimulates spawning in fish. Make sure you have caves, and add in a couple big rocks next to the caves, some fish when spawning like to dig pits in the gravel, and clean off the side of big rocks. Convicts are known to love to spawn in caves, every pair of Cons that I have ever had have spawned in a cave with big rocks next to it.
 
I've got a huge cave in there,a few pots at different angles, and few little decorations. The heater is positioned at 74 degrees but the tank temperature is about 81. My room has no air conditioning so it gets really warm in here.

They seem to like when the aquarium light is off. I watched them last night. Their light was off but i could still see them from the t.v light. The female seems to favor the smaller pot I have in there. She'd go in for a bit and the male is waiting outside covering the pot so no one can see inside. Then she comes out and he goes in and then its the same thing all over again.

She always had eggs in the other tank but when i transferred her to her current tank she didn't have any eggs in the other tank so I'm guessing she'll be laying a new batch soon. They seem to be preparing for spawning but I'm not 100% as it is my first time breeding cons (or any fish for that matter).

If they don't work out, I still have 6 fry that i am keeping so maybe I'll get a pair from there.
 
i have a male and 2 females. the male breeds with one for a while and stays w/ her till the fry have hatched and ar alive for about a week, then he breeds with the other one and does the same to her. the odd thing is that it changes very quickly. the one female that isn't breeding w/ him at the time will be outcast and picked on, and then vice versa when the other one happens. quite interesting to watch.
 
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