breeding convicts

[bek]

i think my convicts are ready to breed, any info would be helpful as i wouldnt have a clue about breeding fish.......please help!!
i'm not actually sure if they are male and female, i am just guessing by the way they are acting ....

 

[aquariaddictus]

I hope someone else will chime in here, but from what I've heard from my friends, Convicts are pretty prolific and will take care of everything on their own. You may very well soon end up with more fish than you need/want. I had a friend who was trying to dump his on anyone he could think of. Let nature take its course and see what happens. If the first breeding doesn't work, then we'll try to figure out why. How many convicts are in the tank? What size tank? What is the male:female ratio?

You may just be surprised with a whole batch of fry one day, with no help on your part. Keep their water conditions optimal, and they will do what comes naturally.
HTH
judy

 

[latazyo]

I have a breeding pair of cons...with a load of fry swimming around as we speak


here is what I can tell you, keep in mind, this is what I witnessed with my own eyes with MY PAIR of convicts...this may not apply to all

sexing: my male's dorsal fin extends PAST his tail, and is noticeable longer than the female's

the female has a pink/orange area on her tummy

behavior: my pair seemed to "flirt" a lot, they would chase each other around and often kind of rub against each other

environment: they need a cave or something of the like to lay eggs in

post hatch: I've been told by others to remove the male, some told me to remove both parents, some said to leave them in with the fry...due to not having any other room, I left BOTH parents in WITH the fry...so far so good...I have noticed the numbers thinning a little bit, but not bad...the fry are about 3 weeks old now and I'd say I still have 30-40% of the original brood left...the fry are growing well, they are feeding off of **** off the bottom because they are yet too small to swim to the top to feed


hope this helps

and I am glad you have cons...they're my favorite fish!

 

[shmeeb001]

leave the male in. the female will protect the fry, and the male will patrol the general area. convicts breed pretty easy, my convicts just bred, i wasn't trying to get them to, in fact one is a regular convict, while the male is a sajica t-bar convict. should make for intresting fish if the fry can tough it out. one thing you may want to do is raise your water temp a couple of degrees, some fish are happiers breeding when its warmer. also it speeds up the hatching cycle.

latazyo: what are you feeding your fry? i check around but nobody here sells microworms, i'm giving them bloodworms right now, but i'm not sure if they're big enough to eat them.

 

[shmeeb001]

about the temp, i probably don't need to mention this, but don't bring the temp past 82.

 

[AikidoGuy]

Idiots Guide to breeding Convict Cichlids:

1. Get male and place in any container that can hold liquid
2. Get female and place in same container
3. add liquid of your choice to container (water works very well)
4. feed at least once daily
5. remove fry after a few weeks.

HAHAHA of course im only kidding, but it is pretty much that easy.


the female will have orange coloring on her belly and maybe even most of her body in some cases. This coloring will be absent in the male. I wouldnt go by fin condition cause my female has very long trailing fins as does my male. the coloring is the best way to go. The temp as long as its anywhere in the 75-80degree range it will work just fine. decorate the tank however you wish (1 rock, or 100 rocks wont matter to the fish, they will breed on your hand if you leave it in the tank long enough.) If you have a male and female its pretty much just a matter of a few days that they will pair up. So when they do and you have eggs i have noticed everytime i breed a juvi pair they eat the eggs or fry the first 1 or 2 times. After that they will figure out what they did wrong and get it right. No need to remove either parentwhile they are only a few weeks old But, after a month or two the fry will become free game and both parnets will pick them off as they prepare to breed again so then it will be ness. to remove the fry or the parents. I opt to remove the fry as soon as i see them free swimming by sucking them out with my gravel siphon. Then sure enough 2 weeks never fail i will have more fry to suck out. My lfs is good at taking in my convict fry as long as i dont bring in 100. most i end up feeding to my other fish when they are about 1/2" and ill give the lfs a dozen or so.

 

[latazyo]

Originally posted by shmeeb001
latazyo: what are you feeding your fry? i check around but nobody here sells microworms, i'm giving them bloodworms right now, but i'm not sure if they're big enough to eat them.

nothing

I"m letting them graze on teh bottom of the tank and they seem to be doing just fine...they don't swim to the surface or anything, every other day I drop an algae wafer in the tank and try to aim for their "swarm" it disappears so I'm thinking they are eating it...