Convict Sexing

[gsk177]

OK, I keep hearing everything on how to sex these little rascals and I keep following advice, but I still can't get a pair to breed.

I currently have 3. One is about 2 inches long with a gorgeous red belly and blue highlights on the top and bottom fins.
One is about an inch long and has no color other than the grey with black stripes. A friend of mine brought over one of his today and put it in my tank. It is one inch and has a red belly.
The best I can tell, all of them have the same type of fins. Meaning they are all the same length and shape. There does not seem to be any difference amongst them in the shaping of the anal or dorsal fins.
Prior to these, I had two, one with red belly, one without, and they seemed to fight alot. I got rid of one and got the smaller one without any red. They seem to hang out alot but do occasionally peck and chase one another. WHen I added the other today, the smaller of my original ones became ENRAGED. He or she puffed up its gills and chased him around. The enragedness seems to have died off a little.

Based on these observations, does it seem likely that I HAD the original pair properly sexed?
And why is it that I cant seem to get these to breed. They are in a 55 that some may call a little overcrowded. Temp is around 74 to 78 depending on the time of day, and they get a varied diet of worms brine flake and feeders.

 

[ChEeRs_BiG_EaRs]

ok, firstly, u have to do ur research , but since ive bred these little blighters o so many times ill help you out.
ok, the ones with the red bellies and blue fins are females, the red belly is the way to tell. Any cons wivout the red belly are males.
ive only ever bred these guys in pairs, as with a three ive had other experiences with the others eating the fry.
ok place a few pots in the aquarium upright. i used to put a few old plant pots with gravel in the bottom to stop them from floating to the surface. i also had some longer tubular pots that i lay on the gravel. they always bred in the upright plant pots, but this is probably becuase the pots were upright.
ph should be jsut ablove neutral, so slightly alkaline. jsut throw a few java ferns into the gravel, and give them some rock caves to hide in, espicially if yours are as timid as mine were.
after this they should breed.
if they dont, try putting some gambusia into the tank for them to chase down and kill for entertainment, this generally helped to get mine sparked.
feed them plenty of live food, ie brind shrimp, etc. frozen bloodworms go down well, and with flakes and pellets... a nice varied diet... they can almost definately come through for you.
hope this helps
BiG EaRs
by the way, tank size is fine, i bred mine in a 40g, so ur kewl wiv that
good luk

 

[kevinn2003]

maybe you have 3 females and one just hasnt matured yet, or you have a male that hasnt matured yet and thats why there not breeding, your orignal pair was problably a male/female my male chases my 3 females constantly but no harm done. i just feed them and they breed