well i was very busy last night. when my cons spawned, the guy at my lfs was interested in some so I decided to go ahead and try to raise some to marketable size. They have been free-swimming for a few weeks now, but the other day a dispute between the parents led to the male chasing the female away. it was ok because she had plenty of places to hide, but I was worrying about her so yesterday I made a divider out of an old dish strainer mat and seperated the parents. unfortunately, the fry could get around my improvised divider. later i noticed that as the fry came on to her side, she would viciously chase and eat them. by the time I noticed, the school of over 70 fry was down to about 30(oops :duh: ). I had no idea that she would eat them. I had a ten gallon running in the other room so I raced to move a 5gal guppy tank(due to limited electrical outlets), then I had to move a 10g under the 25g, fill it up and re-set up all the filter/lighting/heating stuff. then i let it run for as long as I dared and added some stuff for her to hide in. then I had to catch her. after thuroughly terrorizing her, I managed to move her into the 10g. then I did a quick water change in the 25g and took out the divider. about 25 fry left at this point, but they are all doing fine. I dont care all that much, but it just frustrated me because it was all going perfect up to that point. today the female is timid, but comes out to eat when I back away from the tank. shes a little scraped up, but otherwise shes fine and digging like crazy for food. I guess I learned something from this, and I guess its better that I learn it with convicts than something I care a little more about. also, the fry seem to be growing much slower than I expected. they have been free swimming for a few weeks, but they are still quite small(some are getting a little color, though.)
convicts
- Thread starter nmrsco
- Start date
Is this your first batch of fry from this pair? Sometimes it just takes a little bit for them to get situated. My pair layed eggs, then ate them. Next they raised babies just fine, but ate a few here and there. They grew to about a 1/2 inch and I removed them.
Then they hatched another batch of fry, they lived for a week and then the female freaked out on the male, chased him away and ate all the babies!
Then 2 weeks later they hatched another batch and I have them right now at 6 weeks old.
Sometimes the size of the pair matters. I started with a 1 1/2" male and a 2" female. The female could handle herself with the male. But at the moment the tables have turned because my male is now bigger than the female. I waiting to see what will happen. Never a dull moment!
Then they hatched another batch of fry, they lived for a week and then the female freaked out on the male, chased him away and ate all the babies!
Then 2 weeks later they hatched another batch and I have them right now at 6 weeks old.
Sometimes the size of the pair matters. I started with a 1 1/2" male and a 2" female. The female could handle herself with the male. But at the moment the tables have turned because my male is now bigger than the female. I waiting to see what will happen. Never a dull moment!
all the fish are doing fine now. the female seems content with her temporary home and has allready rearranged all the gravel. the remaining babies are doing great and eating, and the dad is even better a parent than ever. I cant get pictures right now if you were asking me. I dont do gravel vacumes
very often because I'm afraid of sucking up the babies and because the dad attacks my hands. and yes, it was their first batch of fry. all the fish are ok now, so im content. when should I put the female back with the male? I assume it would be after I take the fry out (of course) thanks for the input
nick
very often because I'm afraid of sucking up the babies and because the dad attacks my hands. and yes, it was their first batch of fry. all the fish are ok now, so im content. when should I put the female back with the male? I assume it would be after I take the fry out (of course) thanks for the input
nick
To help curb aggression between the pair I have a target fish in the tank. It is a Striped Anostomus who is very fast and impossible for my convict pair to catch. If a pair has to guard the fry from something else, they take their aggression out on the target fish and not each other. It works for me, you might want to give it a try so you don't have to keep the pair seperated.
Here's my Convict pair with young. The male is starting to darken up so I know he's in breeding mode. He's also starting to develope a hump on his head.
how big is your tank? I dont think my 25 gal is big enough for anything more than a single con pair. I know its a small tank for them, but its the largest tank possible for me. is their any more common fish I could use as a target/dither? my LFS has a very limited choice of fish. in fact, my cons were the first cons I ever saw at that store. thanks again for the help
mine too. mine have been free swimming about a month and only a TINY bit of growth that i can notice thus far, they're doing fine though. food type helps it seems. i just feed mine powdered flakes and powdered bloodworm. i got my male when he was the size of a grain of rice, all he gew up on was powdered dry bloodworm and flakes.