Need HELP with Convict babies

[JRON85]

Ok. I have a 90 gallon stocked with 4 Convicts, a Black Belt, a J D, and a Green Terror. They are all still small, (the Black Belt dwarfs them all coming in at 5 inches and the convicts being the smallest around 2-3 inches). I've had the setup with these fish since June peacefully, and my original plan was for it to last about 6 months then I knew I would have to do something drastic. But today to my surprise (not really), 2 of my convicts just mated and have tiny little babies. Now I've dealt with babies b4 but never with more than the parents in the tank.

These Cons are guarding the holy hell out of these babies, and i want to do something fast before they commit murder. So what should I do? I have a 10 gallon at my disposal. Should I take the babies and put them in the 10 w/ or w/o parents? Is it even possible to keep the parents in the community any longer?

 

[hurdledude1298]

i have some convicts who just had babies with other fish in the tank (convicts being the largest with the male at about 5 in) and they chase the other fish around but go back to their "nest" before actually getting the other fish. they should be fine

 

[RISK2123]

i would DEFINATELY take out the fry. bieng u have a pretty big tank u may not witness any killing but they definately will try. when convicts are protecting their territory the female stays by the nest while the male patrols a larger area. but if they come upon an intruder in their territory they will team up against them and it wont be good. if u dont seperate the fry they most likely wont make it anyways. the convicts cant gaurd them every second and another fish will swoop them up for a quick meal at the first chance they get. if u dont want any more convicts just leave the fry in the tank. but if u want to keep em i would stick them in the 10 gallon. my convicts just bred also and i put half of the fry in another tank and the other half is still with the parents (convict only tank). both are doing fine so far so having the parents isnt necessary. good luck with the little fellas!!

 

[sumthin fishy]

If you move them, keep the parents with them too. Id be more concerned with the cons killing your other fish than the fish eating the babies. Con parrents are ruthless. Part of thier alure is their parrenting abailities, I have seen a male con kill fish twice his size defending his brood. Id be more concerned with the cons killing your other fish than the fish eating the babies. Con parrents are ruthless.

 

[fanch313]

I keep my breeding pair of convicts with a firemouth, silverdollar and JV pair of Jacks. I do this for population control of my convicts since we can't seem to part with either the male or female. I know it might sound heartless, but with past fry batches I've tried selling or trading them to stores (worked once) given them away through the papers, craig's list, word of mouth, everything I could think of and still got stuck with a 29g FULL of fry in all different stages. So now the fry are cheap feeder food for the other tank mates.

As for aggression...the male convict will gaurd the cave where the female had the fry and about a quarter of the tank (they're in a 55g) for the first 10 days or so ruthlessly, but with no injury to the other fish. The other fish stay on "their side" and learn not to bother the male. After this period, the convicts are a little calmer about the tank and guard only the cave occassionally scooping up wandering fry. At about three weeks the female no longer is secluded in the cave (as she will soon show signs of spawning) and the tank is back to normal.

During the cycle the fry will go from the Hundreds of wigglers (day 1-4) and dwindle throughout the weeks until the male and female convicts themselves kick the fry out of the cave to clean the slate in preparation of the new eggs they are just about to plaster their abode with. I never see the fry being eaten...I believe this happens mostly at night when the other fish can sneek close to the cave, but I have no way to know for sure. All I know is that this population contol system has saved me from a million headaches of 10g tanks everywhere, begging people to take fish, and crowding JV convicts into the 29g where they themselves will chase and hunt down smaller siblings. This way I can enjoy my convicts and tank mates with little to no hastle.

 

[fanch313]

P.S. If you do want to separate the fry I would wait until at least 10 days. Net as many out as you can. This will be hard and is usually more trama than it's worth as the fry will literally bury themselves in substrate to avoid being netted (I have tried syphoning them out but at this stage they can swim very well) and I usually have to take all decor out of the tank. Put them into the 10g. feeding them either freshly hatched brine shrimp, Hikari's first bites, or finely ground flake food. (you might want to soak the last two until the fry look to the surface for food) Before 10 days the fry NEED their parents. I have had very little sucess with fry without them.
Good Luck!