This is a question that just came up - Convicts Breeding!

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Redearsunfish

Redearsunfish

Piranha
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Aug 6, 2009
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Why oh why do male convicts kill their mates? is there no way in a 20 gallon tank to keep a male and female together? In my experience, the male will invariably beat the living daylight out of the female, and not always during spawning. After the fry reach a certain age, he become convinced that the female is a threat to his young, and will kill said female. Or he will eat the fry and try and force the female to spawn again, even if she is not ready. this will result in a battered or dead female - unless the tank has at least a 36 inch footprint and has lots and lots and lots of hiding places for her. this has been my experience.

Any thoughts?
 
I know that most cichlids don't stay together past a certain point, i.e. the male or female will simply up and leave at some point and hook up with another partner somewhere up or down river, so im thinking that this is the issue, male and female forced by the artificial confines of the aquarium to be together, and one or the other (usually the male) will see the female as a threat and eliminate her from the equation, until he decides he wants to breed again, then eats the young, or decides to breed again right away and forces the female into a breeding dance she is not ready for.
 
It's because the male's gonna do her again, and the female isn't ready yet... and with that domestic violence occurs. That's why most of the times I do have a spare girl for the male, I keep it in another tank for her not to be bullied by the paired up partner. Also if you would add some zebra danios within the tank before the certain age comes kicking in, preferably 4, it will act as a dither and prolong the relationship of the pair, but still, convicts are convicts... you can't never tell all is certain. The only certain thing is that they spawn like rabbits.
 
Another would be instincts, in order to produce strong fighting bloodlines the male ensures that the female has a good fight to give, it gives them the impression that if the genetic of the father and mother has the 'bragging rights line', the kids has a lot of chance of survival to fight off their problems.
 
E.C. said:
It's because the male's gonna do her again, and the female isn't ready yet... and with that domestic violence occurs. That's why most of the times I do have a spare girl for the male, I keep it in another tank for her not to be bullied by the paired up partner. Also if you would add some zebra danios within the tank before the certain age comes kicking in, preferably 4, it will act as a dither and prolong the relationship of the pair, but still, convicts are convicts... you can't never tell all is certain. The only certain thing is that they spawn like rabbits.
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Very true. But this is where the whole experience falls down for me. How cool would it be for cichlids like convicts to be good parents AND good spouses? Can you imagine the joy of keeping fish like that?
 
E.C. said:
Another would be instincts, in order to produce strong fighting bloodlines the male ensures that the female has a good fight to give, it gives them the impression that if the genetic of the father and mother has the 'bragging rights line', the kids has a lot of chance of survival to fight off their problems.
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I see it more as the male either A - chasing the female away from his brood, and B - the male wanting to breeding and becoming increasingly enraged with every moment the female wont comply.
 
Redearsunfish said:
Very true. But this is where the whole experience falls down for me. How cool would it be for cichlids like convicts to be good parents AND good spouses? Can you imagine the joy of keeping fish like that?
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Yep, I consider them as the neat and clean looking cichlid, they're only good at reproducing and harassing themselves, and everyone in the tank, if it has tankmates.

Redearsunfish said:
I see it more as the male either A - chasing the female away from his brood, and B - the male wanting to breeding and becoming increasingly enraged with every moment the female wont comply.
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Most of the times yes, given they're all cramped within the breeding tanks... But you'll observe it with 4 Convicts, 1 male 3 female. I've tried it within my spare 135g. I installed a divider whenever the girls can't handle my midget super aggresive male... All he do is mate and mate and mate, he never grew because of it, he's stuck with 4-5" size.
 
E.C. said:
Yep, I consider them as the neat and clean looking cichlid, they're only good at reproducing and harassing themselves, and everyone in the tank, if it has tankmates.



Most of the times yes, given they're all cramped within the breeding tanks... But you'll observe it with 4 Convicts, 1 male 3 female. I've tried it within my spare 135g. I installed a divider whenever the girls can't handle my midget super aggresive male... All he do is mate and mate and mate, he never grew because of it, he's stuck with 4-5" size.
Click to expand...

An excellent point, if you want a big fish, don't let it waste its energy on breeding.
 
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