Been done before but...

[Keeper of Chunga]

I went out and bought a pair of convicts.
Cycling a 29 gallon for them but now housed in a 75g with an oscar and a small firemouth.

These things live up to their reputation. They paired off within 24 hours and are now guarding a small, hollowed out hole in a synthetic stump. The firemouth, usually very intolerant of other fish, is actually kept at bay by the both of them (I set up a temporary patch of cover for them in the corner of the 75 that they guard fiercely). There is occasional contact, but no injuries and I have to admit it it pretty cool to watch them posture and flare their fins against each other (both the male con and the firemouth are roughly the same size - about 3"). More work though, flushing 80% of the water out weekly in 2 water changes, but still worth it for the show.

As soon as the 29 g is cycled the cons will have that all to themselves, but in the meantime it is pretty cool to watch the interaction in the tank. I wanted to breed the cons for oscar food since I have tried some neons as feeders and my oscar has really enjoyed that experiment...so I figured the occasional convict fry for free (and already known health status) would work even better.

 

[PoopSmart]

Good luck, convict feeders never end well though. Convicts are faster and smarter than goldfish or minnows. They will survive and thrive and eventually possibly injure your oscar.

If you truly want to feed them I would somehow impair them so that they do not get teh chance to hide and grow to non feeder size.

Or maybe hold them in the water until your oscar gets near and make sure he eats them. I wouldn't recommend it though.

 

[Gourami Swami]

I breed cons in one of my 20g's and after the fry get .5", put em in a 5g untill they get to 1", then they are cichlid food

 

[Keeper of Chunga]

As far as the convict fry not being eaten due to hiding out in the 75g - got it covered. The firemouth that is also housed in the tank acts as the hound - the oscar the hunter. It just waits until the firemouth chases out the prey from the cover and then dinner commences.

I did not think of a separate grow out tank for the fry though...that is a good idea. I have an extra 10 gallon hex that could be used...

 

[klmt]

convicts are worth moree than feeder goldfish, so why not sell your cons to pet stores, and then buy goldies to QT, and then in a while, when your money has built up, But another tank! lol good luck.

 

[balton777]

convicts are worth moree than feeder goldfish, so why not sell your cons to pet stores, and then buy goldies to QT, and then in a while, when your money has built up, But another tank! lol good luck.

If I tried to sell convict fry to my lfs, they'd be like: :WTF:

They don't even want them for free!

 

[Keeper of Chunga]

If I tried to sell convict fry to my lfs, they'd be like: :WTF:

They don't even want them for free!

Yep. That about summed up my coversation as well.

 

[fsubulldogs]

my cons while they were in my 90g, would fend off my 6" JD, 3" JD, 4" FH, and my 2" FM, and the cons are about 1.5". all the babies ended up either getting sucked into the filter or became dinner. so this time i put the eggs in a 1g and they just hatched yesterday. it is fun to watch how the cons will defend thier fry against fish triple thier size. the con project is also for feeding purposes and are now in my 29g.

 

[Keeper of Chunga]

Glad to hear that there are others that have set the same thing up for convict breeding and fry for food supply.

I feed a variety of foods to the oscar that I have but have stayed away from feeders to keep aggression down and because all the feeders I have seen I would not put in my tank. Dirty things that I just could not put in my tank let alone feed it to the O. On top of the pellets, earthworms, and crickets that should be a nice balanced diet as long as I try to not overfeed. Moved to feeding only once a day now for the O since he is getting close to 10".

My 29g is still mid-cycle. Stole one of the danios from the 75 to help speed-cycle it. I figure about one more week and it will be ready for the con's. Danio will head back to the 75g to live out the rest of his already incredibly long life -one of two giant danios that I bought in the summer of 2002 and they are still going strong (and have helped cycle many tanks since I bought them for .99 cents).

Saw a big change in the O since he got his first live feeding though - he is acting like a predator now. Much more active in investigating things and very quick to check out fast movement within the tank. It has always acted like crickets were crack, but now is starting to refuse pellets and wait for the crickets or live feeders. As longs as it remains peaceful with the firemouth is what I am hoping. Actually as I said earlier the FM acts as the hound for the oscar since it chases the feeders out of the cover I have in the tank for the FM - right into the mouth of the O.