also; im not sure which parrot is the female so that complicates things. how long would these six fish last in my sixty gallon before they out grow it? im just hoping this setup will work for some time..
breeding convicts
- Thread starter exoticaquaria
- Start date
I have heard of convicts breeding as small as 1.5" so they could breed at anytime. Lots of rocks like you have will better help seperate the parrots from the convicts because they will get very territorial when they are breed even at suck a small size.
Assuming you move the common pleco (too big a fish for such a tank) and the fish aren't trying to kill one another you should be fine stock wise just don't add anymore.
By removing the Pleco you've saved yourself a lot of hassle in waste & filtration. I recommend re/homing the pleco asap unless you really want to keep him. But if it's just a common pleco he will outgrow both tanks you've mentioned very quickly. If you want to keep them all in a community tank like you have now, it's fine. But your chances on pairing one of the convicts with the your parrot are even lower by keeping the female convict in the same tank. 
Now if all you want is a spawn & not worry about the pairing.... (SURE) keep them all in the same tank. I'm sure your convicts will pair up & spawn in no time.
If you're truly looking to pair one of the convicts with the parrot I suggest keeping the Female Parrot & the two male convicts in one tank. This doesn't mean that it will be successful, but your chances on pairing them is better this way.
I'm not really sure what you're after here, but if you want to breed convicts, you don't need anything more than one male/female for success. You can take your Pleco to your LFS & trade him in for credit & get another pair of Convicts. They don't have to be breeding size/age, they can be young like the ones you have now. This way you can keep a pair of male convicts with the female parrot in one tank & the new pair with the male parrots in another tank.
Good Luck either way you go
Jill
Now if all you want is a spawn & not worry about the pairing.... (SURE) keep them all in the same tank. I'm sure your convicts will pair up & spawn in no time.
If you're truly looking to pair one of the convicts with the parrot I suggest keeping the Female Parrot & the two male convicts in one tank. This doesn't mean that it will be successful, but your chances on pairing them is better this way.I'm not really sure what you're after here, but if you want to breed convicts, you don't need anything more than one male/female for success. You can take your Pleco to your LFS & trade him in for credit & get another pair of Convicts.
They don't have to be breeding size/age, they can be young like the ones you have now. This way you can keep a pair of male convicts with the female parrot in one tank & the new pair with the male parrots in another tank.Good Luck either way you go
Jill
thanks, but one last question; can I add any kind of cleaning crew at all to this tank to help out with un eaten food and such or is my tank just too small?
just saw your reply, we must have been posting at the same time. im not quite sure what im after either, for the past few years ive been an oddball guy. I had numerous arowanas, rays, gars and so on. I recently moved into an apartment and had to cut back on aquariums. I saw this sixty gallon with an awesome foot print and all I could think about was going back to the basic fish I started the hobby with and breeding of course. right now all I want is a spawn and lots of babies. im fine with just the convicts spawning, I think it would be a beautiful sight in this aquarium and maybe one day one of the males might pair up with a parrot. I havnt spawned convicts in ten years but I remember they breed like rabbits and usually have about 80 or so fry if im correct..? also im sure the parrots will manage to snack on a few baby convicts here and there, so maybe that will control the population some what but are the fry going to over crowd the aquarium? when the fry get large enough and I have too many in the aquarium I could move them to growout tanks. but how many is too many in the breeding tank? my main concern is the rockwork in the aquarium. how do people with rock aquariums take care of the debri and poop between the rocks?By removing the Pleco you've saved yourself a lot of hassle in waste & filtration. I recommend re/homing the pleco asap unless you really want to keep him. But if it's just a common pleco he will outgrow both tanks you've mentioned very quickly. If you want to keep them all in a community tank like you have now, it's fine. But your chances on pairing one of the convicts with the your parrot are even lower by keeping the female convict in the same tank.
Now if all you want is a spawn & not worry about the pairing.... (SURE) keep them all in the same tank. I'm sure your convicts will pair up & spawn in no time.
I'm not really sure what you're after here, but if you want to breed convicts, you don't need anything more than one male/female for success. You can take your Pleco to your LFS & trade him in for credit & get another pair of Convicts.
Good Luck either way you go
Jill
I have so many rocks and I know current isnt running through all the cracks. its not like I can move these heavy rocks every cleaning.. any ideas? your a life saver, ill paypal you for more answers if your willing!
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Welcome back to the hobby...
Now there's no need to pay me for advice. I'm only telling you what I believe is proper for a project.
I have a few breeding projects I'm working on right now that are a little more complicated than this.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?462839-Green-Jack-Dempsey-Project
If all you're after are baby fry... then you're fine the way you are & there's no need to worry about controlling the habitat & how many of the fry survive. A lot of them will become snacks for the rest of the community, but it will keep you from having too many fish with limited space. The way you have things now I believe you'll have a spawn of Convicts, Not the parrot/convict you wanted to try for. But remember that you will have aggression in the tank & there's a possibility that the parents will kill your parrots.
Now with the decor in the tank, it's not necessary for a breeding project. You can add a couple of jets to flow water through the rocks in your tank to help the filtration. If I understand your setup correctly then this is your show tank & you want to breed from that tank. It's a little small for you to be able to breed & not have any casualties in the tank. I would move the breeding project into a 40 gallon breeding tank & keep the 60 as your show tank & only put the fish you intend to keep there.
I'm sorry I wasn't more helpful with your project, but in order to breed successfully you need to have the proper space for it.
Breeding tanks are the way to go for breeding. You don't need decor, just good filtration and a heater.
There's temporary tanks that you can buy to try out a breeding project (Plastic Tanks) Just add the filter/heater. Only if you're not sure you want to buy another tank, you can use this setup to put it through a test run. But it won't be very pretty, I'm only suggesting this to you if you really want to try out a breeding project.
Jill
no you have been a big help! this may be my show tank but I consider it a community aquarium. im not trying to mass produce these guys I just think it would be a nice sight to see a shoal of fry in the aquarium from time to time. if I leave the setup just like it is and wait for a spawn I plan on letting nature take its course, im sure the parrots will eat most of the fry in time and in the longrun ill be left with just a few extra convict offspring from each spawn dont you think? is this kind of project possible or will the fry overstock my tank? im hoping the parrots dont get nipped too bad but surley they will be okay with all of the hiding spots. well ive told you my plan, let me know if its possible lol.
The most widely known rule for stocking a tank is one inch of fish per gallon of water. While this type of calculation works as a rough estimate, it leaves plenty of room for error. Like people, fish are not all the same size and shape. Your Parrots are more full body fish than your convicts & will produce more waste. Now with the convicts spawning from time to time... well, let's just say all the time because that's what they do. Even with your Parrots eating some of the fry there will be some survivors like you said. I would just keep an eye out and pick out the best of the convict babies you want to keep & give/donate the others you don't want.
Now with more water changes and better filtration you will be able to keep more of the fry as they grow. But I recommend giving them away & only keeping the ones you want.
Jill
Now with more water changes and better filtration you will be able to keep more of the fry as they grow. But I recommend giving them away & only keeping the ones you want.
Jill
I finished my last bit of aquascaping today, the fish were so busy begging for food I couldnt get a decent pic of them but hows the layout look to you for what im aiming for?
