con breeding

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pacuman91

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 18, 2007
114
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Wisconsin
how long does it usually take to breed them and how many free swimming fry do u usually have?
 
1) 2 days
2) Too many


Seriously, within 2 weeks a new pair should breed. Anywhere from 100-400 fry is the general range. Mostly around 150-250.
 
As long as you have a male and female, they'll breed pretty soon.
 
Probably two weeks or less and you will have a pair breeding. You will probably get 100-200 fry from a batch. Convicts generally dont produce as many fry in a single batch as other larger cichlids but they breed often and readily so dont worry you will probably become overrun with fry unless you already have plans for them.
 
Dread;1114636; said:
Seriously, within 2 weeks a new pair should breed. Anywhere from 100-400 fry is the general range. Mostly around 150-250.

2 weeks is very wrong it takes at least a month or 2 just for a pair to form, then they spawn a week or 2 later. then another 4 days for hatching, then 3 more days intell free swiming then........................ parents eat frist spawn. :eek: you can have from 50 - 500 free swimming fry.
 
jaws19;1116257; said:
2 weeks is very wrong it takes at least a month or 2 just for a pair to form, then they spawn a week or 2 later. then another 4 days for hatching, then 3 more days intell free swiming then........................ parents eat frist spawn. :eek: you can have from 50 - 500 free swimming fry.

I have no idea where you got your information from. There's many many cases of Convicts being bought at different stores (male at one, female at another) and then having them spawn within the first 2 days. The eggs my pair lays always hatch in 3 days, never 4. The first time I had convict Wrigglers the pair NEVER ate them. They were protected up until about 5 weeks, and then I removed them. Chances are, they would've defended their batch much longer. And 500 is a little high. The highest I've heard of was ~350.
 
Dread;1116270; said:
I have no idea where you got your information from. There's many many cases of Convicts being bought at different stores (male at one, female at another) and then having them spawn within the first 2 days. The eggs my pair lays always hatch in 3 days, never 4. The first time I had convict Wrigglers the pair NEVER ate them. They were protected up until about 5 weeks, and then I removed them. Chances are, they would've defended their batch much longer. And 500 is a little high. The highest I've heard of was ~350.

ive kept these fish for 10 years now. ive had up to 500 fry at one time. and almost every frist spawn ive had they ate there fry! so how long have you kept your convicts?!?!?!
 
It doesn't matter how long I've kept them. It only takes one case to throw your whole theory out of whack. If there's numerous cases where the pair spawns the first two days after being introduced, and never eat any of their fry, your whole case of "it takes a month or two for a pair to form, and then they'll eat their first batch" to be debunked. Granted, that CAN be the case. But it certainly isn't ALWAYS the case as you've suggested. And in all honesty, I'm sure you're doing something wrong if it's ever taken you two months to get a pair to form with Convicts, and you've probably had some really bad luck if they always eat their first batches.
 
yes you are right but if they are not a pair when you buy them it takes at least a month for a pair to form.
 
Again.. I'm going to have to disagree. I've personally bought Convicts from two different stores. My female was Wild Caught, my male was just a low-quality Petsmart fish. Within 2 weeks, they'd spawned. I mean of course, a pair may not form for 5, 6 months, a year, whatever. But there's always a chance they'd extremely stimulated by the tank environment, a proper feeding regime, good temps, etc, and they breed within the first 2 days without even displaying typical "pairing" behavior. I know just recently, I had a pair of Convicts spawn right after being put into a tank together (which, incidently, the tank was ment as a holding tank). They showed virtually no signs of being paired, and I never saw the slightest bit of Courting behavior. It just was "wham, bam, thank you ma'am". And while I do agree it's more LIKELY it'll be atleast a couple weeks before a definate pair is formed strongly, there's many many cases of the fish pairing within days of being together, and then spawning.
 
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