Cons stealing other con's fry?

[Alistriwen]

Had a bit of a problem with 2 pairs of convicts I had in a 55 gallon that I posted a while ago titled convict conundrum. Basically one male had mated with 2 females and thus we had a single male left out of the bunch being picked on.

Well, our new female laid 75 or so eggs, fertilized by our original male. Three or four days after, our original female laid 200 eggs fertilized by the original male (funny since the original female was a half inch smaller than the one from the store). Anyways, the eggs stayed put for a few days and then when they were due to hatch they just dissapeared. The female who laid them seemed to be guarding over the area theyd been in but there were no wigglers to be found.

Within a day the female was no longer guarding the area of the eggs and was basically dodging the attacks of the other female and the attentions of the two males. With the original female's fry starting to go free swimming I noticed that there were A LOT more than the 75 or so eggs Id seen. Probably closer to 300 fry. What's more, about 75 or so fry are larger than the others and fully free swimming, while the larger portion is just starting to lift off today.

We're pretty sure they male stole the other female's fry and is raising them along with his fry from the other female. The original female had been a parent before and was great at it so we are pretty sure she didnt eat them.

I was wondering if anyone has seen this before? It is a really interesting development for us anyways. Thought I'd share.

 

[sandtiger]

I once kept convicts in a similer setup, one male and two females. They would all swap the fry back and forth regardless of age or whos they were. I read ina book once (The Cichlid Fishes: Natures Grand Experiment in Evolution) that some cichlids will actually kidnapp the fry of others. They would then keep the kidnapped fry on the outside of the fry cloud, their own fry in the center. According to the book this helped protect their own fry. Predators would take the kidnapped fry before taking the rest. I don't recall it saying convicts did this but your post reminded me of it anyway.

 

[bmxer4ever]

Kidnapping sounds fascinating!
I had 2 or 3 pairs spawn in the same tank and the fry got all mixed up. Parents didn't seem to notice - just kept on guarding whatever fry were in their territory and fighting with the other pairs!

 

[Alistriwen]

The only downside to it all has been that the other female isnt aggressive anymore and is gettin all messed up . We're probably going to seperate them into two pairs based on size once all of the fry are fish food. I just couldn't believe what I'd seen.

Interestingly enough, the 'stolen' fry are in the middle, while the older ones swim around, but that is just because the older ones can swim around lol. The difference might be that the fry are all the spawn of the single father who is guarding them.

 

[drgnfly829]