Convict Aquarium? random thought of the day.

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G

gveng

Candiru
MFK Member
Oct 12, 2010
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Los Angeles, CA
maybe this should go under breeding, or set up or....

lets say you have a 100g aquarium and throw in 3 convicts, 1 male and 2 females. You let them do their thing, breed, let nature take its course....

what would happen? would you eventually need to rehome a lot of fish? would the other convicts eat the fry and keep a balance in the aquarium with only a few fry growing up to adulthood? is this even possible? maybe with a bigger tank? different kind of fish?

thoughts? :popcorn:
 
First, a pair would form and the odd female out would likely get harassed to death.

Then, as they raise the fry, eventually they will want to spawn again. They will drive off (kill) any fry that remain. Whether they all die would likely depend on how many hiding places are in the tank. I still have 3 fry surviving in a little cave under a piece of shale in my tank from when I fed the last batch to tmy JD's and pictus.

Any fry that survive could potentially grow large enough to claim a piece of territory as their own and start breeding. Eventually you probably will have a little battle royale as enough fry survive to have constant territory wars. You probably would have to take some out eventually.

In my 55 my cons only claimed about 1 square foot of space.. I never let the fry free swim in there, transfered everyone to a 20L before that happened. That 1 square foot might turn into 2 or 3 square feet once the fry free-swim and are out exploring.
 
I think the larger fry from the first spawn will eat smaller fry from later spawns. Assuming the first spawn is still alive(parents may eat them when they are preparing for their 2nd spawn)
 
Yeah, all depends on hiding places. See the same thing in the wild. Fry get driven off and hang out in brush or rocks near shorelines until they are large enough to compete. If you have enough hiding places that the adults can't easily get into, then you'll likely always have a few fry from each spawn surviving to adulthood.

Once the fry are 3 or 4 months old, they're too big to swallow for adults under 4". May still get killed though.
 
small update, i just got a free 60 gallon. so, i'm thinking of using that for a convict tank. my g/f fell in love with the strips.

as for the step it will be:

tank: 60 gallon
filter: floval 405 or 2 ac110, or 20g sump
heater: have a 300w laying around
decor: pool sand, rocks piled in the middle as high as i can go with some pots mixed in.
fish: 6 convicts, hoping for 2 males and 4 females

advice?
 
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