Convict Breeding

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MajorKeeper

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 15, 2010
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USA
I wanted to start breeding a fish, one that is very easy to breed by the way. So I decided to take a crack at trying convicts, what's the recommended tank size for a mated pair? What should the tank set up be like? (rocks, plants, caves, driftwood, substrate, etc.) And what do I do with the fry? Give/sell them on craigslist, donate them to a LFS or use them as feeders for my Oscar? (the Oscar at the moment is 3 1/2 inches long but will be probably 8 inches when I have the convicts produce babies) Thank you in advance!:arapaimag even though I don't have the money for an arapaima i like that emoticon, and arapaimas :)
 
all u need is a 20long and some caves....
 
Yeah I know that they're good parents but once the second spawning time comes they will probably eat their leftover fry, and 20 gallon long isn't big enough for several convicts. So should I just let the parents kill the fry? Or give them to my Oscar instead? There's always the option of giving them away or selling them too.
 
Heres what I did, I googled how to sex them and when out and bought 2 convicts. Put them in a 10 gallon and they laid eggs 3-4 days later. Kept the babies with them a month before I separated them. Since you have a 20 gallon you are better off but you really one need 2 convicts. Its really not that hard to sex them once they are around 2 inches, yellow/orange/pink on the belly for female and higher sloped head on the males. You should be able to keep them with the parents for at least a month.
 
Male on the left, female on the right.

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I'd go with a 29 gallon and just feed the fry to the oscar. I doubt you'll have much luck getting rid of them otherwise. It's hard to even give them away cause they're so easy to breed. :)
 
Breeding cons can be a lot of fun, but you will have a hard time giving away the fry. Feeders for your oscar sounds like the best bet. If you want to have the fry grow a bit, you can either get another tank to put them in or use a net breeder in the parents tank.

Jason beat me to the punch as I was typing!
 
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