Convict colony setup

[Caperguy99]

I’m considering setting up a 75 gallon for a male and female convict pair.

I know they breed like crazy, apparently, but know very few actual details of this process. If I pop a pair in the tank and do nothing else aside from regular care, how many fry will ultimately grow into juveniles/adults in the same tank with their parents? Also, if breeding continues, how long before I start seeing deformed offspring and so on? As convicts live a long time, it strikes me that over time the genetic pool will get pretty depleted . . .

Complicating this plan is that I live very rurally without any real ability to offload convict juveniles.

Is this setup plan nothing but a headache? The last thing I want is a million fish with no way of getting rid of them.

 

[duanes]

In any cichlid spawn there will be a number of deformed mutations, and variations from the first to the last spawn.

If you eventually set up another tank with a piscivore / or predators, you will always have a place to put the excess fry, and any mutations you want to cull, as they are noticed.

I have a 180 gal tank with Andinoacara coerleopunctatus , they spawn seasonally at least 3 times between Dec and March, and none of the fry ever survive.
Beside the cichlids, the tank contains has predatory tetras that significantly reduce the fry school a little at a time, and often older fry eat their younger siblings.

Above, older fry hunting their younger siblings.
Below the predatory Tetras, that over time, significantly reduce fry numbers.


Th parent cichlids only guard the young of the 1st spawn, until they spawn again.

 

[Caperguy99]

In any cichlid spawn there will be a number of deformed mutations, and variations from the first to the last spawn.

If you eventually set up another tank with a piscivore / or predators, you will always have a place to put the excess fry, and any mutations you want to cull, as they are noticed.

I have a 180 gal tank with Andinoacara coerleopunctatus , they spawn seasonally at least 3 times between Dec and March, and none of the fry ever survive.
Beside the cichlids, the tank contains has predatory tetras that significantly reduce the fry school a little at a time, and often older fry eat their younger siblings.
View attachment 1514677
Above, older fry hunting their younger siblings.
Below the predatory Tetras, that over time, significantly reduce fry numbers.
View attachment 1514678

Th parent cichlids only guard the young of the 1st spawn, until they spawn again.
View attachment 1514679View attachment 1514680

Thanks for the great information and beautiful photos.

So a pair of convicts and maybe some dithers to cut down on the number of fry. What sort of tetras have you used in the past that are able to survive the breeding aggression from the convicts?

At some point I aim to set up a Jaguar tank, but that won’t be for some time yet - so I’m trying to figure out a cichlid setup that works without necessarily having another place to dump the unwanted offspring.

 

[tlindsey]

What sort of tetras have you used in the past that are able to survive the breeding aggression from the convicts?

I suggest the Buenos Aires Tetra.

 

[duanes]

Buenos Aires tetras are a good choice.
Others would be geographically correct Central American Tetras that come from the same water parameters as the Cons.
The tetras above in my photo are Roeboides, Astyanax tetras are also geographically correct, as are those from the genus Bryconamericas. I caught the other day in Panama.

These Tetras were caught in the same hard, 8.2 pH waters convicts come from.

 

[Hybridfish7]

Basically you've got it down, just add the pair, water, and anything hard. Rock, pvc pipe, clay pot, driftwood, shells even, they'll figure out a way to spawn on it. If you have nothing, they also like the suction cups of heaters, or the silicone on the corners of the glass. As for how many live, pairs are either awful or extremely good parents. You will either have fry only live for 2-3 weeks, or the same batch of fry for 3-6 months until they spawn again with the previous batch in the tank. It also depends on how big the pair is and what line they come from. My HRPs only got about 50 fry to a sellable size, whereas my bagaces got 250, before they ate their mother. In a 75 you'll also start having fry pair up with eachother. You just need enough hardscape to allow for multiple territories to form beyond visual range of eachother.

I've come to realize the reason people complain about being overrun with convicts is because they're pulling fry. Yes, they will spawn every two weeks, if they don't have a batch to take care of. Just leave one batch with them, they'll stop taking care of the batch, have another, the older batch will snack on some of the newer batch, and the cycle will keep repeating until everyone stops breeding because the population is too high.

Your main thing should just be getting as much rock and driftwood in there as possible if you want a colony to get going. The good thing with colony breeding is that they do the culling for you. You can go generations without physical deformities, given you don't pull the fry. You may get some misbarring or other color mutations, but other than that nothing to worry about.

 

[Caperguy99]

I suggest the Buenos Aires Tetra.

Basically you've got it down, just add the pair, water, and anything hard. Rock, pvc pipe, clay pot, driftwood, shells even, they'll figure out a way to spawn on it. If you have nothing, they also like the suction cups of heaters, or the silicone on the corners of the glass. As for how many live, pairs are either awful or extremely good parents. You will either have fry only live for 2-3 weeks, or the same batch of fry for 3-6 months until they spawn again with the previous batch in the tank. It also depends on how big the pair is and what line they come from. My HRPs only got about 50 fry to a sellable size, whereas my bagaces got 250, before they ate their mother. In a 75 you'll also start having fry pair up with eachother. You just need enough hardscape to allow for multiple territories to form beyond visual range of eachother.

I've come to realize the reason people complain about being overrun with convicts is because they're pulling fry. Yes, they will spawn every two weeks, if they don't have a batch to take care of. Just leave one batch with them, they'll stop taking care of the batch, have another, the older batch will snack on some of the newer batch, and the cycle will keep repeating until everyone stops breeding because the population is too high.

Your main thing should just be getting as much rock and driftwood in there as possible if you want a colony to get going. The good thing with colony breeding is that they do the culling for you. You can go generations without physical deformities, given you don't pull the fry. You may get some misbarring or other color mutations, but other than that nothing to worry about.

Thanks for this information - it’s exactly what I was looking for. Do you know if there’s anywhere to read up on this stuff?

 

[Caperguy99]

Buenos Aires tetras are a good choice.
Others would be geographically correct Central American Tetras that come from the same water parameters as the Cons.
The tetras above in my photo are Roeboides, Astyanax tetras are also geographically correct, as are those from the genus Bryconamericas. I caught the other day in Panama.
View attachment 1514687View attachment 1514688
These Tetras were caught in the same hard, 8.2 pH waters convicts come from.
View attachment 1514689View attachment 1514690

These photos are spectacular - do you live in Panama? I’m going to South America for work in the Fall and would absolutely love to set up a time to go see some fish in their habitat. Where do you even find something like that?

 

[Hybridfish7]

Thanks for this information - it’s exactly what I was looking for. Do you know if there’s anywhere to read up on this stuff?

Unfortunately no, this is just information built up from the last few years I've spent breeding countless pairs of convicts of various localities. It should be all you need though. Let me know if there's anything I missed.