Convict Feeders...

[topoftheline77]

I want to use a breeding pair of convicts in my 35 gallon to produce free feeders for my crenicichla sveni and GT and I have a few questions. First of all about how often will they breed? How long should I wait to take the fry? (I was planning on feeding them feeder fish about once a week depending on how often they breed) How hard would it bee to net them out? What kind of decorations should I use for the tank; I was thinking just gravel and a flower pot to make it easier to net the fry. And do you think I will ever get too many convicts for my tank? Also if you have any other information about this subject please tell me...

Thanks
Mike

 

[skinless]

your cons can and likely will breed on almost a monthly basis.
after free swimming for about a week, i'd feed my fry off. (still quite small)
i just gravel vac em out, letting the remaining fry be herded back together by the parents between extractions.
a flower pot is a great location for the eggs to be kept.
the only trouble i ever had was when multiple batches of fry/eggs were together in the tank. can definitely be a sticky situation.
just my experiences. good luck

 

[sour_girl]

I've had a pair of convicts in my big tank for a few months now and not one batch of fry yet!!! I am thinking the tank is too big or something... It really makes me mad that they dont breed!!

 

[KurseD]

I've had a pair of convicts in my big tank for a few months now and not one batch of fry yet!!! I am thinking the tank is too big or something... It really makes me mad that they dont breed!!

they could be eating the eggs, i've had several con spawns, my last one at her eggs for some reason. then she got dropsy/scale protrusion, and died. but i've had alot of sucess using the pair as a steady source of feeders. i usually siphoned the fry out as soon as they are free swimming, then feed them to my fish when they put on some weight. cons are very easy to breed and maintain, sometimes they even spawn twice a month.

 

[Tongue33]

I've had a pair of convicts in my big tank for a few months now and not one batch of fry yet!!! I am thinking the tank is too big or something... It really makes me mad that they dont breed!!

I just dropped my female in the other day and they are at it and secured their territory and i think there are eggs in their rock.. Maybe you need to get a more adult sized male and a couple females.. A pair should just breed but if they are small you may not have different sex? Whats your set up look like?

 

[Tongue33]

I want to use a breeding pair of convicts in my 35 gallon to produce free feeders for my crenicichla sveni and GT and I have a few questions. First of all about how often will they breed? How long should I wait to take the fry? (I was planning on feeding them feeder fish about once a week depending on how often they breed) How hard would it bee to net them out? What kind of decorations should I use for the tank; I was thinking just gravel and a flower pot to make it easier to net the fry. And do you think I will ever get too many convicts for my tank? Also if you have any other information about this subject please tell me...

Thanks
Mike

I would flower pot around ten areas in the 35 make it cavy... you can always pull pots out to net the fry after a month or so when they are actually big enough to think about feeding. and about two inches of gravel for them to make their own settings.. and if you get 2-3 known and grown males and about 6 females you'll have a factory. Don't worry about having to many you can always feed them to your fish... My uncle had a 20 gal with 6 males and about 20 females!! I took 2 males and 4 females to my 40 and gave one male and the other 3 females away after i was happy with the breeding that had alr4eady happened every 2 weeks>..

 

[docgab]

lol. I went about this once and ended up with a few convicts surviving in the tank, and growing up and breedijg ( as I was too lazy to pull them out), and so on and so on. They were like rats it seemed at times! Once I quit being so lazy it worked out quite well!

 

[PeteFromTassie]

I've got a pair of cons in my 7x2x2 with a whole heap of americans and they've tried a couple of times...

I think they've only had spermies once or twice cause I think the Plecos in the tank must be munching the eggs! Ha ha!

Cons are cool!

Cheers,
Pete.

 

[Keeper of the Ropes]

Im just starting out at this... got two pair, just over an inch long. Looking good so far... but hey, what do I know. Never owned a cichlid before in my life excluding angelfish. Oh I made them a pile of big rocks in one end of the tank that they love darting in and out of - when they lay eggs will they be on the top of the rocks or somewhere in the pile for me to never see?

 

[skinless]

Im just starting out at this... got two pair, just over an inch long. Looking good so far... but hey, what do I know. Never owned a cichlid before in my life excluding angelfish. Oh I made them a pile of big rocks in one end of the tank that they love darting in and out of - when they lay eggs will they be on the top of the rocks or somewhere in the pile for me to never see?

a good chance that the pair that locks up the rockpiled side of the tank will use the inner chambers to protect their eggs from the other pair. or if you're removing the fry/eggs yourself, they might try to hide em away from you. good luck.