Convicts wont pair up

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Zander_The_RBP

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jan 8, 2009
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Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Hi i currently have 4 convicts in a 29 gallon tank(2 males 2 females by the looks of it) and ive had them for 2 weeks now and theyve shown no intrest in pairing up. the females are slightly larger than the males (there about 3 inches the males are 2 ) and the females keep chasing the males away i put a divider in and put 2 one on either side (one male one female) but the females still chase the guys away. both males stay near the top of the tank while the females are hiding in there caves whenever the males even come near the bottom of teh tank teh females rush out an chase them away. does anybody know how long it usualy takes them to pair up and breed ?

and if anybody is wondering i want them to breed so i can raise the fry as food for my piranhas (there guna be dithers really in the piranha tank) i will be getting in my 150 gallon tank i also got them cause i thougth it would be cool watching cichlids pair up and care for there young

so how long does it usualy take for them to pair up
 
I think this is how they are pairing up. There is a little fighting before it happens. Maybe the males are just a little too small and not ready yet. Are you sure theres 2 males and 2 females? Females should have a red/orange belly.
 
Zander_The_RBP;3150648; said:
Hi i currently have 4 convicts in a 29 gallon tank(2 males 2 females by the looks of it) and ive had them for 2 weeks now and theyve shown no intrest in pairing up. the females are slightly larger than the males (there about 3 inches the males are 2 ) and the females keep chasing the males away i put a divider in and put 2 one on either side (one male one female) but the females still chase the guys away. both males stay near the top of the tank while the females are hiding in there caves whenever the males even come near the bottom of teh tank teh females rush out an chase them away. does anybody know how long it usualy takes them to pair up and breed ?

and if anybody is wondering i want them to breed so i can raise the fry as food for my piranhas (there guna be dithers really in the piranha tank) i will be getting in my 150 gallon tank i also got them cause i thougth it would be cool watching cichlids pair up and care for there young

so how long does it usualy take for them to pair up
Click to expand...


feeding them more often and keeping the temperature in the Low 80's helps. when i breed them it took 2 weeks for them to have their first spawn. so they paired up sooner then 2 weeks. however, they were all the same size; 2'' approximately. i kept 8 in a 15 gallon with no dividers, just lots of hiding places. they like sand for substrate and low lighting. there is also a small chance that u may not have equal male/females. the females have big metallic orange spots on them, usually on the top fin and the belly. these spots are usually very distinctive if u have to look twice there's a good chance its a male. females grow faster then males but in the end males get bigger. so eventually they will both be the same size and maybe then ur chances for a spawn will be greater. no one wants to be paired up with a big B!tch, that's what it sounds like in ur tank.

hope this helps
 
I think this is how they are pairing up. There is a little fighting before it happens. Maybe the males are just a little too small and not ready yet. Are you sure theres 2 males and 2 females? Females should have a red/orange belly.
Click to expand...

im preety sure there females 2 have a nice red/orange bellys while the other 2 dont. the two with the red/orange are the ones who are always in there caves
 
id say drop the temp to about 76 or so for a day or two the turn it back up to 80 or 82 thats how i get mine to pair up or breed the allready paired couple or you can give them more treats like blood worms and meal worms and stuff like that or change the divider with the two males on one side and the females together for a little while put one male ine let him chose the female then move the left over female to the other male
 
thanks for teh great info everone ! i have good news ! apparently the females have breeding on there minds as ive been watching both teh suuposed females moving the gravel around making a depression underneath there caves (it looks liek there making a nest) ill be removing the divider now and see if that helps

do female convicts normaly do this ?

EDIT : OMG EGGS one female has eggs on the top off her cave ! im so excided does this mean shes already paired up with the male thast with her or do they lay ahead of time ?
 
You'll have your hands full now.. I have a pair that have bred about 5X in the last 3-4 months. The first spawn has grown to about the size of a quarter. After giving away the majority of them, I have 6 that have survived. After each spawn now, i suck em up and feed them to my other fish. By the next day, the aggresiveness subsides.. in a couple of weeks you may have another batch of em.
 
I had 3 females and 2 males for 6 weeks before one pair decided to lay eggs. Sadly, the male didn't feel like fertilizing them :(

On my first try, I found free swimming fry in 2 weeks
All luck I guess =[
 
make sure you feed them a lot so the parents wont eat their fry
 
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