Female Convict finally Settles Down with Mate #2 (Pic Heavy)

[rasa92re]

It took her two tries but my blood-thirsty, black-widow of a convict has finally mated without casualties. The pair picked the particular piece of slate I placed in the quarantine section of my tank (separated from my turtle and other large cichlids). The fry have been alive 4 days now and are beginning to become free swimming. They are going to be fed crushed Ken's slow sinking growth pellets and 9.5 slow dissolving sinking pellets. My FX5 and pothos are keeping every healthy.

 

[Stratoquarius]

Good looking spawn, I'm suprised they havent tried to kill the crayfish yet though, convicts can be pretty mean when mating

 

[BellycrawlerJaws]

I'm a bit confused by this thread, has the convict mated with the parachromis? Or is there another convict in the tank and I'm just missing it? Either way congrats on the spawn

 

[Stratoquarius]

Yeah I was a bit confused at first I'm pretty sure the fry are fully convict.

 

[rasa92re]

Good looking spawn, I'm suprised they havent tried to kill the crayfish yet though, convicts can be pretty mean when mating

The female was very very aggressive with the first spawn. She's a bit more settled now. The crayfish has eggs as well so I really don't want to move her. The crayfish is too aggressive to go near.



Sorry for the mix-up everyone. The 1st pic was not supposed to be there. The fry are full convict.

 

[rasa92re]

Day 2 of free swimming:

 

[fishnatics]

sweet

 

[rasa92re]

I had to separate the fry from the parents after I caught Dad eating his children. I figured I had a spare tank lying around and put the fry in there. Hopefully, mom and pop will get back to spawning. I'll try to get a better macro shot:

 

[rasa92re]

I decided to play with the manual settings on my camera:

 

[rasa92re]

Hey MFK, it hasn't been a week but I figured the latest development requires posting.

Check out my latest thread for a back story ( http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...acifastacus-leniusculus&p=5617972#post5617972 ). Now fast forward and here are new pictures of my convict fry. They have been elongating and have started developing their black spots (which will eventually be stripes). I didn't feed them baby brine shrimp when they first became free swimming since their mother did most of that work for me. However, 'cichlid mode' kicked in as soon as they saw not only the baby crayfish but also the relatively massive mother. Like a shoal of piranhas they swarmed her and began picking at her exoskeleton. When the soft bodied crayfish babies emerged from the mother, the convict fry went after them. My fry have quite the appetite and courage, depending on how you see it. I'm excited for their adult personalities.

Here are some pics of the fry and their shenanigans. Think of "Where's Wlado?" as you look for the fry:
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