First Time With cichlids

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polarbear

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 30, 2008
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Calgary Alberta
Hi Everyone,

I used to be a regular visitor to this site until about two years ago. At that time I kept goldfish and just visited for the expertise and ideas for the future. Two years ago I acquired a lovely goldfish for the aquarium from my sister as a birthday gift. She had got it from a reputable seller. I quarantined the little guy and then moved him to the main 40 gallon tank with my two other gold friends. Unfortunately about 2 weeks later disease began to ravage my tank. I battled it for a couple of months but it kept popping back up. Finally the disease wiped out my fish population. Shortly after I moved and the tank got set aside while other priorities took over the life of myself, including my beautiful new bride and our family dreams. Unfortunately for us the family dream has suffered an infertility issue that we are treating. During the past two years dealing with fertility treatments I have learned how important hobbies were. And we recently found a place to setup the 40 gallon again. I don't want to go back to goldfish, because really who does. I am ready for cichlids.

I have decided I think I want to try convict fish. I am looking to pair them, breed them and will raise the fry to give away to local hobbyists or maybe a local store for credit. It is a hobby I have always wanted to explore. I am prepared with the general knowledge of removing fry at 3-4 weeks and the materials I need. Does anyone have some advice? Some things that will be suprises? I am excited to get back into a hobby that I so enjoyed just a couple of years ago.
 
well convicts are nice fish but as for store credit where i live anyway there not worth that much. If you want a really nice cichlid tank and your willing to go a bit farther than convicts i would go with some African dwarfs from Tanganyika a lot of them are really colorful and stay small. but if your looking for just a fun spawning experience with cichlids then convicts are the ones to do it with.
 
and as for advice for breeding convicts... just add water lolol if you have a male and female they will be harder to keep from breeding. but anyway you should just get a simple cave structure it would be beneficial to them. also the first fry will most likely make it but the second and so on get eaten most of the time that's how mine were anyway.
 
Yeah I am not overly worked up about return. We make enough money in our real jobs. Just have always wanted to raise some fry and cons have a rep for being a bit easy to do that with. I actually don't see them a ton around here. The better fish stores have them but the local pet stores around our house don't. So maybe I can get a quarter for each fish they take off my hands. Will buy our starbucks one day.

Thanks for the idea though maybe we will look at the african dwarfs before we commit. We are getting excited now that the tank is ready for fish.
 
angelojg22 said:
and as for advice for breeding convicts... just add water lolol if you have a male and female they will be harder to keep from breeding. but anyway you should just get a simple cave structure it would be beneficial to them. also the first fry will most likely make it but the second and so on get eaten most of the time that's how mine were anyway.
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Yeah, I have read a lot about the timeline with the offspring. Seems that you want to keep them in the same tank long enough to deter some breeding so that the female gets healthy but get them out before she starts eating a little extra to start the breeding process again. Seems like a fine line from what I have read. Otherwise I pretty much get that I need to hope they don't complete a breeding cycle between the store and home.
 
The problem is not return(there isn't any). The problem is finding people who will take them. The fish stores are full of them...you will be lucky just to get rid of them without culling.
 
Yeah I have heard that from a lot of people. But the truth is like I say, I actually have to drive 45 minutes away, past about 7 stores to get cons here. Its weird they seem to be a bit rarer here. But we will see. If it becomes an issue of having to cull to often I will consider changing the setup. But so far there seems to be at least some marketability for them.

What do you suggest? Would you suggest ignoring Cons to avoid the potential need for culling a small amount?
 
My most recent experience with convicts:

2 pairs with 3 oscars in 100 gallon starting last thanksgiving...now I have over 25 grown ones in my tank with no one wanting them.

I am breaking down my tank now...people like oscars...I will have to do *something* with those convicts.

Maybe try something harder...like firemouth... :)
 
I went shopping around town to see what I could find for Cons and other types that may interest us last night. We hit 6 stores in a 40KM radius. Only found one store with Cons. The only other fish that interested my wife were salt water or fish that would be too big for our little 40G tank.

Think the cons will win for us. Seems I may be able to give some away to a couple of stores here in town.
 
cons are fun and easy!! you may also like salvini's or dempsey's both of which are easy to breed.I had the same prob with my salvini's... too many offspring no body to take them.
 
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