Getting Acquainted

[peter 808]

I have two female convicts in separate tanks and one male that I move back and forth that I am currently breeding. Once one of the females have a batch of fry, I move the male to the tank with the other female. I noticed it takes about 2 - 3 weeks before they are acquainted enough to spawn.

Is there anyway to get them to breed quicker? I do weekly water changes and feed them various pellets and freeze dried/frozen worms.

I have other convicts, so doing pairs it not an issue but like the idea of "resting" the female after each batch of fry.

Thank you in advance for the advice.

 

[knifegill]

I think you've found a key drawback to separating breeding pairs. The majority of convict pairs breed as a unit and happily produce batch after batch of fry without trouble. What has compelled you to rest your females? Do they produce more fry when allowed to condition better?

 

[peter 808]

Thanks for the response. My females are about 2 inches while the male is about 4 inches. Things can get a little rough for the female and since I had the extra tanks (2 20L) I decided to run two breeding tanks. I noticed this keeps the male pretty tame.

I have not tried leaving the pair together from batch to batch. The male was pretty aggressive. He killed two females when I was getting them to pair off.

 

[knifegill]

Well, that is a problem. Have you tried pairing him with a larger female?

 

[Michiba54]

Well, that is a problem. Have you tried pairing him with a larger female?

Large females are hard to find... biggest I've seen was around 2.5 inches, but she was deformed, Fines pointed down. Currently growing out afew females a replacement an back up.

Have you tried a large w/c with cooler/hotter water?

My brother did a w/c for me once while I was away an he bump the temp up to 83oF by mistake and then I had eggs the next day.

 

[importracer]

I have two female convicts in separate tanks and one male that I move back and forth that I am currently breeding. Once one of the females have a batch of fry, I move the male to the tank with the other female. I noticed it takes about 2 - 3 weeks before they are acquainted enough to spawn.

Is there anyway to get them to breed quicker? I do weekly water changes and feed them various pellets and freeze dried/frozen worms.

I have other convicts, so doing pairs it not an issue but like the idea of "resting" the female after each batch of fry.

Thank you in advance for the advice.

If you are breeding the Convicts for feeders, then keep it up!!!!!!!I get mine(pairs) to breed twice a month........The quickest way of getting them to lay more is to place small flowering clay pots inside the tank.......This way, when the pair lays eggs in the pot, you can remove the clay pot with the eggs into a hatching/growout tank.........The eggs are gone, then the cycle continues, more breeding......

 

[peter 808]

The two breeding females are the largest I have. On the other hand, I have some smaller males, will throw one in and we shall see what happens.

Will give the cold water change and bump up the heat a try. I am from Hawaii so never really needed a heater, but believe it or not, I do have one.

The funny thing about these two is they both lay their eggs in the corner of the tank, on the silicone. They seem to ignore the clay pots for some reason. Makes it real easy to siphon up the fry so I don't complain.

Thanks again for the advice!