i am going to get involed in breeding convicts to use as feeders. Here is what i have available for the system. 1-55g/1-29g/1-20/2-10g's. I have filters for all of these tanks. I will build a rack to house all this and place it in my basement a few feet from my floor drain and water supply for maintenance. I allready have 1 pair of breeding cons and will more than lilkely get another if needed. I figure i will need around 20-30 1-2'' fish per week. And from what I have read it takes con fry atleast 2 months to reach this useable size. So i need help deciding what tank to keep what in. The pair I have now are full grown and they have been living and breeding in a 10g for a few months. My rough draft of a plan is to make the 10 gallon tanks for the parents and leave the fry with them until the parents spawn again. And then move the fry to the 20 and then the 29 and then the 55 where they will be used from. Sort of like a assembly line. If any of you have any idea's or other help with this plan please feel free to post. Please just remember that these are feeders and not for pet purposes. Thanks alot
Help me set up a breeding system for convicts
- Thread starter hybridtheoryd16
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just put 2-3 pairs in the 55g and let them spawn, be sure to keep up on water changes, take out the, move them into the 10 then 29. simple process but understand that you must introduce new adults every so often so that inbreeding does not occur (depending on how long you will be doing this) what kind of fish are you feeding?
inbreeding usually has little effect on fry of fish...kydsexy;2147471; said:
he's not going to breed the fry anyways so inbreeding isn't possible.
also 2-3 pairs i think would cause a problem... i've never bred convicts but i hear they get very aggressive as spawning time comes around and 4-6 very aggressive fish in a 55?
move parents to 20g, new borns go into 10, then they keep getting added to a bigger tank as new fry come along. and by the time they get to the 55 you should be able to just keep adding more and more to the 55 w/o a problem. unless the oldest batch of fry is too big and decides to make the new ones a meal...
Id use the 29 for the parents.More room for them to allow them to reach max size and easier to maintain stable water parameters.10g for growouts for small fry,easier to do large daily waterchanges for max growth and concentrate feedings for the small fish.Move them to the 20s when the next batch needs the 10 then the 55s till you feed them,the larger tanks allow for better muscle development for faster growth.
They types of fish that these will be fed to are a few payara and a school of hujeta characins and some bichirs. It looks like you all have some very different ideas on how to accomplish the best results. If my figures all work out I will expect to have about 200 feeders in the 55g. This number will vary up and down as they are used and introduced. So for now the 55g is the feeder tank as it will house the highest number of fish. And my thoughts on the parents are to keep them in the 10g's so that i can make several WC's and fluctuate the temp alot to induce egg laying. Lets hear some more thoughts-----------and thanks so far.
the reason i said put 3 pairs in the 55 is because once convicts give birth to fry, the become very aggressive, but also very territorial. i've had convicts in a 55 with 3 tiger oscars and 2 jacks when they were younger and the convicts took up a corner of the tank usually behind a rock or larger structure and protected it with their lives. ive noticed through playing with all my convicts that they become territorial but wont terrorize the entire tank, only those that come close enough to be chased away. the length of a 55 allows enough room for at least 2 pairs, but if your convicts begin to spawn at a small size, feel free to introduce another small pair. i understand that they will grow, and at that time you can move one of the pairs into a 10 gallon tank and leave the others in the 55. since you are using the fry for food, im not sure how much you should grow out. but i've had over 200 fry in my 29 in college at about 1cm each that i fed to my baby aro. convict are picky spawners. give them water, water movement and a light cycle and you'll get babies. be sure to leave the babies in with the parents for a while, until they get a little bigger, then move them into a tank with "green water" (i live and die by it) and then let them grow to proper size.
oh man, left out 1-10 and 1-20g tank. improvise
oh man, left out 1-10 and 1-20g tank. improvise
Thanks alot and this green water, do you just leave some water in the sun light for a few days to turn it green or what?
I'm in the same Process. I just got 3 pairs of breeding convicts. which the owner said he kept them in a 55G and they always breed.
i have 6 convicts in a 55G with 3 flowers pots and they seem to stay in their area.
if worst comes to worst i'll separate them.
If you guys are growing out cons and are local maybe we could swap females/males for variation.
always good to change up.
good luck.
i have 6 convicts in a 55G with 3 flowers pots and they seem to stay in their area.
if worst comes to worst i'll separate them.
If you guys are growing out cons and are local maybe we could swap females/males for variation.
always good to change up.
good luck.
green water is just algae water. i use the algae to feed my daphnia which at one point i was feeding my rainbow smelt babies. my convict fry loved it as it was an additional food source, they loved it. i just left my tank by the window, direct sunlight. usually the owner hates green water but fish love it!
**if you ever have goldfish, make sure the water is green, they'll do amazing!
but yeah
**if you ever have goldfish, make sure the water is green, they'll do amazing!
but yeah