male con killed my female--?'s

[Ficious]

heyyy sooo my breeding pair of cons just went to sh#$ because the male destroyed, yes destroyed, the female. i found her eyes gone and fins ripped to shreads. she was alive this morning when i left for work.

they lived in a 20 gallon and were the only fish in it. the male was a little bit bigger than her. theyve had two successful spawns within a month.

im wondering why he killed her.

the first batch i left the fry to the parents for a week or so then syphoned them out. this time he killed her the day after i took them out...why

 

[wckdkl0wn]

I had 6 breeding pairs of cons. At first when I started breeding them I left the parents with the babies. Big mistake I learned. 3 of the 6 pairs the male killed the female. Since then I have seperated the females out of the tanks after spawning. Waited til babies were about 1/4" maybe and removed the babies. Then put female back in a few days later. Haven't had a problem since. Sorry this doesn't answer your question. I myself don't know why the male does it. But atleast you now know this happens to others as well. lol

 

[hybridtheoryd16]

I have a few pairs breeding regularly and I have lost 1 female of a 3 yr old pair. And 1 male of a new pair.

I have never really thought much about why it happened as cons are 1.50 at the lfs. And they will pair of with new mates very easily.


I was talking to a old cichlid breeder at my lfs a few years ago. And he told me to breed really aggressive fish and have no casualties that he has allways blinded both fish in 1 eye.

Of course I thought he was messing with me until another lfs owner told me the same thing a few weeks ago. I told him that I had heard it before but never beleaved it. And he reassured me that it works. He said he uses a needle and pokes the fish in 1 one eye.WTF

He said that once they are blind in 1 eye, that half the time they think they are alone in the tank. So they do not mind seeing there mate 50% of the time.

Never tried it but I guess if I had to i might try it.

I do have a male with one eye missing as well as his lower jaw. From being housed with a puffer after a tank breakage. And it breeds great with a normal female.


PS
How long are you leavng the babies with the parents?

If you do not remove them before the next spawn it will cause problems with aggression.

I remove all mine at 1-2 weeks free swimming.

 

[packer43064]

I've had a female kill the male.I've bred other fish and if one killed or harassed the other it was always because one was bigger than the other.

 

[TwistedPenguin]

I always tell people that with 2 Cons (of oppostie sex) one of them will end up dead and when I do 14 people jump in and claim it's untrue (gotta love the net). But yea-that's not uncommon at all. Male/male or female/female works in a big enough tank (not under a 55 g) but male/female always ends up in a restraining order and eventual death.

 

[benzjamin13]

The Male was probably ready to breed again while the Female wasn't. Usually Dither FIsh help with the aggression issue or just to put a divider up. Poking out it's eye is cruel and unnecessary. While Cons can breed in tanks as small as a 10g or 20g, I'd go with a minimum of 29g or even a 20g Long. And always have a lot of hiding space.

 

[ballinouttacntrol]

I have a few pairs breeding regularly and I have lost 1 female of a 3 yr old pair. And 1 male of a new pair.

I have never really thought much about why it happened as cons are 1.50 at the lfs. And they will pair of with new mates very easily.


I was talking to a old cichlid breeder at my lfs a few years ago. And he told me to breed really aggressive fish and have no casualties that he has allways blinded both fish in 1 eye.

Of course I thought he was messing with me until another lfs owner told me the same thing a few weeks ago. I told him that I had heard it before but never beleaved it. And he reassured me that it works. He said he uses a needle and pokes the fish in 1 one eye.WTF

He said that once they are blind in 1 eye, that half the time they think they are alone in the tank. So they do not mind seeing there mate 50% of the time.

Never tried it but I guess if I had to i might try it.

I do have a male with one eye missing as well as his lower jaw. From being housed with a puffer after a tank breakage. And it breeds great with a normal female.


PS
How long are you leavng the babies with the parents?

If you do not remove them before the next spawn it will cause problems with aggression.

I remove all mine at 1-2 weeks free swimming.

That's soooooooooooo messed up. I hope people didn't read that and start blinding their fish all over the world.