No more feeder convicts

[Industrial]

I got 7 convict fry for super cheap a few weeks ago that I am going to attemp to breed as feeders. I breed guppies in a 10g but they are too small now. I attempted swordtails but they're just too slow unless I pull the fry and put more effort into them than I care to ATM. The only times I've bred convicts was at the LFS and totally by accident (actually quite annoying, had to pull all the tankmates with nowhere to put them) and then we sold and used the fry as feeders until each batch was gone. Worked great.
Plus, mine are mostly for the electric cat and I don't much worry that they'll become a nuisance in his tank. If they do, they will have my undying respect and I would blacklist them as a choice in feeders, lol.

Convicts grow quickly once they reach the size of small sized feeder guppies, but then it could take them almost a month to reach that point. My boss always says rather than breeding feeders, breed an easy to breed expensive fish then sell them off and buy a ton of feeders.

 

[ballinouttacntrol]

where can you buy a ton of good feeders though? most fist stores in the u.s. only carry rosey red and gold fish (which are bad for your fish for more reason then just potentional parasites), if you're lucky, maybe you'll find white cloud, guppies and ghost shrimp.

 

[DCOWBOYS]

For larger fish i like Black Skirt tetras.

 

[Just Prince]

I am breeding Jewel Cichlids for the same reason. I couldn't give them away before. Some were fed to their parents and some where thrown into my other African tank. My area is flooded with them and I have never shipped a fish so rather than just put them down they became food. The pair I have keep breeding so I keep getting fry. The only live foods I normally use are Daphnia Magna, black worms and red wigglers.

 

[Saterus]

Convicts grow quickly once they reach the size of small sized feeder guppies, but then it could take them almost a month to reach that point. My boss always says rather than breeding feeders, breed an easy to breed expensive fish then sell them off and buy a ton of feeders.

No room to be breeding much else, not that there's much of a market for anything but your common community inhabitants 'round here. I rarely use feeders anyway and I won't buy feeders so breeding them is my only option. The guppies weren't even originally feeders, I just like them. I like the convicts too, very active unlike all my cool but often hiding fish that will eat them, lol. I did breed them at the LFS like I said, I know how fast they grow.

 

[Kaliedoscope]

what about kribensis? I haven't bred them but I hear they do it quick and are good community inhabitants*

About the time they take to grow from tiny.... yeah X5 I agree. I started to scale up my breeding a few months ago so I had convicts to feed my CK, but now I have thousands of tiny babies and about ten big ones. Is there some kind of food you can use to get them to grow faster?

 

[mynheers_a_pint]

Convicts are excellent feeders as long as the predators will take them quickly and effectively. My LFS was giving some away at 3-4"- perfect for my wolves!

Any worry about them hiding and breeding went about 10 mins ago. All of them gone and one very fat Hoplias Curupira.

 

[pi-eyed]

where can you buy a ton of good feeders though? most fist stores in the u.s. only carry rosey red and gold fish (which are bad for your fish for more reason then just potentional parasites), if you're lucky, maybe you'll find white cloud, guppies and ghost shrimp.

I agree--Goldfish and rosies are like parasite enriched chocolate to predator fish. Convicts are good eating and if raised in your home tank,disease free. I have 3 or 4 breeder pairs of cons. Once the fry are free swimmers my baby jardini(8") ,baby rtc(1 1/2"),and my baby tsn(3") keep my population down.

---Chris

 

[Saterus]

Is there some kind of food you can use to get them to grow faster?

I had pretty good luck alternating crushed up spirulina flakes, baby brine shrimp (when they're little), pulverized cichlid pellets and tropical flakes and as they grew I just added lots of different frozen foods. Mysis shrimp, bloodworms, brine shrimp, marine cuisine, emerald entree, etc. Lots of variety. One batch got neglected and pretty much got fed flakes only twice a day after the first few weeks and they very obviously grew slower than the batches before and there was a lot of runty looking ones. The parents also ate half of them and that didn't happen when they were fed every few hours. (gee, wonder why, lol)

 

[PhinPhan]

Shiners or tuffies work well if you monitor their diet and water conditions properly.

I use a high salt concentration in my feeder tank to prevent any disease and add 'zoecon' which is a product made by kent marine. Its a lipid fish growth stimulator and adds to the nutritional value of the fish.

I also feed my feeders a mix of tetra flakes, brine shrimp, blood worms, and cyclop-eeze (a high quality flake food which is a color enhancer and growth stimulator) shortly before feeding them to the big guys

Ideally you want to ween your fish off live food entirely which can be done with a surprising number of species