Please sex these convicts

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I bought them both at the same time. It seems as though the female is defending a cave from the male and the three tiger barbs i got today. She is always near the cave and swims out to chase away any intruders.

Once i added the barbs, the male started acting a little more curious and agressive, but the female is still defending that cave.
 
how big is the tank and are they how big are they? I've noticed that if they're the same size they may not pair up. it's better if the male is at least a little bit bigger than the female. :)
 
it's a 20 gallon long, the female convict is about 2.5, the male is a little smaller.

would it be a good idea to put the female into this cage i have and let the male get used to her without her pestering him? it's a clear plastic cage with a plastic top which has holes in it.
 
sclabman;695037; said:
it's a 20 gallon long, the female convict is about 2.5, the male is a little smaller.

would it be a good idea to put the female into this cage i have and let the male get used to her without her pestering him? it's a clear plastic cage with a plastic top which has holes in it.
Click to expand...

you can try that but there's no telling if it will work. if you continue to have problems I'd try to trade in your current male for one that is slightly larger than the female. also, you may need to upgrade tanksize sometime in the future. the convict pair I used to have fought a lot in the 20 long I had them in. the female actually almost killed the male before I moved them into a much larger tank. :)
 
sclabman;695037; said:
it's a 20 gallon long, the female convict is about 2.5, the male is a little smaller.

would it be a good idea to put the female into this cage i have and let the male get used to her without her pestering him? it's a clear plastic cage with a plastic top which has holes in it.
Click to expand...

look into getting a tank divider, it'll be good to have down the road once they start breeding, cause there are aggression issues at that time too.

right now you can also provide more hiding places, floating plastic plants work great for this.
 
i'm looking into getting a 40+ gallon tank in the next year, and the convicts arent too big now... but yeah i know i'll probably need more room for them.

I just hope that they'll settle down and start tolerating eachother and possibly mating, but time will tell. How long have your convicts taken to mate; from the time you put them into the tank. I ask just to get an idea of the timeframe.
 
JUST give them some time .... You've had them a few days... Leave em for a mintue and see what happens.. :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:
They need to go through the ritual and next thing you know you'll have fry :)
 
I agree with all of your statements....I've got a similar situation to yours (female larger than male), and they have yet to breed after being in the tank together for a month. I'm assuming this will change as the male gets bigger...
 
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