So I'm trying to get a breeding pair of convicts in my 20 so I can raise fry to feed to my two sen's & JD in my 65.
I've got 4 convicts right now, 3 are about the same size at ~3" & one is about 2". The 3 of the same size all looked about the same when I got them. I got two of those 3 from one store, then went and got the 3rd and the smaller one from a different store.
The smaller convict already had a BRIGHT orange patch of scales on the belly and the fins are colorful/blue. The other that I got with it has no orange whatsoever. The two from the first store had very faint patches of orange...if I looked closely enough I could find a few orange scales, other than that they were the normal gray/black/blueish.
After about 2 days in the tank, the two from the first store are now starting to color up more, the orange is more prominent in both of them. The one without orange still has no orange, but its also getting beat up the most (I'm watching him get chased from spot to spot in the tank, its like ping pong between the two larger/colorful ones)
So...are the 3 with orange on the belly all female? Is it just a fluke that they're being a lot more aggressive and territorial than the presumed male? The smaller of the colorful ones just hangs out in the mid level by the glass and doesn't really get involved with anything. The other two have claimed territory and the colorless one is just getting beat up by the two that have claimed territory...he seems ok when he hangs out around the smaller of the 3.
How will I know when a mated pair has formed? Am I correct in assuming that the 3 are females and the one is male? Is it better to leave them in like they are until a pair is formed, or to just pick a female and remove the other two?
And another crucial question...I have a 65g with 2 sen's a jack dempsey and 8 tiger barbs. The JD is only slightly larger than the convicts are right now, the sen's are too smal to even think about eating them. Would I be ok to put the other two females in the 65, or better to take them back to the lfs? 65g with rena xp3.
Here's a pic of the two I got from the second store. Its an iphone camera through a glass and the plastic bag...so sorry about the quality
The fish in the background is the smallest of the 3, the other two are about the same size as the foreground fish, but are beginning to color up like the background fish. The two pictured here spend a good amount of time in the same general area....just midlevel in the tank by the glass. They aren't inseparable at all, but they don't pick at each other like the other 2 are doing to everything in the tank.
I've got 4 convicts right now, 3 are about the same size at ~3" & one is about 2". The 3 of the same size all looked about the same when I got them. I got two of those 3 from one store, then went and got the 3rd and the smaller one from a different store.
The smaller convict already had a BRIGHT orange patch of scales on the belly and the fins are colorful/blue. The other that I got with it has no orange whatsoever. The two from the first store had very faint patches of orange...if I looked closely enough I could find a few orange scales, other than that they were the normal gray/black/blueish.
After about 2 days in the tank, the two from the first store are now starting to color up more, the orange is more prominent in both of them. The one without orange still has no orange, but its also getting beat up the most (I'm watching him get chased from spot to spot in the tank, its like ping pong between the two larger/colorful ones)
So...are the 3 with orange on the belly all female? Is it just a fluke that they're being a lot more aggressive and territorial than the presumed male? The smaller of the colorful ones just hangs out in the mid level by the glass and doesn't really get involved with anything. The other two have claimed territory and the colorless one is just getting beat up by the two that have claimed territory...he seems ok when he hangs out around the smaller of the 3.
How will I know when a mated pair has formed? Am I correct in assuming that the 3 are females and the one is male? Is it better to leave them in like they are until a pair is formed, or to just pick a female and remove the other two?
And another crucial question...I have a 65g with 2 sen's a jack dempsey and 8 tiger barbs. The JD is only slightly larger than the convicts are right now, the sen's are too smal to even think about eating them. Would I be ok to put the other two females in the 65, or better to take them back to the lfs? 65g with rena xp3.
Here's a pic of the two I got from the second store. Its an iphone camera through a glass and the plastic bag...so sorry about the quality
The fish in the background is the smallest of the 3, the other two are about the same size as the foreground fish, but are beginning to color up like the background fish. The two pictured here spend a good amount of time in the same general area....just midlevel in the tank by the glass. They aren't inseparable at all, but they don't pick at each other like the other 2 are doing to everything in the tank.
