"The Indominus Project"

Hybridfish7

Bronze Tier VIP
MFK Member
Dec 4, 2017
2,580
2,443
739
So I made a post a very long while ago on a hybrid convict I named "Nick" (in light of the nick in his dorsal fin he was born with that pretty much makes it so his first two dorsal spines are disconnected from the rest of the fin)
A little history on Nick if you want to read it:
Bought a pair of 'marbled honduran red points', (not the ones from TUIC Jeff had awhile ago), they spawned 3 times and I pulled the fry too early on the third one and the male killed the female.
1585033316245.png
Sold the male and all the older batches, and Nick, distinguishable by the little fin deformity at a small size:
1585033247792.png
being barely half an inch long, ate his entire batch of siblings. Then it was just him so I put him in a planted 5 by himself. Eventually put some juvenile ancistrus in temporarily, he ate them. He was still barely half an inch long.
1585033216460.png
He went through alot in that 5 gallon, the heater and filter burned out without me noticing for a few weeks (irresponsible I know) but he didn't seem to be affected by this so that just went to show the resilience of the little fish. He grew, I upgraded him to a 10 by himself. Then he kept growing, and so did his fins, the streamers on which grew to almost connect around his tail.
1585033168231.png
I tried getting him a female HRP to breed with since that was the only component of his genetics I was aware of, since he had developed a shiny white coloration and red fins. He is also marbled like his parents, and somehow turned out almost exactly like his father, which I think is interesting.Meanwhile, my pair of (supposedly) wild type convicts (that I have mentioned in other threads) had spawned, then the male died in a camallanus outbreak to a secondary bacterial infection. My male rio mongo HRP also lost his mate, so I decided to put the male HRP with the female convict, they spawned, produced about a hundred fry which I am currently growing out in the same 5 gallon Nick grew up in, and I separated the pair.
1585032923494.png
Here's where the whole project thing comes in. I've been wanting to breed Nick for awhile because of his fin genes and coloration, and I've seen how good of a mother my female convict has been (she raised her first batch of fry without the male, and this batch she went as far as to kill half the tank to protect them, and bit my hands a couple times when I pulled the fry) and complimented by her coloration as well:
1585033025458.png
I got the idea to breed her with Nick. So now we have our project which I'm calling the "Indominus Project", because Nick sort of reminds me of the main antagonist of the movie Jurassic World, the Indominus rex. Hybrid of unknown things, almost albino white, kills everything he comes into contact with, ate his siblings. Plus "Indominus convict" is an easier name for me to call whatever he is as opposed to "Hybrid platinum marbled honduran red point", though at least I have that for anyone who wants specification. I don't intend to profit from this, though I will sell to anyone who wants the offspring if they turn out nice.
TLDR: good looking hybrid convict named Nick because of fin deformity, reminds me of the Indominus rex from Jurassic world, naming project after that because he's a lethally aggressive hybrid. Breeding him with colorful female almost wild type convict because she's a good mother.
So far, I put him in the tank with the female, immediately needed a divider. Female didn't warm up to him the same way she did with the male honduran red point, they started fighting, Nick got chased off and got in a fight with the rainbow cichlid I'm using as a dither. now there's a two way divider, with Nick in the middle. I may have put him in too soon because it hasn't been too long since I pulled the fry from the last batch so the female may still be in a defensive mood.
1585032804131.png
I'll post updates on how they get along and if fry happen, I'll update that as well.
 

Magnus_Bane

Redtail Catfish
MFK Member
Jan 26, 2020
2,734
2,923
154
28
Canton SD
So I made a post a very long while ago on a hybrid convict I named "Nick" (in light of the nick in his dorsal fin he was born with that pretty much makes it so his first two dorsal spines are disconnected from the rest of the fin)
A little history on Nick if you want to read it:
Bought a pair of 'marbled honduran red points', (not the ones from TUIC Jeff had awhile ago), they spawned 3 times and I pulled the fry too early on the third one and the male killed the female.
View attachment 1410283
Sold the male and all the older batches, and Nick, distinguishable by the little fin deformity at a small size:
View attachment 1410281
being barely half an inch long, ate his entire batch of siblings. Then it was just him so I put him in a planted 5 by himself. Eventually put some juvenile ancistrus in temporarily, he ate them. He was still barely half an inch long.
View attachment 1410280
He went through alot in that 5 gallon, the heater and filter burned out without me noticing for a few weeks (irresponsible I know) but he didn't seem to be affected by this so that just went to show the resilience of the little fish. He grew, I upgraded him to a 10 by himself. Then he kept growing, and so did his fins, the streamers on which grew to almost connect around his tail.
View attachment 1410279
I tried getting him a female HRP to breed with since that was the only component of his genetics I was aware of, since he had developed a shiny white coloration and red fins. He is also marbled like his parents, and somehow turned out almost exactly like his father, which I think is interesting.Meanwhile, my pair of (supposedly) wild type convicts (that I have mentioned in other threads) had spawned, then the male died in a camallanus outbreak to a secondary bacterial infection. My male rio mongo HRP also lost his mate, so I decided to put the male HRP with the female convict, they spawned, produced about a hundred fry which I am currently growing out in the same 5 gallon Nick grew up in, and I separated the pair.
View attachment 1410277
Here's where the whole project thing comes in. I've been wanting to breed Nick for awhile because of his fin genes and coloration, and I've seen how good of a mother my female convict has been (she raised her first batch of fry without the male, and this batch she went as far as to kill half the tank to protect them, and bit my hands a couple times when I pulled the fry) and complimented by her coloration as well:
View attachment 1410278
I got the idea to breed her with Nick. So now we have our project which I'm calling the "Indominus Project", because Nick sort of reminds me of the main antagonist of the movie Jurassic World, the Indominus rex. Hybrid of unknown things, almost albino white, kills everything he comes into contact with, ate his siblings. Plus "Indominus convict" is an easier name for me to call whatever he is as opposed to "Hybrid platinum marbled honduran red point", though at least I have that for anyone who wants specification. I don't intend to profit from this, though I will sell to anyone who wants the offspring if they turn out nice.
TLDR: good looking hybrid convict named Nick because of fin deformity, reminds me of the Indominus rex from Jurassic world, naming project after that because he's a lethally aggressive hybrid. Breeding him with colorful female almost wild type convict because she's a good mother.
So far, I put him in the tank with the female, immediately needed a divider. Female didn't warm up to him the same way she did with the male honduran red point, they started fighting, Nick got chased off and got in a fight with the rainbow cichlid I'm using as a dither. now there's a two way divider, with Nick in the middle. I may have put him in too soon because it hasn't been too long since I pulled the fry from the last batch so the female may still be in a defensive mood.
View attachment 1410275
I'll post updates on how they get along and if fry happen, I'll update that as well.
Very neat lil project ya got going on here. Would love to see how the fry turn out. Reminds me of how I tried making an all black convict once. Had a female that almost no matter what was midnight black 24/7, when she was in breeding dress she had a bright rainbow sheen to her fins but never had orange. Had a few batches of fry but had basically the same thing you did in the end except there was no winner in the end of the cannibalism spree. Eventually lost the females I had as well do to fighting over the male in the tank. So sadly all I have left is my first convict I ever got.

Btw did ya ever plan on mixing the rainbow cichlid into the hybrid chain? Lol always though of making my own unique hybrid but never went out of my way to do so.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Adamson

Hybridfish7

Bronze Tier VIP
MFK Member
Dec 4, 2017
2,580
2,443
739
Never planned on it, it would be interesting to see but I think it would just turn out looking like any firemouth/convict type hybrid. Plus I think my pair is too old to produce any more fry.
If I were to, I'd get a nicer, brighter, younger pair to mix em with, lol
In the meantime the female has calmed down on her side of the divider so I'm gonna try to lift it today, waiting for my phone to charge so I can get it on camera.
 

Magnus_Bane

Redtail Catfish
MFK Member
Jan 26, 2020
2,734
2,923
154
28
Canton SD
Never planned on it, it would be interesting to see but I think it would just turn out looking like any firemouth/convict type hybrid. Plus I think my pair is too old to produce any more fry.
If I were to, I'd get a nicer, brighter, younger pair to mix em with, lol
In the meantime the female has calmed down on her side of the divider so I'm gonna try to lift it today, waiting for my phone to charge so I can get it on camera.
How old are they? Usually I hear the older a fish is the better chances it has of producing stronger/healthier fry.
 

Hybridfish7

Bronze Tier VIP
MFK Member
Dec 4, 2017
2,580
2,443
739
I'm not sure how old the female is, but I know Nick is almost 2 years old now. He was born June 11, 2018. Never been a father though so I don't expect him to get it right on the first try.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Magnus_Bane

Magnus_Bane

Redtail Catfish
MFK Member
Jan 26, 2020
2,734
2,923
154
28
Canton SD
I'm not sure how old the female is, but I know Nick is almost 2 years old now. He was born June 11, 2018. Never been a father though so I don't expect him to get it right on the first try.
Well getting it right is different from being sterile from old age. Usually in the animal kingdom a male can continue to breed long into it's senior years, on the other hand females tend to have a stopping period of fertility when they reach senior years. My male con was able to produce fry well past his 3rd year, haven't bred him in the past 2 years but pretty certain he could still get the job done. Also not a 100% certain on this but I'm pretty sure convicts and the like can live upwards of 15 years. Lol so if the female is under 8-7 years old I'd say she could easily still be fertile.
 

Hybridfish7

Bronze Tier VIP
MFK Member
Dec 4, 2017
2,580
2,443
739
Oh I didn't mean him being old, I just mean that as in first time cichlid parents don't always get things right the first time around. Knowing his reputation of eating things I wouldn't be surprised if he eats his first spawn. If anything all I need him to do is fertilize the eggs and the female can raise them, then I'll either get him back behind the divider or put him back in his tank.
I'd sure hate if 2 years was old for a convict, I want him to live well past 10 at least lol
 
  • Like
Reactions: Magnus_Bane

Magnus_Bane

Redtail Catfish
MFK Member
Jan 26, 2020
2,734
2,923
154
28
Canton SD
Oh I didn't mean him being old, I just mean that as in first time cichlid parents don't always get things right the first time around. Knowing his reputation of eating things I wouldn't be surprised if he eats his first spawn. If anything all I need him to do is fertilize the eggs and the female can raise them, then I'll either get him back behind the divider or put him back in his tank.
Ahh ok, that makes a lil more sense. Personally I never had problems with my con rearing fry, he got the parenting thing down the very first time. Granted he was a bit weird tho, he would spawn with 3 females at the same time, pool all the eggs together and then he would usually kick out all the females if not just keeping his favorite one to raise the fry either by himself or with just her.
 

Hybridfish7

Bronze Tier VIP
MFK Member
Dec 4, 2017
2,580
2,443
739
That's interesting, I wonder how you get a monogamous species of fish to become polygamous like that. Probably a dominance thing.
I lifted the divider, this time Nick was the aggressor, the female tried squaring up to him but he fought back this time and chased her into hiding. I let them mess around for a bit then I got Nick back behind the divider. I don't think I'm gonna let them go unsupervised, just yet.
 

Magnus_Bane

Redtail Catfish
MFK Member
Jan 26, 2020
2,734
2,923
154
28
Canton SD
That's interesting, I wonder how you get a monogamous species of fish to become polygamous like that. Probably a dominance thing.
I lifted the divider, this time Nick was the aggressor, the female tried squaring up to him but he fought back this time and chased her into hiding. I let them mess around for a bit then I got Nick back behind the divider. I don't think I'm gonna let them go unsupervised, just yet.
Well that's kind of good tho, usually a female won't breed with a cowardly male.
 
zoomed.com
hikariusa.com
aqaimports.com
Store