Trading in some Cons at LFS....

[bmxer4ever]

Con check; Tuesday morning......Still wrigglin'....! Yeah! Hopefully these ones are gonna make it!
How long 'til free swimming? Should be another 24 hrs, yeah?

 

[bmxer4ever]

Got the film (yes - not digital!) from my camera developed. Got pics from Con breeder tank. Not very good, but you get the idea!

The pair on the leftside have a clay pot behind that sandstone with their wrigglers in (as of 12pm today, they're wrigglin hard!), the other pair have an upside down pot with a triangular hole chipped out of it hidden under the lava rock.

 

[Mystix212]

I breed cons and have for the last 15 years. If you don't want a pair to spawn, do not have a pair. To "squish" the eggs is un needed stress on fish who do not deserve to be treated like doo doo.....

When my cons do the deed, they are relentless in chsing any fish away from thier territory. It also scares the Bala Sharks quite a lot and they smack into driftwood and cut open thier faces. When I do squish the eggs, literally as soon as the cons notice the eggs are gone, they just revert to thier peaceful selves.

 

[bmxer4ever]

When my cons do the deed, they are relentless in chsing any fish away from thier territory. It also scares the Bala Sharks quite a lot and they smack into driftwood and cut open thier faces. When I do squish the eggs, literally as soon as the cons notice the eggs are gone, they just revert to thier peaceful selves.

Ouch! Havn't you though of just moving the Cons?
My fry are still wriggling hard, MUST be getting close to free swimming. I'm surprised at this pair - first spawn and they seem to be good parents straight away.
I think the other pair are jealous! They keep digging sand pits and cleaning spawning sites, but no eggs from them yet.
Do breeding Cons with a spawn release hormones to discourage other Cons spawning? Hasn't seemed to stop other multiple same tank spawns before, but I was just wondering.
It's all still a learning process for me.

 

[bmxer4ever]

Not quite free swimming yet. Usual spawn to free swimming time is 9 days isn't it? So I should expect them to be free swimming next week (Monday?) if they spawned last Saturday?
Or will it be sooner? They seem to have absorbed yolk sac, but are still bumping around on the sand.
Parents keep digging new holes and moving them out of sight, so it's hard to keep an eye on them!
Hope they make it.

 

[bmxer4ever]

Little 'uns started to free swim yesterday (Saturday), one week from spawning.
Couldn't get online all day yesterday - computer totally whacked out on me, wouldn't let me go online, then froze up, etc.etc. Tried a "System Restore" on it this morning and it seems to have worked. First time I've ever used that function - returned all my settings to Friday morning without losing any saved data. Seems like a good fix.
Anyway, back to the fry. Not sure how many there are as the parents dug the sand out under their clay pot, on the side facing the back of the tank, and spat the fry in there, so hard to see anything. Looking in a gap at the side of the tank, I can use the rear glass as a mirror, and see a good 20 or so bobbing around, but can't quite get a look at them all. The Con tank is on the bottom of the stack in the pic below, so you can see the problem!Feeding frozen daphnia at the moment, need to see if LFS has packets of BBS cultures in stock yet. Didn't see any last time I was in.
Keep you updated as it happens....!

 

[Bk828]

I actually returned my convicts last week and got $5 for each (returned a mating pair). The manager of the store is one great guy, lets me trade in fish any time, no questions asked..
Now before the return the convicts had some fry about 2-3 weeks prior. Here are 2 vids (fry is 3-5 days old)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=O-_KjdQBgbI
http://youtube.com/watch?v=UAepMj0MOkU

Now all i have in the tank is just the 30+ fry (some pink some black) they are now starting to take shape.. the black convicts starting to get their stripes and the pink are somewhat behind on the growth... will wait till they are atleast an inch long and then will see if i can sell them..

(here.. small convicts go for $3-4 .. larger cons go for $6-7 --RETAIL--)

 

[bmxer4ever]

I actually returned my convicts last week and got $5 for each (returned a mating pair). The manager of the store is one great guy, lets me trade in fish any time, no questions asked..
Now before the return the convicts had some fry about 2-3 weeks prior. Here are 2 vids (fry is 3-5 days old)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=O-_KjdQBgbI
http://youtube.com/watch?v=UAepMj0MOkU

Now all i have in the tank is just the 30+ fry (some pink some black) they are now starting to take shape.. the black convicts starting to get their stripes and the pink are somewhat behind on the growth... will wait till they are atleast an inch long and then will see if i can sell them..

(here.. small convicts go for $3-4 .. larger cons go for $6-7 --RETAIL--)

Cool vids! Not sure how many fry I've got in there, but they seem to be happy enough on the frozen daphnia and they're grazing on algae as well. Parents mouths and chins are are bit roughed up. Never seen this before, but I presume it's from damaging their slime coat moving all that sand about. My female Con looks like she's got a little beard!
The other pair are still skulking about, clearing spawn sites, but don't seem to be doing much else.
I get about the same price (well, half price for the trade ins, but they retail the same) , but in £'s.
Oh well, time for another water change!

 

[King Edward]

Ouch! Havn't you though of just moving the Cons?
Do breeding Cons with a spawn release hormones to discourage other Cons spawning?

No they dont, unless someone forgot to tell my cons! I have had three pairs mate in my 4ft tank and believe me you dont want that...... Its westside story with THREE gangs!

Went round the stores in Edinbugh, and they were all willing to take them...for free. I could see them in the shop tanks for £5... So stuff them...ended up feeders...Pity as they're such cool fish, but they really seal they're own fate by being so prolific....There must be something in those central american lakes that tears through cons...

 

[bmxer4ever]

No they dont, unless someone forgot to tell my cons! I have had three pairs mate in my 4ft tank and believe me you dont want that...... Its westside story with THREE gangs!
Went round the stores in Edinbugh, and they were all willing to take them...for free. I could see them in the shop tanks for £5... So stuff them...ended up feeders...Pity as they're such cool fish, but they really seal they're own fate by being so prolific....There must be something in those central american lakes that tears through cons...

Yeah, didn't think so either, but I thought I'd ask!

I know what you mean about "gangs"! The parents (which I traded in a year ago) of my current breeding pairs all bred within a couple of months. I had 10 spawns from 24 Cons in one tank (not all at the same time!) Weeded them down (traded) to 8 and had two pairs that spawned at the same time and did the West Side Story thing!

Out of those two spawns 10 survived, 4 paired up and I traded the rest, as mentioned earlier.
The fry I have at the moment from one of these pairs are growing well - just started feeding BBS and they are gluttons for them. Had to make my own live food as none of my LFS have had any in for a while, so I bought a couple of those Sera brine shrimp packs at the weekend and hatched 'em over the last few days.
The little buggers eat so much they end up sitting on the sand too fat too move!
When I was back at the LFS at the weekend I was buying one of those new Rena 300w Smart Heaters, using my store credit from the last 6 Cons and mentioned to the guy that I thought £8 credit was a bit low considering they were selling them at £4.50 a go.
It was a different guy from the one who gave me the credit and he agreed - gave me another £5 credit which made £13 credit all in - half retail. Ended up getting the heater for £8! They sell them at £21 which is cheap, when I searched online for one they were about £28!
So, in effect, my Cons saved me £20!
Feel a bit better about the trade in now! Just proves the old adage - if you don't ask, you don't get.