trying to breed convicts for live food lol

[rob1984]

my dumb convics wont breed what the heck .... i was told they can breed in toilet water for god sake lol ..... when i got them free from a local guy he said they were constantly breeding ALL the time which is why he got rid of them, i want mine ot breed like a SOB for a endless supply of live food ...

there in 75g but prolly too many fish in that tank for them to wanna try breeding, so ive been thinking about putting them in my 10g tank together, i have 4 of them.... one is larger then everyone and then 2 smaller ones prolly 3" or so... is there anything special i shoul dbe doing to help them breed temp, water conditions ? are bottom or substrate ? is there a way to tell M from F as well ? any kind of food to feed to help them wanna spawn ?

 

[importracer]

Place a pair in one of the 10g tanks......Put the temperature to 78-82 degrees......Place a clay pot on its side, making a cave.........No gravel, no sand, just bare pottom tank...The fish will breed within two weeks.........

 

[rob1984]

whats the best way to identify the M from F ? not sure what one is what lol.... and i dont know which ones are the "pair" as they've never bred and i have the largest one in my big tank and the 3 smaller ones in my 75g

 

[fishbum]

Females have pink on their bellies.

 

[icantquit]

just let them pair up...get a 20 gallon or so...they do good with or without gravels. Most important thing is provide them with a spawn site, whether if its a slate, clay pot, etc....you might even wanna go with jags or jacks....they breed just as easy and is good for feeders.. My peacock bass prefer jacks or tilapias....and koi angelfish over jacks..what you feeding your convicts too?

 

[rob1984]

i feed all my fish, NLS and hikari cichlid gold pellets, mysis shrimp, brine shrimp, blood worms.... i do have a breeding pair of jacks but they havent bred in a long tme for some reason ?.... but ya i think im gonna toss the 4 convicts in my 10g tank and throw a clay pot and small peice of flat stone in there for them (gravel bottom) do they need good water nd lots of room or ? temp just set at 81-82 ?

id like to get these guys to breed asap as i have a small bass and he picky as a mother trucker when it comes to feeding/eating....

 

[rob1984]

well i added the 3 smaller convtcs in my 10g and the larger one as well.... seems to small ones have orange spots on there bellies, and one look like there some too, and one has none... maybe i'll take pics 2morrow after they settle in a bit they look a bit stressed... added a small clay pot and temp is at 81-82deg, should i add a flat rock in there as well or just leave it as is for now ?

 

[guano]

Im not sure how big the convicts are but imho 10gal tank is too small for all 4 of them. Sounds like you got 3f and 1m. You can try and see if the male will choose the female in the 10gal and remove the rest. Or you might have better luck if you just choose the female for him. I think your good with just the clay pot in there.

If that doesn't work out for you, try guppies or some live bearers or even some red wiggler worms.

Good luck

 

[rob1984]

How long should I leave try to do there own thing before moving or distrubing them ? I try to get pics 2morrow of them and what not and then we will all know better

 

[rob1984]

Im not sure how big the convicts are but imho 10gal tank is too small for all 4 of them. Sounds like you got 3f and 1m. You can try and see if the male will choose the female in the 10gal and remove the rest. Or you might have better luck if you just choose the female for him. I think your good with just the clay pot in there.

If that doesn't work out for you, try guppies or some live bearers or even some red wiggler worms.

Good luck

well the biggest one has no orange on the belly at all, think it a male he is bout 4-4.5" then the 2 smallest are 2-2.5" and then one about 3" the two very small ones have orange specks on the bellys (on the side) and the 3" one has like a bare belly maybe a "pink" belly... hard to tell in pics

but here are a few pics for you anyway

this one is the biggets one