buffstony

Hello every one, I was wondering what are all of the options an/or what do you do with your convict fry? The only real things ive heard of doing is raising them, giving them away to raise, or feeder fish... any info is appreciated

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore!! I have about 50 or so of those cute lil buggers and yes thats about the only options...not many will buy them as they are so hardy..you can check with your LFS to see if they want them ...

Slug

Welcome.

Yeah your pretty limited. Feeders are your most viable option. Sometimes you run across people who want them to raise, but you might have to sell them as/use them as feeders.

buffstony

Shawnie, how are you keeping your 50 or so guys? (size of tank, with parents?, how long should they stay with the parents an at what time should they be taken out from parents?)

Slug, how good are they as feeders? what is the minimum size/age should they be feed as, an im guessing the max size/age is what ever fits in the eating fish mouths...?

Shawnie

mine are kept in a 20 gallon..parents are fine with them...they can stay for however long you want them too..I have some that are 2 inches or so big and some that are still 1/2 inch or so...U can tell the pigs of the bunch for sure!! .I have taken the parents out because I had other tanks for them once they grew up and they are now in with two oscars and 2 JD's...

Slug

Basically judge it by whats eating them. You can get rid of them faster at a smaller size because the bigger fish will eat more at one sitting, but you also run the risk of the convicts escaping being so small, they can hide. Just whatever size would make a good meal for that fish.

If you are selling them to the LFS or others 1" is probably a decent size.

Allie

You can't even give away convicts here anymore. No one wants them...now if I was allowed to get another 20g...I had have pair. I love them. I'd sell them for like $1 a piece when they are 1".
Yeah we had them in with our 8/10-12" cariba and red belly piranha in our 120g. They were suppose to be feeders but the convicts took over the tank. We had hundreds of convicts for months and months. The piranha weren't fast enough to catch them...plus we had too many of them in our tank. So they didn't have the space to go fast like they would in the wild.
They wouldn't eat the convicts until they were full 3"- to full grown.
Talk about being overwhelmed with convicts. LOL

bhone20

Yes, overwhelmed is an understatment with a 98% success rate of surviving even in the nastyest water,a friend of mine has a pair that spawn alot and the Oscar that is in with them keeps the fry to low counts,He is very carless and lazy, his water quality is very very poor,he uses no conditioner,no dechlorinator,no water changes and it is a 55 gallon with 2 10 gallon filters on it that never get changed and the water is usually like tea colored.They still thrive.But the Oscar is paying for it. I have 2 Oscars that are just over 1 year old that are 11 inches, He has had his oscar for 2 years before me and it is barely 5 inches.
I have all of my fry (100-150) in a 100 gallon water trough outside and they are growing like weeds.When they reach about 2 inches is when I start plucking them out and letting the Oscar snack on them.