evo1234

I want to breed convicts but I have a few questions to ask.

1. I heard that when they mate that the male will want to mate again right away. That will put stress on the female. I don't have another tank setup so what would I do with the male? Tank divider?

2. If I divide the tank how long should I wait to let them mate again? I don't want to stress the female too much.

3. Will they eat the babies after they hatch or are still in egg form? If they won't eat them can the fry live with the parents? If not my LFS will take the fry.

Thanks.

btate617

1. What size tank? If they are raising fry he will be content and not want to mate again right away. The problem that may come is sometimes cichlids will eat their first couple batches of fry, either as eggs or shortly after they hatch. It will take her say 10-14 days to be ready to go at it again, and him being a typical boy will not want to wait, so yes if they eat their batch he will harrass her a bit. Having a tank divider handy will not hurt anything it may come in to play.

2. you could divide it for a day or two if something happens to the eggs/fry. Then rearange the tank decor and remove the divider and see how it goes. It may take a few tries or may work right away. Lots of hide outs and caves for best results.

3. Once they get it right they are great parents, as are all cichlids. You will be fine leaving them together.

Brian

Meenu

it's a 33 gallon

btate617

Thanks. I didn't look at the info before I posted and well yea you know....

You should be fine, if you feel better about having a divider handy then go for it.

Brian

evo1234

thanks for the advice. i got fish today from my school but can't tell if they are male or female. one is darker and has orange on its belly. the other is lighter and i can not see any orange. i have attached pics. they are not the best but the fish keep moving. thanks.

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bolivianbaby

The pics are blurry. I've attached a picture of my pair of striped cons so you can compare them to yours. The females have an orange belly (I can see one does in your pic) and the males don't.

The first pic is the male and female. The female is on the left. The 2nd pic is the male.

I hope this helps! It's fun to watch them raise their fry. They will have a lot, so you may want to think about how to find homes for the babies.

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evo1234

thanks for the pics. the convicts i have are really small (about 1.5-2 inches) so I can't really tell now. My LFS will take the fry. When does the male develop a hump on its head?

thanks.

edit: i got a third one from my school. if i have 2 females and a male or 2 males and a female, how long will it take for the m/f to pair up? I can get the other fish out of the tank if they start to attack.

Amanda

They will breed when they are good & ready...I've learned that. There's no way to force it. Do you know for sure that you LFS will take the fry?? Most will not since they breed SO prolifically and are easy to become overrun with.

bolivianbaby

I'm not sure when they develop the hump on their head, mine are all under a year old. Shawnie'll see this thread. She can tell you. Her boy is two years old and he has a hump.

evo1234

Amanda- yes i have talked to the owner and he said that he will take the fry.

I have attached 3 pics of my 3 cons. Much better quality. They have bubbles on them from my bubble wall. It looks like ICH but it is not. Fish in photo 1 and fish in photo 2 chase each other. Fish 2 will not let fish 1 near fish 3.

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Amanda

I'm glad you found a LFS that would take them, mine use them as live food for their Africans & Oscars.

bolivianbaby

From what I can see, it looks like pic 3 has the orange belly. That's a female. The other two look like males, but it's really hard to see their tummies.

evo1234

I have 2 more questions.

The one I think is a male has some pieces taken out of his tail fin. It looks more like damage from an attack than fin rot. When I got him he was in a tank with a 4 inch female. She might have done it. Will that ever heal. is there something I can do to help it?

The female and one of the others have this rainbow color effect on their fins. Is that normal?

Thanks again for the help I really appreciate it.

bolivianbaby

Yes, that is perfectly normal. Most of my girls have the rainbow colors on the fins. That is a sign of a well-bred convict.

As far as the chunks taken out of the tail, I've had it happen to mine as well. Once they're away from whoever was biting their tail, it heals up. If you keep them in pristine water conditions, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, it'll heal on it's own.

gmen4life

well they do it all on their own and the oarnge belly is a female...in my pairs case momma feds off pappa with no problems i almost feel bad for him lol she runs the show even twice as small as him no need to divide them but to breed them good luck placeing fry!!i have pleanty would you like some lol

evo1234

is it normal for the male to chase the female around and then for the male to go back in a cave decoration? The female swims around the tank and every so often the male comes out and follows the female, nipping at her. The female runs and he chases her. Then after about 10-20 seconds he goes back in the cave.

bolivianbaby

That's perfectly normal. Convicts are cichlids and cichlids are crazy! That's one of the things that make them so fun. As long as no one is getting hurt, I wouldn't be concerned.

evo1234

none is getting hurt. it does not happen all the time. i just thought i needed another pair or something like that. they spent 20 minutes chasing ghost shrimp around the tank today and looked to be working well together so I don't believe they are going to cause damage to each other. thanks for the help.

btate617

All the chasing is normal, he is just trying to get her attention.
With the nipped fins/tail, just make sure you keep your water in top shape and they will heal on their own with a little time.
Even though they are small, I believe you said 1.5-2", that is for sure big enough to have a mature female. The male probably also, but he may take just a bit more time to be mature. But like I said Many people have breed them at this size.

For you pics you have posted two different sets.

The first set
pic on left- left fish female, right fish?
pic on right- back fish female, front fish?
pic on bottom- back fish female, front fish?

2nd set of your pics
pic on left- male
pic on right- ?
pic on bottom- female

That is what they appear to be to me. Good luck with them, if this is your first go at breeding cichlids you are in for some good times, they are great at raising fry. Very interesting behavoir.

Brian

evo1234

The con with the orange on its belly is darker than the other and it has pointed anal and dorsal fins. the one without orange is really light colored. can males have orange on them?

bolivianbaby

Not that I know of.

Cons change color with their moods. When they get into "spawning mode", they REALLY darken up. All mine get "convict masks" just above their nose. When they're just relaxing and enjoying being fish, they're lighter.