How To Stop My Fish From Breeding

My boy friend had a 12 year old texas cichlid that died recently. It shared the tank with a younger convict. He went and purchased another texas cichlid for the tank. The convict and the texas cichlid mated. We now have fry. It was really interesting at first. The parents have been taking care of them i got spiecal food for them and they are getting bigger. I have a 30 gallon tank to move the babies to when they get a little bigger. I have been doing a fishless cycle with Dr. Tim's it is almost ready. I recently realized I have no idea what we are going to do with all these fish if and when they mature. Do I try to find homes...do see if the pet store will take them. I read in one forum the pair might keep breeding. I dont want them to. I also read some where the conditions need to be right for them to breed. I think it said the temp needed to be 72 and there needed to be a recent big water change. Well I just did a big water change befor I got the new fish and I didnt know it but the heater had quit working so the water was cooler then normal. We have replaced the heater. My question is If the temp is warmer, he usually has it at 78 will it keep them from being able to have fertalized eggs? Or are we going to have to rehome one of them to keep this from happening again.

 

cross breeds are hybreds but cool if u slit the adults up they wont breed convics can breed with a few other fish thats cool

 

Welcome to fishlore - I am sure you will find someone to help you as so as people wake up and get onto the forum
As much as this may sound strange - congratulations on your breading experience! (no sarcasm intended!)

You raised a couple of issues:

1. What to do with the new fish
   1. as they get bigger
   2. distributing them
2. Further breeding and ways to stop it

On the subject of what to do with the fry - I think you are on the right track. Putting information up here on the forum in the right category (like you did) will attract some interest. LFS are usually set up as businesses, so you will need to speak to them - good LFS take fish from known sources because they can safely recommend them to their own customers as reliable. So ask them what their policy is.

I cannot help you on how not to have more eggs hatch out, or weather this is the right moment to slow future reproduction. I am sure someone here will help.

Good luck - would love to see a pic of your fry

 

Thank you for your reply. Here is one picture of what I think is the dad and some fry. I think it's the dad because this one is taking care of fry the most. They follow him around. It's hard to take good pictures of the fry because they are so tiny. But they are getting a little bigger. I posted this picture in the Instagram thread too.

 

Here are some more pictures....Its just so hard to photograph the fry because they are so small. But you can kind of see them in these pictures

 

New pictures of my babies.

 

My new tank finally finished cycling so I could move the babies and the male out of the tank! Yay!

 

Well, first the bad news: raising the temperature is not going to stop them from breeding. In fact, it may increase it. The only way to stop them from breeding is to separate them.

Now the worse news: Convict X Texas hybrids are not uncommon, and are not usually wanted by any stores. They tend to grow up with the least desirable traits of both species. Your best bet is to find a fish that will eat young Cichlids. I know that sounds harsh, but it is better than trying to raise a couple hundred fish that no one really wants.

I know how cool it is to get your first Cichlid spawn, their behavior is so fascinating. It is a shame that your fish are two different species. I would go to the store and see about trading one of them for a corresponding mate of the fish you want to keep. Myself, I would be trading the Convict for a male Texas, but you might want to go the other way. Female Convicts can be quite colorful.

Good Luck.

 

Thank you for the info!

I have since read about how hybridizing Cichlids is frowned upon and I understand why.

I didnt want them to breed...though I did find it fascinating. And I didnt know it could happen.

There was probably around 300 babies now there are only about 40, they got picked off by tank mates.

I dont want to trade my male convict for a male texas mate...because I dont want anymore babies to be born. It was never my intent or desire to do so. To much baby drama for me!! LOL

I have moved my convict to a new tank with the remaining babies. I had to wait for the tank to cycle. I had to get him out so no more mating would happen, and I had to get those babies out of there because I was worried the texas would kill all the other tank mates trying to protect them. She was trying hard. Now she is clam and happy and is leaving the other fish alone.

There were about 10 babies I could not catch. At first the texas was still obsessed with them and trying to protect them. But slowly she lost interest. They slowly disappeared, I thought they were all eaten, but tonight I saw at least 2 of them hiding in the rocks. The drive to survive is strong in these little fish!

I posted a picture of the texas so you can see she is no longer all black and crazy. And I know they are frowned upon hybrids but I had to post a picture I just took the other night because right now they are so cute. It is a macro shot so you can really see it. I would say in real life this baby is about 1/2 inch or 3/4

 

Yep, like all babies, they are cute!

I'm glad you did the research on Cichlid hybrids for yourself. That's always the best way to learn. Good luck for the future.