Convict Breeding

[Jaybird]

I have four convicts in my 90G, along with some firemouths and two salvinis, and and wondering if people here have some experience breeding convicts.

Two convicts are about 2-3 inches long, and two are 1-1.5" long. One of the small ones is obviously female. Her entire stomach area is red and her fins have a beautiful blue hue to them. She has taken to following one of the larger convicts. This larger one has long extensions to its dorsal and anal fins that reach to the end of its tail, and some orange-ish scales along the side of its belly. I've seen them go into some small caves now and then, but they never stay long.

Out of the four, they are the only two that seem to not fight against one-another. Could this be them pairing off? If so, how long before she lays eggs? Are there any telltale signs before they spawn?

Thanks.

With convicts once a pair is forumed it usauly not very long before eggs are seen. With mine the female just got to where she would disapear for short periods of time by her self. Then about a week later the pair would just show up out of the blue and eat then disapear again. Then one day I seen that the female would only come out after the male had come back to the cave. Once she ate then the male would leave.
That's when I noticed there was eggs on the roof of the cave. So good luck with yours and hope you see eggs soon.

[Jaybird]

Well, the male has been doing a lot of excavating lately, and always in the same two places: under a ledge that makes a small cave, and inside a larger cave. He keeps picking-up single pieces of gravel and then carrying them a short distance before spitting them out. He's got quite a hole dug under the ledge. Every once in a while the small female will join him under the ledge, but doesn't really do any excavating on her own.

The colours on the female are incredible. There is a lot of irridescent blue on her dorsal and anal fins and her stomach is almost bright red. I'm really glad that they were added to the tank.

I've asked my girlfriend to take pictures if she sees any eggs or fry and post them here. In about half-an-hour I will be off to central america for a week.

[Jaybird]

Just an update on the convict situation: I talked with my girlfriend while I was away to see if anything had changed, and she didn’t see any eggs or fry, but did tell me that the two convicts had stopped acting like a couple. I thought that a little odd.

I got home yesterday and took a look at the tank, and sure enough they were chasing each other around the tank….but then the larger convict headed back to the same place in the tank and there were the babies! It seems that what I had thought was a couple were actually two females. The two larger, approximately 2” long, convicts are the pair.

Yeah, there is a bit more aggression in the tank, but everyone is still fine. I think there are about 30-40 of the little guys. They are about the size of newly born guppy fry right now and are still yellowish/clear in colour.

It's pretty cool to watch mom and dad take care of them. When they stray too far away, one of the parents scoots over and gulps them up and spits them back with the rest.

How long until they start to get the typical colouration of convicts?

I guess I’ll *have* to take a trip to the LFS this weekend I’ll see if they will want to take the little ones off my hands for free. How can they say “no” to free fish?

Here are some pics of the young-uns. I must say it was a nice surprise to come home to.

Congrads man. If they make it and you need to get rid of some let me know I'like to have a few. LOL

[IowaFish]

Jaybird-

I was wondering what your water conditions were like? I just bought 3 convict cichlids, on Tuesday and was curious how long it took them to spawn, and any other helpful tips you had?

[hulkamaniac]

Sweet. I've got a convict that I'd love to breed, but I've never had any success. He kills all the females I put in there.

[Jaybird]

I think that the cons were in my tank for about two weeks before I saw the fry. So, if they take about 6 days to hatch, a couple to use up the egg sacs, then, they probably laid the eggs after being in the tank for about a week.

At first I thought I had a pairing, but it wasn't between the ones that I thought. The female was doing some major excavating and I was hopeful but didn't see any eggs or anything until I got back from a trip.

As for water conditions, I'm at 0 amm. ,0 nitrite, whatever in nitrate as I do a big water change each week, and ph about 6.5-6.8. I think people get too hung up on their water conditions being textbook perfect for a species. It's probably critical for wild-caught fish, but people keep so many types of species in so many types of water. Keep the water stable and you will soon have too many convicts.

I planned on using what fry I could as treats for my firemouths and salvinis, but they are doing a good job on their own. As the fry get bigger they start travelling too far and the parents are not as vigilant as they were at first.

[Big Ben]

Mine took 10 days for fry to be visible.