Life Of Convicts - Convict Breeding Log.

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Hey there,


I was thinking about not putting this log on here because I know breeding convicts isn't a horrible diffcult, but I thought it would be fun to put it on here anyways. I will tell you all about what has happened already since I got them, up until the recent day. I will update this daily.

January 17th, 2009.
Day 1: Convicts bought from LFS and floated for about 30 minutes, then release. They took a liking to each other very fast and took over the tank fast aswell. My gourami got very angry with the new Male convict, so he was removed into my 20G Community Setup.

January 18th, 2009.
Day 2: Did a 30% water change and started feeding more oftenly throughout the day with freeze dried blood worms, then before lights out I feed them high quality flake food. They seemed like they have paired off and are now taking over the tank. A flower pot was added for a place for them to lay eggs.

January 19th, 2009.
Day 3: Did another 30% water change, continued my feeding pattern, and raised the temp. slightly. Female's egg laying tube has become very visible and will be expecting some eggs within a week hopefully.



The tank is still full of fish, a dozen or so mollies, 4 cories, 1 CAE, 3 Black Skirt Tetras, and 2 Endlers. I know there will problem be some deaths during the Convicts breeding period, but i'm not to worried about any of the fish expect the cories and the mollies. My CAE and the tetras and the guppies stay to themselves on the right side of the tank, which the convicts own the other half. The mollies and cories just don't understand and might get injuried. I'm going to try to remove the cories, but I have no where to put the mollies. Only thing I can do here is let nature be it's way.

I'm not doing this to sell the convicts either, since I know I most likely won't get a thing for them, I just thought it would be fun to watch the convicts be parents and watch the fry grow. Watching nature take it's course. My LFS is running low on convicts though, so they said they might start buying from me to be able to say they were home tank breed and raised.

I still have to add the sleeve over my intake of my filter, i'll also give some updates on water parameters tomorrow. I will also get some pictures up on here of the Convicts. I would now, but it's late and I have school tomorrow. Like I said, this will be a daily updated log, so


Keep intouch.

[kribensis12]

Sounds great so far. I feel bad for the other fish in the tank. You have no idea how vicious theese fish can get once the eggs are laid.

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

I have read a lot of stories about Convicts taking down fish x3 their size during breeding. I honestly don't have a choice for most of the fish. I can remove the CAE to my cichlid tank and see how he does in there, remove my 3 Black Skirt tetras and my Endlers and my 4 Cories into my 20G Community. I have no room for the mollies though.

I tried to sell them to my LFS, but a lot of them were screwed up babies and have some spine issues and bad gills. I wasn't really expecting them to live this long anyways.

I'll try to remove everyone tomorrow besides the mollies. I do feel bad for them, but I have no where to put them. I rather have those convicts any day though compared to the mollies, like I said i'm going to let nature do what it has to and see what happens.

[SWerner13]

No pics?

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Sorry guys, I got held up with studing for my school finals and didn't get to a lot of stuff today.


The convicts have really paired off and are now patrolling the tank has a team, not singlely. There is a lot more sand in the flower pot I set in there for them. They're also 2-3 pits around the pot were i'm guessing the babies will be placed there.

I've continued the water changes and the feed habits as before. I have removed all the fish besides the mollies, sadly I have no place to put them. I moved my Gold gourami, 3 Black skirt tetras, 2 endlers, and 4 cories into the 20G with my 2 rams, 1 kuhlii loach, 3 red-eyed tetras, and 2 neon tetras. Might seem a little over stocked, but I do 2 water changes a week on that tank. Water parameters are fine on that tank. I also moved my CAE with my cichlids, hopefully they get along.

Tomorrow I will be less busy, since I get out early because it's the end of my test, I get out at 1:35p.m., normally 3:00p.m. I will test the water tomorrow and make my sleeve that will go over my intake on my filter, i'm just going to sew two filter pads I have together to fit snug over the intake filter already on the intake tube.


I will take some pictures tomorrow, since I will have time, I will also make a short video aswell displaying where they are planning on breeding, so you can see the setup. Expecting some eggs sometime this week.



Keep intouch, and sorry about the late pictures.

[kribensis12]

It's okay. Its good you actually study ( i DONT). You dont need to tie 2 pads together, cut a hole in a pad and slide the intake in it. Thats what i do. It's funny, my convicts did not make any pits when breeding last time. I dont know why, i thought it was kind of odd.

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Got home, at 2:00pm, I took my water parameters, they all check out fine.

pH - 7.6
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 10

I had somethings to do at around 6:30pm and left then, they looked like they were going to spawn very soon, but haven't yet. When I got home around 8:00pm, there they were just going to town on the lower part of my flower pot I sat in there for them. They dug a pit right under it so the fry can just fall straight into it. I couldn't count the eggs because everytime 3 secounds the male will block my view protecting the eggs, so I kept losing count . I'm just going to wait till they hatch and count from there.

I was pretty excited too, it has not even been a week since i've gotten them, they must of liked the condtions. People said it is as easy as adding two convicts in some water, but this was really quick, quicker then my mollies. I'm excited to watch them be parents.

No deaths yet on fish, happy about that aswell, but once the eggs hatch, there prob. will be.



I did snap a video, but i'm leaving to a friends for the night, so i'll post it tomorrow sometime. No school because I got done with finals today. I didn't do mega great on them, but I passed haha.

Video will be up tomorrow, they are still spawning at the moment too, so no point of counting eggs anyways.

Originally Posted by kribensis12

It's okay. Its good you actually study ( i DONT). You dont need to tie 2 pads together, cut a hole in a pad and slide the intake in it. Thats what i do. It's funny, my convicts did not make any pits when breeding last time. I dont know why, i thought it was kind of odd.

I just suck some of the pad into the little guard that was on it already, it works good, thanks for the idea. Yeah, I saw like 2-3 pits they could of picked from so I knew they were getting close, wonder why your's didn't do it this time.

[kribensis12]

CONGRATS! Can't wait for the video! I have had angels spawn the day ig ot them, sometime's, a fish just has to spawn!

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Sorry for no update yesterday, was really business. Also, I haven't gotten the video posted up yet, so sorry about that aswell.


Today I went in and checked on the eggs, and over half were gone, I didn't see any fry either so i'm guessing they didn't get fertilized or they got eaten, something like that.

There is around 30-40 ish left still, they are getting darker and the female is still protecting them well, not even letting the male get over by them. Hopefully I will soon see some fry tomorrow, it was 2 days today, and they normally take 48-72 hours. I'm just going to keep hoping.

I will try to get the video up as soon as I can, which will problly be tomorrow.

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Well, all the eggs are gone and there are no fry, that I know of. Do convicts eat their own eggs under certain circumstances? I know the tank has a lot of other fish and i'm wondering if they ate the eggs because they were scared of the other fish eating them. Some of my mollies are actaully the same size of my convicts.

I'm going to try to move all the mollies and give them to my biology teacher. He got a 55G about a month ago and is pretty empty of fish. I think they would like it in there.

I have to find out what i'm doing with the rest of the fish, i'm thinking rest of my cories in my 20G, Tetras in my 20G, Endlers in my 20G, CAE in the 60G Cichlid tank. I think i'm pretty set, hopefully their next patch will actually be fish .

Keep intouch guys.