Covict Cichlid-live bearer ??

[angels004]

my brothers convict cichlid recently had babies! well we didnt actually see the mom give birth. and we were wondering if convicts are live bearers or not. We talked to Petsmart over the phone and they said when the babies get a bit bigger the mom may eat them! so we removed the mom and the dad and put them in the 55 gl. How do these little babies survive, and what do they eat ?
do they need their mother still, or did we do the right thing by removing the parents ??

p.s. about how many times can the female convict give birth? plus++ how many fry are born each time?!

info. asap!

-Lauren

 

[angels004]

 

[dogspot]

Convicts are egglayers... They conceal their eggs well... Usually on the underside of a rock, or similar. I had convicts back in the day... They spawned like crazy. Mine were great parents, never ate the babies. But the sooner I removed the babies, the sooner they would lay eggs again. They would lay eggs about every 2 to 3 months. They would average 50 to 60 babies each time.

I only fed them crushed flakes... But baby brine shrimp probably would have been better.

 

[angels004]

thanks, now that i know that we will definatly need to remove them from the 55 gl. with 3 oscars!

 

[angels004]

not the babies! lol we have the babies in a 20 gl. (where the convicts used to be) and then we put the 2 convicts in the 55 gl. with 3 oscars (is this dangerous, or is there no caution?)
do they still need their mom or should i leave the convicts in with the oscars until the babies are larger ??
please respond!

 

[angels004]

im not exactly a wiz on fish!

 

[whitetiger_CJ]

I have never seen a canvict parent eat its own young, they usually take such good care of them that all the other fish are stuck in a corner. the babies need their parents until they are free swimming, otherwise they will not get the needed water ciculation that the parents provide. congrats on the fry!

 

[talloulou]

and then we put the 2 convicts in the 55 gl. with 3 oscars (is this dangerous, or is there no caution?)

Well by putting 3 oscars into the 55 gallon it appears you already threw caution to the wind, lol.

 

[krap101]

well my teacher had to take out the babies because they were eating them

 

[hashbaz]

I don't know about convicts, but I know that some cichlids take their babies into their mouths to protect them, and later spit them out. Do convicts do this?

 

[greenmaji]

I don't know about convicts, but I know that some cichlids take their babies into their mouths to protect them, and later spit them out. Do convicts do this?

this is mostly a behavior of the mouth brewers of the african rift lakes.. Lake Malawi, Lake Tan. ... theres like 5 of them I dont recall them all.. but convicts are south american or northern south american the later if I remember corectly.. I dont know of any south american cichlids that have this behavior.. I doubt any that are known of do..

 

[greenmaji]

The oscars need 75+ gallons worth of tank and for 3 I would error on considerably bigger.. the convicts should be fine with there babies and you should try that first before separating them.. if they eat the fry it they will try again they eventually learn not to.. alot of the time they eat the fry when they feel like there habitat is threatened.. in other words they feel like more mouths to feed would be a bad thing.. And alot of the time fist time spawners will eat there fry out of inexperience.. My theory is go ahead and try to do the best you can to make them confortabe as possible and if they eat the fry they will more then likely learn from the experiance..