Black Convicts out of control!

[AndrewRenard]

ok, without removing the female, as i have no place to put her, how can i discourage black convict cichlid breeding? its really bugging me! she just laid her 5th batch of eggs this month...my tanks gonna be crowded, i sell my babies...but more babies are born faster than i can sell them....and not too many people want cichlids...is there a way to possibly discourage breeding?

 

[Feline]

Erm... may b u could give them away to lfs? Or will the pleco help reducing their population?

 

[AndrewRenard]

umm, what or who is LFS? and also, how would hte pleco help reduce the population? hes really friendly

 

[Alien Anna]

When I was researching cichlids, someone suggested to me getting some upside down cats. Apparently, they will eat fry, thus act as a natural population control. I don't know enough to know if this is a good idea in this case. Anyone have an informed opinion?

 

[AndrewRenard]

how big do they grow, how much to they cost?

 

[gadazobe]

LFS = local fish shop

 

[Alien Anna]

how big do they grow, how much to they cost?

Please check out this information (Planet Catfish is a good place to start) since I've never kept them myself, but Synodontis petricola (aka "Dwarf Upside Down Catfish") is a nocturnal fish, adult size 3-4 inches. It is a shoaling fish, can cope with a fairly broad range of pH (ideally 6.5-7.5) and is very much a carnivore, living in the wild on a diet of floating insects and fry of other species. It will take flake and other food in captivity but can be fussy.

There are other species, but most grow to between 6-12 inches adult size.

I've known several cichlid lovers who deliberately keep Synodontis in their tanks to keep down the population. Cichlids mostly don't seem to regard them as competition and perhaps because they are nocturnal, tend to ignore them.

Synodontis itself is an egg-layer who will lay bundles of eggs stuck to the underside of leaves. You'd be lucky to breed them, but if you did and you didn't want fry, it would be easy enough to remove the eggs.

 

[Alien Anna]

PS. My LFS was selling Sinodontis petricola for £6.50 each, £12 a pair.

 

[AndrewRenard]

thanks ill look into it