breeding convicts

[bball4life]

Ok well at first I had 4 convicts 2 males 2 females. I had one pair I moved the other really small male into another tank, but kept the female in. Once the pair that I had spawned and the fry hatched they ate them. So a couple of weeks later I saw some more eggs, but this time the male spawned with the other female I had, this time the fry survived but when I tried to move them to another tank they died. So now that female died after she had them. So I have 2 convicts now a male and a female, will these two ever spawn again? Is there anything I could do to encourage them to breed?

 

[cichlid]

well why did the female die??

cons are such sluts, they will switch pairs alot i have found, but u should figure out why she died, maybe the water isnt very good,

but i would try reintroducing another female con, or just seperate and then put back, might work, it worked for me

 

[digital_run]

cons are such sluts, they will switch pairs alot i have found, me

This is the general assumption with Convicts...but can in fact be quite picky and for this reason its always best to have 1 male and 3-4 females so that the male can choose a partner. Also convicts are very protective parents and will even turn on each other to protect their fry. I have to use a divider when my cons breed because my Male will make short work of his female partner. I usually leave the fry with the father as he seems to keep more of them alive than the mother, but i switch it up to every once in awhile.

Once you have a convict that has established himself in the tank it can be quite hard to reintroduce a female. The best way is to remove the male...change the decor around in the tank, and reintroduce both of them at the same time. This isn't a sure thing and you'll be able to tell if its going to work or not in a short time span.

What size tank do you have them?

HIH a little.

DR

 

[bball4life]

I have no idea why the female died, I saw it too it was weird because she just sat at the bottom then died. Also I have decided to get another female but, I am worried about getting another because the convicts have grown quite a bit since I first got them, so im worried the female will get beat up kind of, and when ever I go to my lfs or petsmart there are none that are bigger than them. Im going to petsmart tomorrow to check unless someone knows any place online to get big convicts.