Convict Breeding

[SINISTER]

I got a Few questions on Breeding Convicts. I recently picked up a 55 Gallon tank off Craigslist that came with about 30 Convicts that have been breeding like crazy already. What I want to know is, How can I tell Male from Female and will any Male mate with a Female or are they picky at all?

Also how long does it take for them to lay eggs and how can you tell if one has eggs inside of it that way if i wanted to move them to a different tank to make sure my other fish/turtles do not try to eat all the eggs?

Any info on breeding Convicts would be MUCH appreciated. Also, are the white spots on the convicts fighting marks? I can post pictures soon if needed.

 

[Wills]

Hi just curious what other fish do you have in the tank? Bit concerned as 30 convicts is not viable in that tank in the long term, you will get a dominant male and female who will kill most of the other convicts in the tank. Though convicts are by no means the most agressive and powerful cichlid they are pretty evil and have often been seen to hunt and kill tank mates when breeding. I would pick a male and a female you like and rehome the rest, males have longer pointed dorsal and anal fins and will also have a slight hump behind their head, your alpha male will have the largest hump (possibly). Convicts form pairs how ever they do break up and they will breed readily with any other in the tank they are not picky . You can usually tell if the female has eggs as she will get fat and drop down a breeding tube about 3/4 along her body near the tail.

When you say white spots? How many spots and where are they on the fish, you might need to post pictures of it for us to be sure. It could be a disease but if they are on fins they might be scars but we need to be sure, IMO its most likley to be disease.

Wills

 

[SINISTER]

The White spots are on a few of the fish on there sides which look like marks where they got bit by other tank mates. They were homed with a Huge 8 inch oscar so he mite be picking on them aswell even tho most the convicts are baout 6 inches long. Also I think some of the fish have Ick so im going to be treating them soon for that. I got meds for it already...

also do they eat there young after there born or are they pretty good about not doing that? i know alot of other fish will eat there babys right when they see them..


What do you think I should do if I wanted to keep all the fish? seperate what I believe to be males from females with maybe a tank devider and just breed when im ready or what?

and when you say a tube, do you mean a actual little line will come out of the butt or what ever of the fish and just hang there as shes swimming? and is this AFTER she has bread or when she is ready to mate?

 

[Wills]

To house 30 adult convicts you are going to need a much bigger tank with a big foot print height wont be important, usually people say 1 pair of cons per 20g because of the territories and aggression when they are and are not breeding. Putting a tank divider in is not an option.

Actually...... I just looked over at my 65 and tried to imagine 30 6 inch fish in there they must just be absolutley thumbed in? Do you have a pic of the tank at all?

Is the oscar still in the tank? The parents might not eat the babies but the others will but parents have been known to eat fish if the area is unsafe for the babies. What kind of filtration does your tank have and do you know your water stats, ammonia, nitrite etc

Wills

 

[SINISTER]

Here is 2 pics of the right side of the tank. They seem to be moving around the tank more now but when I took this picture they were all bunched up in the corner where the light is and the fake plants (the other side of the tank has no plants so its all open so i think there scared)

this shows just a few of the larger convicts and the large oscar and yes he is still in the tank. I am going to try to get rid of him, AND the huge cat fish in there as well...

Pic 1

Pic 2

there are a few baby convicts in there around 2 inches or so but most are 4-6 inches easy. about 6 babys died in the move since it was a 45 min drive from there place to my place and they were all in a bucket together, but since they breed like crazy 6 is nothing...and they were all babys so its not a big deal...


here is a pic of the cat fish..can you tell me what its named pls?

I got 2 of those in the tank too, should i be worried about them eating fish?

 

[Wills]

The catfish are humbug catfish sometimes eat small fish but not often..

The tank is massively overstocked your going to get some major issues mainly with the convicts and the oscar but if the oscar goes thats some good new I would seriously consider moving most of the convicts on as well

 

[SINISTER]

Yeah that is my smaller tank tho, they are going into a bigger tank soon so they will have alot more room. the only reason I have them in that tank is because it was already established and I needed to clean out and refill the tank that they came in since it was reallllly dirty. so in the next 1-2 days they will be moved.

 

[Wills]

if the bigger tank is 55g its still to small for what you have, the advice I was giving was based on the 55g

 

[SINISTER]

if the bigger tank is 55g its still to small for what you have, the advice I was giving was based on the 55g

ah okay.

Just a few more questions I thought of

do they have ALOT of babys when they DO lay eggs?
Do I need to keep both Male AND Female in the tank with the eggs or just the Female?
Do I need to provide a place for the babys to hide after hatching?
Are there any Species of fish that are good with Convicts? Like a Jack Dempsey?
How big do they have to be to Breed? are mine a good size to start Breeding by the two pictures shown?
Will they eat Feeder Fish if offered? like some Rosy Red Minnows or something of the sort?

 

[Wills]

Each brood is about 300 - 400 eggs most will hatch if they are in a protected environment, parents will protect fry and eggs but will kill babies if they breed again. Once the fry are free swimming you could separate them from the parents. They will breed from about 2 inches onwards and will do so on a weekly basis maybe more.

They might eat feeders but I dont think they will probs just kill them and leave them, I dont like feeder fish personally I see no value in it just feed live foods like blood worm. Feeder fish are often kept in bad conditions in store and can easily bring in disease and with fish like convicts its just not nessacary.

As for tank mates you need to tell me what size tank they will be in and in what numbers if its all 30 in a 55 gallon then no more fish in that tank. What are your plans for the fish and the tanks?

Wills

 

[SINISTER]

Well I put the cat fish on craigslist already, my buddy across the street has a 25 Gal long so I mite just give him the Oscar..I dont really want the oscar because I know there mean as crap and its just not interesting to me right now. I want to get rid of at least 15-20 of the fish and keep most of the big ones.

searious they breed every 2 weeks? so i can have 1 female and 1 Male, let them breed, then they lay eggs and 2 weeks later the eggs hatch and shes ready to breed again? that is crazy i did not know it was that fast.

What should i use for the bottom of the tank for the eggs to lay on? right now im using these little rocks...is that bad?

 

[Wills]

Oscars need 75 gallons minimum for one, my HRPs (convict relatives) bred every saturday after water change, they will lay the eggs on anything but in such cramped conditions I imagine very few fish will survive. Also what do you intend to do with the babies? Most lfs wont even take them in because they breed so readily they are often over run with them...

As far as what you plan to keep when you say most of the big ones how many of each species?

 

[SINISTER]

I want to at least keep 4 Big ones, 2 males, 2 Females. Of course ide like to make sure there male AND Female before i start gettin rid of the others. there are also a few babys i see in there that have very nice coloring that ide like to keep but not sure if i will or not.

 

[SINISTER]

Also I found the correct name for the cat fish. it is a striped Raphael catfish

 

[Wills]

striped raphael or humbug same fish pretty nice fish but hide so much which is a shame and the only reason Ive never had them.

You might get away with 2 pairs of convicts in there but be ready with a divider if things get nasty, I would use giant danios as dither fish and I think if you wanted to keep the catfish they would be okay in the tank.

The way I would do the tank is put caves in each corner, pots, pieces of wood or PVC pipe all will be fine as long as the convicts can fit in them then just pile a big mound in the middle with wood, rocks and plants to create a barrier through the center so the convicts dont make eye contact too often and that will make them stay in their caves hopefully the danios will be fast and tough enough to avoid regular beatings and the catfish are so solid they will be okay but also their hiding nature will be okay I would try and set up a cave network in the central part to keep the catfish herded in there.

Wills