Why wont my convicts breed??

[OscarCichlid]

They are in a 29 Gallon tank. The water temperature is 78. 6 Inch male 4 inch female. There tankmates are 2 Pictus cats and 1 Pleco. They are being fed Floating Cichlid Pellets.. I do not understand why they wont breed theve been together for about 2 months now.. What am i doing wrong?

 

[Mustang5L5]

Maybe they should take some lessons from my cons (read the sig)

 

[iloveyou]

do some big water changes, or lots of small ones... try raisin the temp to 80... and see if that helps... mine paired up almost the first day of spring... it started getting warmer here everyday and they paired up pretty quick and spawned... maybe switch the ornaments around in your tank too

 

[Abernathy]

http/fish.orbust.net/forums/index.php?sh...showtopic=25486

There you go.

 

[OscarCichlid]

As you said, pre-breeding behavior is taking place. My male is practuically black, my females stomach is bright orange and the have moved gravel out from inside of a hollow rock that is in the tank. Could this be the breeding area? They do not let the pleco near it and the pictus cats dont even try anymore. This has been going on for about 2 weeks.

 

[Mustang5L5]

As you said, pre-breeding behavior is taking place. My male is practuically black, my females stomach is bright orange and the have moved gravel out from inside of a hollow rock that is in the tank. Could this be the breeding area? They do not let the pleco near it and the pictus cats dont even try anymore. This has been going on for about 2 weeks.

Sounds like they will breed soon. Exactly what mine did before the first time. It took them about a week.

Watch the female's belly. It should start to get bigger and bigger as the eggs develop. When it gets very large breeding will be imminent.

 

[OscarCichlid]

should i start feeding them flakes?? A friend of mine has had cons for a long time and he always fed his flakes when they had babies because the babies ate the flakes. The pellets im feeding them are huge.

Sorry: I just realized i posted this in the wrong forum. Can a mod move it to Fish Breeding Advice??

 

[Mustang5L5]

I've always fed all my fish flakes.

Once in a while i toss in algae wafers, bloodworms and cichlid pellets.

The cons only eat the flakes for some reason. The make does have an appetite for algae wafers though.

I notice the fry would always catch flakes that floated to the bottom of the tank. I'd make sure i would take a small pinch, break it up really tiny and submerge it so it sinks right away and down to them. I usually do that after feeding big flakes and other stuff to the other fish.

Usually the fry just pick around the bottom of the tank. The parents move em around so they male good scavengers. They would pick at every bit of leftover food and even algae growing on stuff.

My fry are about 1/2-3/4" now. I don't think the second batch of eggs lived. If they hatched i think the mother ate them. I'll wait a week to see if they become free-swimming first, but i don't see her protecting new fry...just her previous batch.

 

[EX-AmP]

though cons arent picky, they are naturally cave spawners. mine like this one pot in the corner of my tank. if you fish stil wont breed, leave them alone for a week or 2. dont change the water or anything, just feed them. trust me, this works. ive had devils, cons, jewels, and JD's breed this way.

 

[angel_lover]

You can have mine they wont stop Seriously are you in Canada?

 

[OscarCichlid]

lol no im in NJ but if i could have gotten them i would have...