Convict Breeding

[Full3R]

i was curious, if i had a pair of convicts in a community tank and they did breed would it be safe to pull the pipe they bred in into a guppy breeding tank and let the eggs hatch in their or do they need the parents

[William]

Its better to leave the eggs with the parents. They fan oxygen rich water over them and keep fungus at bay something you would have to attend to if you move them by using aration and anti fungal chemicals.

[Full3R]

i see, well ive found designs for a eggs raising tube that will do those things i could post a link to in DIY

[Full3R]

i have a 36 second video of my convict which i am pretty sure is the female digging in the barramundis former barrel that ill send william to see if it has any relation to the convicts preparing to breed

[William]

ok. But you should know, everything convicts to are related to breeding ;-)

[Full3R]

i see, they're a bit rowdy

[William]

I have gotten the video and will post it tomorrow. I'm "working" now.

[William]

Or why wait?
I can do two things at once.
Click the link below to se Full3Rs low quality convict Video (almost 6mb)
Convict video (http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/Convict_Digging.avi)

That can very weel be breeding related but as I said before. Most things with convicts are.

[Full3R]

is low quality as i said but hey it shows sumthin i guess

[rollie]

i would leave the old pair in with the eggs. that with a pipie and taking the eggs out ,there no needs for that. if the eggs was discus eggs then maybe.

[Full3R]

well the females area between its two fins that are underneath its neck and the anal fin is really round on one who is protecting the barrel readily and attacks even the barramundi who could swallow it hole when it comes near, but the other rarely attacks the other fish

[rollie]

I WOULD SAY THEY GOT EGGS. they might killed the barramundi, no joke!!

[Full3R]

im watching them in hopes that they dont

[William]

Its not to likely that they kill the barramundi even if they could since they are still to small to take the entire tank as fry territory. The barramundi can most likely just stay out of their way and be fine. allthough as Rollie says. It is possible.

[Full3R]

well they barramundi doesnt attempt to hurt them he just swims past and the convicts get deffencsive

[Full3R]

My convict eggs have hatched and are now on day 2 my parents are only 2 1/2 inches long will they attacked the juveniles when they get to be bigger then there mouths or would it be safe to leave the fry in there

[William]

The fry are safe from their parents untill the parents start prepairing to spawn again. Then the fry have to be removed.

[Full3R]

should i remove them once the fry are free swimming?

[rollie]

yes you should.

[Full3R]

ok thanx

[William]

Thats up to you. The parents will take care of them and you should NEVER remove all of the fry. The male may kill the female than. if you do. I have had it happen.

I never remove them unless I have a crowded tank sicnce convicts are good parents however it should be said that more fry will survive if you do.

[rollie]

that is true.

[Full3R]

More fry will survive if i dont remove them or do remove them

[rollie]

now this is me, but i would remove the old pair.

[Full3R]

yeah that seems easier thanx both of you

[Full3R]

theres over about 50 fry moving across the bottom of the tank now

[William]

Nice.
Are you going to raise them?

[Full3R]

how do you mean?

[William]

I mean are you going to let the grow up our will they end up as food.

[Full3R]

oh deffinetly im going to let them grow up i couldnt feed them to somthing i couldnt be that cruel

[Full3R]

At what age will my baby convicts start looking like the parents instead of tadpoles do yous know?

[rollie]

couple of weeks or less.

[Full3R]

When the babies are about 2cm would it be safe for me to put some into my community tank?

[William]

The ones with the couramis?

[Full3R]

yeah

[Lindsay_D]

convict mothers are evil....they ripped a hole in one of the nets....

[Full3R]

So would the small convicts work with my community fish

[Full3R]

My convict fry are 17 days old now and the mother is back to full health she is still with the fry, i was curious would it be safe to put the female with the male again?

[William]

Mayve. But keep an eye on her the first few days.

[Full3R]

My convicts layed their second lot of eggs yesterday

[William]

nice. Are you going to let this batch remain with the parents or move them to their own tank?

I am hoping to post pictures of some wild convicts soon. I see them most every day here and they are really nice. Many males have large humps on their head.

BTW I am considiering eating convicts for diner tomorrow. Its a common food fish here.

[Full3R]

ill try leaving the babies with the parents this time to see what happens, but last time they kept falling through the gravel and getting caught,

Males with bumps on their heads! catch and send me some :P

[Full3R]

Also at how old will the babies be an inch ?

[William]

It depends on a number of factors. I would say 2-4 month.

[Full3R]

I forgot to inform you all that the last lot of eggs they layed rotted due to food rotting ontop of them, they have layed more today

[William]

Hmm very strange. the fish would normally remove any such food or other substances o the eggs.

[Full3R]

the new eggs have hatched and are looking good they are swimming around now also ive lost ALOT of my first batch unfortunetly and was curious when they are bigger and to big for my gouramis, ghost, blackskirts, shubunkin, and other community fish to eat would it be safe to put them in that tank for a short time

[DemonShark]

I belive so

[William]

Yes it would.

[Full3R]

kool i can only count 5 fry from the second batch now :( i think they may have got stuck within the gravel so i plan to use sand the next time

[William]

sorry to hear that.

[Full3R]

they layed another batch today

[William]

Thats the ood thing with convicts. They always give you a new chance and is a very good fish if you want to learn to care for fry.

[Full3R]

my male convict the father has a chunk taken out of its tail it is with the babies along with the mum would she have done this?

[William]

She could have done it. the female can sometimes start protecting the fry against the male.

[Full3R]

so should i try and remove him or what

[William]

It depends. Have the female been nice to him since. Sometimes they can have a little fight without really becoming enemies.

[Full3R]

well they still swim together and stay inside the skull

[William]

Than you will most likely not have to remove the female.

[Full3R]

my convicts have layed yet another lot of eggs and still are caring for the last lot they had should i do something to, yeah i dont know but should i do anything?

[William]

There are a risk that they will kill they fry in the last batch when the new batch have hatched or at any time after they hatched. So you might want to remove the fry if you want to keep them safe.

How is the older fry doing?

(btw nice to see you, you aven't been around much lately.)

[Full3R]

the old batch is doing fine and the parents still keep them with the eggs and there still about the same size as new hatched fry so i think theyll be alright theres only about 20 left though due to my pump breaking down


sorry ive been gone my computer was being fixed

[Full3R]

William what size should the fry be when selling them coz my first batch ever still isnt even 2 inches

[Fishguy2727]

most LFS will take them at about one inch, also about as big as you can start sexing them.

[Full3R]

ok then, thank you very much Reptileguy2727

Btw ive been meaning to ask are those the only reptiles u have in your signature?

[Fishguy2727]

yes, now. i have bred leopard geckoes. i have had savanna monitors, tegus, anoles, newts, lots of pacmans, budgett's frogs, albino asian bullfrog, veiled chameleon, fattail geckoes, nile monitor, different snakes, african bullfrog, tons of water turtles including many baskers, softies, and snappers, and probably other stuff i cant remember.

[Full3R]

infact a frog is actually a amphybian i currently own several baby turtles that would have been if i hadnt removed them from the drain they where at.

they desided to dig up the creek the drain leads to and i managed to get some baby turtles out

[Fishguy2727]

how many? what species? setup? the best diet is high quality pellets only. any live food can introduce lethal parasites and diseases, and most of the time they dont show signs of illness until it is too late. and i havent found reptomin or wardley to be high quality. the best food for hatchlings is hagen nutrafin max turtle gammarus pellets. i have raised many babies on just this until they were big enough for a variety of other foods. i know frogs and newts are amphibians, but they are usually grouped with herps. will you be able to deal with them all as adults? is there another body of water near by that you could release them in?

[Full3R]

well ive had them for over 2 years and they actually belong to my mother and shes grown quite attached to them since weved had them, i feed them on specially formulated meat squares for turtles from my LFS and i breed mosquito fish for them along with meal worms earthworms and bloodworms, i found a large female also and kept her in my avary till i could let her go she layed eggs in that time which were eaten by ants all except one which hatched prematurley and is now still living after several weeks

[Fishguy2727]

how big are they now? they should be averaging at least 4". what species?

[Full3R]

there a little over 4" maybe 6", 7", 5" at the smallest they are australian eastern snake necked turtles.

If u wish to continue this conversation i would suggest we start a thread in "other species" as turtles are not central or north american cichlids

[Fishguy2727]

fine with me. im more used to north american species, but should be able to help.

[Full3R]

oh yout hought i needed help with the turtles no they are fine ive had turtles since i was like 3 there fine i was just mentioneing it coz u said u owned turtles

[Full3R]

as a permanent breeding tank could i use a 20 gal for a pair of fully grown convicts and there fry?

[Fishguy2727]

that should be okay. i usually remove the parents after too long and feed the fry myself. i do big water changes and that triggers breeding, so they will still have a brood and be trying to mate, so i pull them out. after one water change the male started beating up the female because he is a little more protective of the brood than her.

[William]

Yeah. A 20 gallon should do allthough you will have to remove older fry when they breed again.

[Full3R]

my eldest fry that are roughly 5mm - 1.5cm long are in a seperate tank with a small 3 inch ghost and my male convict breeder was fighting with the mother who has more fry now so i put the male with the eldest fry and ghost and they are doing fine and the eldest fry are all following the father and he is also hearding them as if they were sitll little, is this unusual, should any problems arise?

[Full3R]

my convicts that live with 2 oscars and 2 acaras have just hatched another lot of fry just lettin use all know

[Full3R]

Ive lost no fry as of yet and they are free swimming around the rocks and broken pipes where they were born the oscars swim right through the school of babies when i walk past the tank (as the follow me) and do not harm the fry at all and then are scared of by the parent convicts will the many of the fry survive in a community tank?