Convict Cichlid Babies

[bignut102]

Hey Everyone, I have 5 convicts and 2 oscars in a 55 gallon tank. A pair of my convicts have made a territory and started breeding I just noticed today the little balls moving around. most of them from what i could tell had tails like tadpoles almost. If I want to keep the baby convicts are there any steps i need to take such as seperation from the other fish? The female moves the babies when i turn the light on into a seashell and then later on in the day puts them in a closed off PVC pipe. Thank you all ahead of time.

Oscars are 5 inches and about 4 inches if that helps?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

you need to be careful as breeding convicts can be incredibly aggressive, make sure they don't beat up your oscars.

please forgive me if i'm telling you something you already know, but as this is in the beginner forum i'm assuming you don't.

personally i don't think you should try to save the fry, you need a 75g tank minimum for 1 adult oscar, you also can't really keep them in pairs unless they're a proven breeding pair (which at your size they're not and it's incredibly unlikely they will turn out to be) and even then it's risky. so while your tanks probably fine with the fish in it now it's a nightmare waiting to happen and you need to sort it out before you come home to a bloodbath when the fish reach maturity. When the tank's already overstocked with bad combinations of fish the last thing you want to do is introduce a swarm of babies.

you either need to get a bigger tank and you can then keep 1 oscar, or re-home both of them if this is the biggest tank you can afford or have room for.

sorry that's not much help to you regarding breeding cons but I thought it's worth saying just in case you don't know. As things are now you've time to work out what to do, I'd rather than than leave it and see a post in 3 months time saying your oscars are scrapping and what should you do

 

[chrisdoesntmiss]

Basically your babies will be fine for about a month and a half so long as nothing spooks the parents. However after that they become free swimming and the parents let them. That is the point in which your oscars will start to eat them, best option is to have the oscars removed before breeding commences, however it cant hurt to segregate the tank with a sheet of meshed plastic.

However if you follow this you could sppok the parents, removing the oscars at that size is not the easiest of jobs and can stress everyone out so the best bet is let nautre take its course and when the fry and about to leave the parents, as in getting more than a few inches away from them, remove the oscars at that point and if the parents do lose interest the fry are large enough to look after themselves.

Feeding the fry baby brine shrimp is the best bet in a healthy well grown batch. Live food encourages much better growth and if you watch them whilst feeding you will see them almost playing with them and chasing them.

Also as another note, do not be surprised if your parent convicts look as though they are eating them, its more likely them are moving them back there territory.

 

[bignut102]

I have a spare 30 gallon.