convict cichlid breeding

[Patrick333]

What are some reasons why a pair of convicts wont breed. THere is one male and one female.lowering the temp? raising the temp? not feeding? making no water circulation? feeding more? how big of water change if any
ay other things would help the water parameters are fine Ph is about 7.4

 

[iloveyou]

i heard raisin the temp slowly to 80 or 82 can make em do it... try some 10% water changes every few days

 

[Patrick333]

to 80-82 from what tho. I have it set at 80-82 all the time. Ive been doing water changes everyday for about 5 days now.

 

[iloveyou]

um.... i donno then.. maybe they jus arent paired up yet

 

[Patrick333]

how do they decide to pair up? When i got them from lfs the two had eggs they were guarding in the tank with other convicts.
How long is it between spawning?

 

[iloveyou]

how long have you had them? maybe theyre still getting used to the tank.. how big is the tank? are there any other fish in there?

 

[Abernathy]

One sure way for me has been to remove the female for a day or so, then to reintroduce her. The male usually swims up quite excited and within a few days the products of their union are visible. You can also try to feed them bloodworms for a few days beforehand to prime the female. Good luck!

 

[Patrick333]

I dont have any where else to put her. My other tank is a community tank. Unless i stuck her in a one gallon.
I have a divider will that work?
Ive been feeding them blackworms for about two weeks everyday once a day and i started feeding them b loodworms once a day. All i feed r=the now is black and blood worms.

 

[Patrick333]

I do not have another tank to put the feale in unlessi stick her in a one gallon for a day or so. I do have a tank divider do u think i should divide in half?i have been feeding them blackworms for about 2 weeks. I started them on frozen black wors like 5 days ago.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Do you notice any pre-breeding behavior?

If you have a male and female and they display when the greet each other (but no fighting) then they are probably paired. Also, you will notice their colors begin to brighten and the male might actually darken up close to black.

Then over the next few days they will begin scouting out a little nest site. They might narrow it down to two or three sites and you will see them moving gravel to make a pit in two or three spots. Eventually they will pick one spot and work on that 1 pit alone.

Then you will notice them be very aggressive and defend that spot more than usual. They will spend most of their time in that area.

Finally they will lay eggs.


My Pair has been scouting and digging pits for the last week. Finally i think they have narrowed it down. They dug a pretty good sized put but it's been 2 days and no eggs yet. The female is pretty plump so i imagine it will happen soon. I usually keep my tank at 75 degrees so today i started to bump it up to 82 degrees. Hopefully that will trigger a spawn.

 

[Patrick333]

my female kind of hides away from the male and when the get close to each other he bites her.
Could i stick her in a breediong net in the community tank or should i let her in a net in tht one?

 

[Mustang5L5]

Are they the same size??

 

[Patrick333]

no, female is about 1.5 inches as the male is 2 inches
They have bred before at the fish tank at the store.
How long is it between spawns?

 

[Mustang5L5]

Just give em time. The female may be stressing over all the recent changes. You just gotta be patient.

Drop your water temp to 75-78 and wait a week. Then do a few 10% water changes and bump the temp up to 82 and see if that does the trick.

Watch the female in the meantime, make sure she isn't being bullied by the male. You may have to remove her. WHat type of community tank do you have? WHat fish are in it? Do you have a small breeder trap you could float in the community tank and float the female in for a day or two? If you have larger fish in your community tank, you might get away with putting a 1.5" female in there for a day or two.

 

[Patrick333]

my community tank has angelfish neon,black,glowlight netras guppies platies
So no on being in there put the net could work. I could use a i gallon too.