Convict Fry...What do I do?

[.Occy.]

Well for the past while my cons have been gurading their terracotta pot religously...I knew they were going to end up a breeding pair, I jsut hadnt seen anyting for so long I figured maybe nothing happened...This morning I go look and I have about 100 free swimming fry around the terracotta pot! I am so excited! They are in a 112g tank with a 7" oscar, 5" severum, 4" blood parrot, and the pl*co...They are are really good parents, making sure nothing gets too close, but still letting them swim to the other side of the tank (they're breeding site is pretty much right in the middle of the tank )....Is there anything I should do? I would like to see some fry survive, so should I just let them do their own thing, or move the other fish? I have a 90g as well, but it's more of a community tank....I do not want all of the fry to survive, because I would not be able to house them all, or probably sell them all...But I did get a breeding pair, knowing what I would be getting myself into ...any help? It's my first time with free swimming fry (Had my bolivian ramsspawn, but community fish ate the wrigglers)

 

[impur]

A bunch should survive fine. The parents will defend them, possibly killing the rest of your fish. Hope that doesn't happen!!!

 

[.Occy.]

I hope not either! They all seem to get the point that these tiny little fish are MEAN! The cons will let them swim by with no problems, especially my gold sev..it seems like he doesnt pose a big enough threat to them. Ohh, but Big Girl (oscar)! She wont give up! I'm feeding the fish a bit more to make sure that they stay well fed, so they dont get sooo hungry they try to eat the babies, is this ok to do? If worst comes to worst, Iw ill takr the fish out of the 90g to a LFS and put everyone in their until con babies are large enough to survive and sell!

 

[impur]

You could probably just remove the fry to a 10gal if you wanted. Then let em grow out there. After they get to a decent size you have live food for your oscar!! Thats what i would do.

 

[.Occy.]

mmmm...dont really want to feed them to my oscar...i dont mind them growing up and selling them...do the parents feed them?

 

[impur]

Good luck selling them, you will probably have to give them away. See how easy it was to breed them? I've been in fish stores where ppl were trying to give cons away and they were down to either this store taking them or dumping them down the drain. I guess they had nowhere to keep them and not a single store would take them.

If you feed them with enriched brine shrimp and other good foods, they would be such a healthy food for your oscar.

The parents don't feed them, so if you are having troubles getting the food to the fry, your best bet would be to move them to their own tank. You could get a small tank, 10 gal is cheapest, and just set it up with an airstone and a heater.

 

[Jason_S]

I've seen convicts and honduran red points (similar species) chew up food and spit it out near the fry to feed them. not saying all parents will do this, but some will. if they don't, just feed a few pellets for the parents and then add some crumbled up flake food or some type of cichlid fry crumble that will sink down to the fry.

 

[duendecillo]

just put some of the fry in anything that has a decent size, cons don't have problems with temps around 22 degrees, and if you change the water regularly, they will grow very well.
I've had con fry all over the place, even in buckets, and none of them ever die, they are the strongest fish ever

(the bucket thing was very temporary though)

 

[.Occy.]

ok, cuz i am moving this weekend..(great timing ) and i was going to siphon the baby cons with an airline into a bucket for transfer. Should I add the parents, and how would I go about putting them back into the tank?

 

[fufanu360]

its unlikely that the fry will surive the move

EDIT: 1000th post!!! yay!

 

[mwm]

Most ocnvict parents will chew up food and feed the fry with it. If u move them at such a small size u will have to syphon. If i were you i would just let nature take its corse and hope yout cons dont kill your other fish.

 

[.Occy.]

Well so far so good anyway...If the fry doesnt make it, I'm not going to cry about it....They'll always breed again..and again, and again! The fish seem to know their boundaries now, so thats good...only the severum is allowed getting remotely close, for some reason...