Convicts Nesting? - And The Aftermath

electric yellow

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Ok so i think my convicts are nesting?? Does anyone know the signs of this? I know they lay eggs and yesterday i rearranged their tank and added lots more silk plants for cover and hiding spot and i dropped in a clay cave. Two of the four have been swimming in and out of it all day...

Advice? Ive had these four for 2yrs and they've never spawned before...they are mixed in with a variety of other cichlids...if they are nesting what should i do if their eggs hatch???? All four of them are a gorgeous black and dark grey stripe so id love to keep some of their fry..

The clay home...theyve actually rolled it onto its bum so its standing up! (edited because the #### is blocked??)
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The girl going in..
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The boy guarding..
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If the female lays her eggs inside that clay pot and they hatch out inside there, you won't be able to rescue any into a fry tank until the parents start taking the fry on trips around the tank. It might also be difficult for the fry to swim out of the clay pot with the female as they tend to stay very close to the substrate area and not swim upwards until they are much bigger.

I would be tempted to try rolling the pot back over so that the hole is closer to the substrate. and wedge something behind it so they can't push it back over LOL!

Convicts normally spawn very regularly - every coupld of weeks or so - so even if the fry from this batch don't survive, I'm sure there will be other opportunities for you to rear a few.

It might be easier to get a different kind of cave for them - something that is a bit more open and easier for all the fry to move in and out together (which is what they would usually do). Also, is the male able to fit inside that pot? If not, then even if the female lays eggs in there they won't get fertillized and won't hatch.

The nest needs to be large enough to fit the male in. Once he's done his bit, he usually hangs around outside whilst the female stays in the nest, fanning her eggs.

Quite often the male will eat the fry within the first week (if he can reach them!). This might happen the first few times but they do mature and get the hang of it in time.

Regards - Athena
 
So i rolled it to have the hole facing forward and not up how they had moved it. So i pretty much leave them to look after the fry? I have a 28ltr aqua start tank i can tank my betta out of and make a fry tank but if they take them on trips round the tank isnt it best to leave them in there? I turned the light off because they looked confused as to where the door had gone. They were circling it trying to find it...will they find the door again?

Oh while rolling forward my yellow tail acie bit my arm four times. God he has sharp teeth!!

The girl saying hi..
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The boy guarding...
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I actually thought they would of bred by now but maybe theyve been to young?
 
I just shone a torch in their lil home and there is eggs!!! YAY!!! How do i know if they are fertilised?? The mum is constantly in there and the dads guarding the door like a guard :D
 
Oh that's good - I expected she would lay eggs, from the behavour you explained. Now, we just have to hope that the male has been in the pot at some point to fertilise the eggs!

All you can do now is wait and watch. Try not to make it too obvious that you're staring into the nest and don't shine that torch in there any more - if the female feels her nest is being threatened she may abandon this batch (eat them). The best success is when they are left alone with no intrusions.

Try not to do much tank maintenance right now (e.g. no gravel vacs or moving stuff around etc).

The eggs should hatch pretty soon, in the next day or two but you probably won't see any fry for ages because they will be miniscule at first and will stay in the pot with the female for a few days.

If they survive the first 3-4 days, she is then likely to parade them around the tank. The male usually goes ahead of her and burrows a hole in the gravel. Then they will guide the fry along to the safespot.

You won't be able to feed the fry anything whilst they are in that pot, due to it's tiny hole - but they will eat their egg sacs to begin with anyway.

Once they are out of the pot, you can start feeding the fry.

Here's how I do it:

Buy liquifry 1 and 2 - first week use liquifry 1 (it's a white liquid that you squirt a drop or two above where the fry are. The droplets burst and cloud the water around the fry but this soon clears. This provides nutrients for them. If you don't have any liquifry you can put some normal flake food into a pot and grind into very fine powder. Mix a pinch of this with a bit of tank water and sloosh into the tank above the fry.

A week after using Liquifry 1, I switch to Liquifry 2 which is a fine yellow powder (a bit like grinding your own from flakes).

You may notice that the fry count diminishes day by day - and if this is the case you know that they are being eaten off gradually. If you are determined to rear some of the fry, you will need to remove a few by the end of week 1.

It's not an easy task as the parents will charge at you like crazy for trying to steal their babies. You might find it easier using a turkey baster/syringe to suck the fry up and squirt them gently into the fry tank. But be prepared for war - and the parents will get very stressed at this time, so once you have done it, turn off the tank light and don't go near the tank for a while till they have calmed down.

You can buy (for about £7) a hard, plastic fry/breeder cage which you can attach into your tank with suction caps. They usually have their own little air stone and spray bar to ensure the cage is getting enough aeration. This is what I used, with great success. Don't use a net trap because the parents will try to suck the babies through the net and kill them.

At some point, once the parents have fully matured and have really got the hang of producing/rearing fry, they will stop eating them all and then you won't have to worry about rescuing fry as they will allow some fry from each batch to survive and grow!

If you need any more advice or info just let me know.

Regards - Athena
 
i dont know if the eggs are fertile or not...they look kinda brown...but that may be the clay pot. the male is hovering around the door like no tomorrow and the female is constantly in there. do they hatch quickly after laying? i thin kthe male has been fighting because hes looking a bit ragged today and flarey when i said hi to them. He looks kind of pale to. Maybe hes tierd from guarding the door 24-7.

note- its only been two days since i shone the torch in and found the eggs so if they are fertile in hoping they hatch this weekend. I would like to save a few so maybe just extract a few to the fry tank and let the others grow in the tank with the big fish.
 
Well the good news is...THEY HATCHED TODAY!!! I can see lil wriggly things in the bottom of the pot when i turn the light on. :beer: :hyper:

YAY!!

How long till they conme out of the pot and start swimming round? ive ordered from ebay something athena told me to get to keep the fry in but its coming for hong kong so will take a week or so.....

SO CUTE!
 
They are convicts...thing is...i THINK they have hatched. There is stuff wriggling round in their but if they did they are TINY TINY!! It looks like there is some other stuff in there to....i dont want to shine a torch in there again...but imay have to. If they did hatch then they are small as!
 
Yep - those are definitely fry you can see wriggling about and yes they are miniscule, I know. Will normally be 2-3 days at least before mum brings them out. Have PM'd you in answer to yours, with a bit more info.

To Krib - the thing ordered by the OP was a plastic breeding/hatchery system (one with it's own air stone and spray bar, fits with suction caps inside the main tank). I bought mine from my LFS (Marina brand) for about £7 but couldn't remember the name of it at the time I mentioned to Electric Yellow, and happened to find a similar one on ebay to show them, but it was a bit more expensive. I think that one has it's own mini filter sponge in a side compartment, too.

I was just recommending it because I tried out one of those netting type breeder boxes and it was disastrous as the parents were trying to suck the fry through the net to rescue them and ended up killing them.

These little hatchery systems are great if you don't have room for a separate fry tank set-up because they can sit in your main tank and the parents can't harm the fry, plus the water inside their box gets plenty of aeration from it's own airstone.

Athena
 
Honestly, it is completey normal. Here is a pic after 2 and a half months of large water changes( 40 % + a week), and high protien foods( like 40% protien and above):

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They are 1 inch plus( but some are about 1/2 inch, so....)
 
^^
Awe awesome!
Im going to seperate them at the end of this week when my box is here and running in the same tank. Or i may wait till they get a tiny bit bigger so thery wont fall out of the gaps.
I came home from shopping and there is around 10 out and about swimming. My johannies try and go near them but boy do they cop a flogging!
 

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