I agree. when your dealing with cons its when, not if. They are outstanding parents by the way
Convicts Nesting? - And The Aftermath
- Thread starter electric yellow
- Start date
I agree. when your dealing with cons its when, not if. They are outstanding parents by the way
OP
OP
electric yellow
Fish Addict
^^^
Yeah so ive been told. Im umming and ahhhing as to whether or not to seperate them from the rest of the tank into a box attached to the side. They seem quite content with guarding them as they swim around so i think i will just leave em be for now. Im just worried about the fact i have to do a gravel vac due to massively over feeding them by mistake. I dont want to suck them up!!!!!
Yeah so ive been told. Im umming and ahhhing as to whether or not to seperate them from the rest of the tank into a box attached to the side. They seem quite content with guarding them as they swim around so i think i will just leave em be for now. Im just worried about the fact i have to do a gravel vac due to massively over feeding them by mistake. I dont want to suck them up!!!!!
skittz
Fish Fanatic
best to remove them as soon as possible a neat trick to get them out is get some tube 1mtr worth and syphon them out of the tank to avoid them everywhere lol get them on some natural growth food to size them up quicker.....
the good thing about my 2 pairs of breeding convicts is that they are in their own 2ft tanks and i can leave the fry in the tank till they are almost 5cm in size but in my 4ft display tank i have a big convict male 11cm in size who believe it or not he is completely blind and he has the help of 2 female convicts who look after him and they have been breeding non stop lol because i dont want the fry from them i dont remove the fry they end up being food for my other fish in the 4ft lol yeah its cruel but i have too many!!!! lol
the good thing about my 2 pairs of breeding convicts is that they are in their own 2ft tanks and i can leave the fry in the tank till they are almost 5cm in size but in my 4ft display tank i have a big convict male 11cm in size who believe it or not he is completely blind and he has the help of 2 female convicts who look after him and they have been breeding non stop lol because i dont want the fry from them i dont remove the fry they end up being food for my other fish in the 4ft lol yeah its cruel but i have too many!!!! lol
OP
OP
electric yellow
Fish Addict
Well my fry box arrived today. I had to do a water change and gravel vac due to have to food tub falling out into the tank!! 
So i have a massive bucket of water on the bench im waiting to settle so i can make sure i didnt suck any up. Im going to let them be tonight and wait a few more days till i know how many for sure are there. They arent as visible todya as they were yesterday 
So i have a massive bucket of water on the bench im waiting to settle so i can make sure i didnt suck any up. Im going to let them be tonight and wait a few more days till i know how many for sure are there. They arent as visible todya as they were yesterday
OP
OP
electric yellow
Fish Addict
So i attached my box yesterday and let it run over night. The numbers had dwindled over the last week (today non exsistent pretty much) so i decided to try to save some. I took all the walls out of the box and attached the air stone tube. Its working well. The only prob is the box makes it awkard to get into that part of the tank.
Here it is...you can see the air stone and filter. The air stone directs air straigh tinto the box and the filter provides extra clean filtration i guess! Excuse the towel on the other end of the tank. I had to put it there to stop the light hitting it from the door. Way to much light...my main tank is nice and deep which make it look empty lol!
Athena: these are the size of my convicts. Theyve been this size for two yrs now. The are shaped like an Australian 50cent peice.
Sorry about the dodgy phone camera photo.
I transferred what i thought was the last ones remaining in their pod into the box to try to see if there are alive ones....but im doubtfull
I fed the adults at the same time so they wouldnt notice me taking the pod and then returning it after i emptied it into the box. The adult fish dont seem interested in the box at all.
Here it is...you can see the air stone and filter. The air stone directs air straigh tinto the box and the filter provides extra clean filtration i guess! Excuse the towel on the other end of the tank. I had to put it there to stop the light hitting it from the door. Way to much light...my main tank is nice and deep which make it look empty lol!
Athena: these are the size of my convicts. Theyve been this size for two yrs now. The are shaped like an Australian 50cent peice.
Sorry about the dodgy phone camera photo.
I transferred what i thought was the last ones remaining in their pod into the box to try to see if there are alive ones....but im doubtfull
I fed the adults at the same time so they wouldnt notice me taking the pod and then returning it after i emptied it into the box. The adult fish dont seem interested in the box at all.
Aw, I like the way you set up the fry box! So, there were no fry left in the pod at all? I think that if the fry were still alive the parents, well the mother especially, would have been with them constantly. If she was swimming about in the tank away from the pod and allowed you to take it so easily, then I think you can assume there were no fry left as they very rarely let them out of their sight for more than a few seconds!
Also, if they had spotted any fry in that fry box they would have been trying to get at them, for sure! (which is why I recommended putting a little gravel in the bottom of it so that when they look upwards they can't see what's in the box).
Well, I'm hoping you managed to find even a couple of fry...but if not, don't be too sad because they will spawn again very soon and next time you will know to remove a few fry by about day 3 or 4. So your fry box won't have been a waste of money.
Next time you see the female with her orangey/pink tummy, try feeding her with some good quality live foods or frozen as that encourages a larger, healthier batch of eggs/fry.
Now that's funny you saying your convicts look like a 50 cent piece - I've always thought my short-bodied convicts were like a 50p piece LOL. Strange - the way you describe them is almost like they are short-bodied convicts. Wow - well, I've never seen the stripey ones in short-bodied form before and I couldn't find anything about dwarf convicts online other than the pink variety that I have.
Perhaps you should post a query in this forum asking if anyone else has had, or heard of, standard looking grey/black convicts in short-bodied/dwarf form?
Like I mentioned in my PM, I originally thought short-bodied convicts were hybrids of convict/parrot fish (maybe some strains are and maybe these are the ones that are infertile?) - but then I read various things online that say the real short-bodied convicts are just missing a particular growth gene - so they could come from normal size parents or have normal size siblings but just end up short due to this genetic disorder. I wonder if that is a bit like dwarfism in humans then?
Oh well - whatever makes them like it, I just adore them!
Are both your convicts of the same colouring?
Athena
Also, if they had spotted any fry in that fry box they would have been trying to get at them, for sure! (which is why I recommended putting a little gravel in the bottom of it so that when they look upwards they can't see what's in the box).
Well, I'm hoping you managed to find even a couple of fry...but if not, don't be too sad because they will spawn again very soon and next time you will know to remove a few fry by about day 3 or 4. So your fry box won't have been a waste of money.
Next time you see the female with her orangey/pink tummy, try feeding her with some good quality live foods or frozen as that encourages a larger, healthier batch of eggs/fry.
Now that's funny you saying your convicts look like a 50 cent piece - I've always thought my short-bodied convicts were like a 50p piece LOL. Strange - the way you describe them is almost like they are short-bodied convicts. Wow - well, I've never seen the stripey ones in short-bodied form before and I couldn't find anything about dwarf convicts online other than the pink variety that I have.
Perhaps you should post a query in this forum asking if anyone else has had, or heard of, standard looking grey/black convicts in short-bodied/dwarf form?
Like I mentioned in my PM, I originally thought short-bodied convicts were hybrids of convict/parrot fish (maybe some strains are and maybe these are the ones that are infertile?) - but then I read various things online that say the real short-bodied convicts are just missing a particular growth gene - so they could come from normal size parents or have normal size siblings but just end up short due to this genetic disorder. I wonder if that is a bit like dwarfism in humans then?
Oh well - whatever makes them like it, I just adore them!
Are both your convicts of the same colouring?
Athena
OP
OP
electric yellow
Fish Addict
Yeah all four of my convicts are black and grey. The male is slightly lighter but the same. I have ONE fry left!!!! Hercules the superfish! He is swimming around the box happyly. Comes up and sees whats going on then goes back down amongst the gravel. The plant is to provide a bit of shelter from direct light because the box is up close to the top of the tank/close to the light.
OP
OP
electric yellow
Fish Addict
Well i have another batch of eggs. Less than a week after the last fry died. Theres no sign of the solo one i saved either! Lets see how theygo with naturing this time around 
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