"marbled" Or "calico" Convict Cichlids

[kribensis12]

Hi,
My question is, can you achieve the marbled or calico coloration on a convict my breeding a male black convict, and a female pink convict? Mine spawned on saturday, and i wanted to know cause my lfs said they would pay about 4 dollars( E 2) per fish. Any help?

 

[idlefingers]

There's a chance you'll get some. I could be completely wrong here, but I think it depends how strong the genes are in the black male and pink female. It'll most likely be that the black gene is the strongest, which would likely deliver a batch of fry which is predominately black, with some albino and perhaps a few calicos. You could then try to breed the calico fry to try raise the chances of more, but it leads to weak and disease prone fish.

I'm in the same boat (with a male black and female albino) with 2 week old fry. Too young to see what colour(s) the fry are, but I can't wait to find out. What I've said above is purely the conclusions I've come to from trying to find the answer to the same question and by no means is it correct! I'm interested to hear what others have to say!

Good luck

 

[kribensis12]

Thanks. They are still egs, and the female only laid around 20 so i doubt any will be in this batch. And if i do get a calico, i could order th opposite sex at the store and then breed them.

 

[kribensis12]

anyone else?

 

[randallhart]

I guess I agree with Idlefingers. But I wonder would it be easier to achieve your goal by having a male pink convict and a female black convict?.

 

[kribensis12]

I am not sure. I dont think that it matters what sex is what. I still cant figure out why she laid so few.

 

[randallhart]

Is she small? Is this her first batch?

 

[kribensis12]

This is her first batch, and she is around 2 inches. I have had other females her size with no experience lay a 100 more eggs. All of them were fertilized, no funguses( to much current in tank for it to stick to egg) and she hasnt eaten any( same # as when layed). So i cant figure it out. It just dosent make sense. She was well conditiond, fat, and healthy.

 

[PoPoV]

Probably lost a few from daddy eating them. Happens quit often. my pinks just hatched almost 200 fry

 

[kribensis12]

Possibut he dosent spend much time around the pvc pipe.

 

[vancouver]

You'll need to get convicts with that gene in them.. I haven't seen them very often.. maybe twice.

 

[kribensis12]

Well, the babies are about to hatch, i can see the black curved form of the babies, and some eggs are yellow but i cant see anything in them. I am thinking that they are, becasue thne mom hasnt eaten them, and they are yellow like other ones. I will take the ones with some type of black spots( pink ones, if they have any dots). Anyone else have a comment. I will try to take a pic, but they are in pvc pipe, and my camera is crappy.

 

[idlefingers]

You won't be able to tell from the eggs or the wrigglers that are about to come. My fry are a little over 2 weeks old and are currently about 4mm long and are still transparent.

 

[kribensis12]

How come some look fertilized but dosent have the black shape.

 

[kribensis12]

They have hatched, but my camera is cooperating, and they are deep in the pvc pipe. I will probly take pics on friday. I have some of the parents though. I will post those later. So does anyone know why some egss dont have black babies in them.