Breeding Black Convicts. Help?

mwalk90

I'm trying to breed black convicts right now and I was wondering if I'm doing anything wrong.
They are in a 20 gallon tank, and there is 5 females and 1 male. The male and 2 of the females are about the same size and the 2 females are a very dark grey/ black and have the bright orange spot. The water temp is 79-80F. I think the male and one of the larger females have paired off because they are the only ones that chase the rest of the convicts off and i've seen that female moving some of the gravel around around the little caves I set up. The water condition are perfect. I've only had them in the tank about 2 weeks though. Still haven't seen any eggs around though, am i doing anything wrong? any help or info would be good, thank you.

IonBaller07

Well when I was thinking about doing the same thing I was told that keeping a single pair plus the fry was already overstocked. So I think 6 of these fish will be too many. Other that I dont know what it could be. Maybe they did lay eggs and the other fish came and ate them, the laying female cant defend for forever.

fishbum

All you need is 1 male and 1 female.You didn't mention how big they are.My male and female were about 1 inch when I bought them.It took a few months for them to grow to 2 inches,then the eggs and fry started to come.I would say the only reason you have not had any eggs yet is because they are too small,or just have not settled in to their new home yet.I would get rid of all females but 1 ASAP.When they do spawn,and they will,20 gallons is not enough room for the non breeders to hide.Mine bite my hands when they have fry.I know they would kill any other fish if there were any others in with them.Mine are in a 20 gallon as well.I hope you have a plan for the fry,because you will have a new batch every 2 or 3 weeks.Sometimes mine will immediately spawn after a water change.Something you might try if you are sure they are mature enough to be breeding.I would get rid of all other females first before you try to induce a spawn though.

mwalk90

The two that have seemed to pair off are around 2-2.5" the rest are about 2" or a little smaller. I have a 55 gallon tank but my oscar will eat them if I put the rest of the females in and I already talked to the people at petsmart and they don't have any room for them right now. So not sure what I'll do. I've been away from my tanks since thursday night and ill be back tomorrow so I had an autofeeder set up so I'll see what has happened tomorrow since I've been gone.

fishbum

Covicts breed so easily that they are usually difficult to get rid of.I would try posting on craiglist and offer them for free.
It sounds like they are big enough to breed to me.They might not have spawned yet because they may still be getting used to their new home.
Don't worry,soon enough you will have fry.Convicts are the bunnies of the cichlid world!
Do you have a fry tank/tanks?

IonBaller07

Maybe for the fry, the ones you dont keep, you could feed them to your oscar. I heard they are decent feeder fish.

mwalk90

Yeah I do have a tank to put them into until they are large enough...to feed my oscars.. I only plan on keeping 1 or 2 per spawn and i'll probably only keep the males

Fishin Pole

i wouldnt be so sure they didnt spawn yet....Convicts will lay there eggs on the roof of the cave, making it very difficult to see the eggs........The other members are correct, thet other convicts will slowly become harrassed and stressed to the point of death if you do not remove them from the tank.........6 2 inch convicts in a 20 gallon is too much, even if they werent breeding.......After you see the eggs hatching you might want to remove all the male also, they somtimes will harrass the female to breed again right away and you can have issues if she is not interested

mwalk90

Just got back to my house from bein gone for the weekend and found about 100 eggs in one of the caves i put in there so we'll see how it goes

mwalk90

looks like only 2 of the eggs have turned white so good news there, the rest have a tiny black dot. took the other 4 females out yesterday, when i was chasin them around the tank with the net tryin to get them out, one of the other females managed to snag a few eggs so oh well there. other than that she pretty much stays in there fanning them