Eggs hatched !!

bhone20

Finally they are hatched.Momma is in a bad mood and it took me about 10 tries to get the pics. Every time I would try to snap the picture, She would either hit the glass, or swim in the frame. :) So, here they are. probly around 200.
they are 1 hour old in these pictures.:D



mom keeping guard!

Amphitrite

Fantastic pictures! Good luck with the fry :)

willow

how cool is that.well done on the pic,it's great.

blueblue48

are those convicts?

LJean

She sure is keeping watch, isn't she?! Nice pics!

bhone20

Thank you Amphitrite,Willow, and LJean :)

blueblue48--She is a 2 year old convict, she is my breeder, and this is her 5th clutch.All of her previous babies have been sold to my LFS @ about 1 1/2 months old. and all but seven have been bought out to new homes. :D

blueblue48

what size tank is she in? ive been reading on breeding convicts and just want some input from an experienced breeder.

bhone20

She is in a 10 gallon. The reason for this is when she spawns,I immediately take out the male, and she is less stress.She will raise the fry in this small tank and be able to keep them better fed and watch over them better than in a large tank where the fry are all over the place.When the fry are 2 weeks old, she gets put back into the 80 gallon tank.That way all the fry are contained in the 10 gallon.Which means they all have a better chance of getting food,they can form schools easily, which makes for less shy fish rather than a large tank there would be countless fry hidding all over from other fish.They have their own tank to grow, and grow FAST. I keep the water in check and by 1 month old they have their stripes and are starting to over crowd the tank.That is when I sell them to the LFS. Also,when they are in a smaller tank, just after mom is taken out, a pleco and snail can be added and can clean all of their hide outs and caves with out being killed by mom.If you are going to breed your own it is simple but there are things you should have to insure top % of fry surviving.Give them a clay pot 3" to 6" no bigger. Have at least three ornaments in the tank that have very small hole so papa can't eat them if he so chooses. Mine does.Have two cave, one for mom and one for dad.Always have one of the cave right next to the clay pot.This is so when the fry hatch and are helpless, mom can herd them into it close by for protection,even when no other fish is in the tank.Cover your filter intake grid with some old fabric that comes from a filter(use rubber bands).It has to be coarse enough to see through,yet smaller than the fry.Or wrap a tank devider around the whole intake tube.Place a group of plants just about an inch from the cave that they stay,that way when you feed them,the food will get caught in the plants and will be easy for the fry to consume in a group instead of letting them scatter all over after food.I feed my fry 2 days after they are free swimming.I feed them a mixture of spirulina super soft,freeze dried krill,freeze dried brine shrimp,omega cichlid flakes,and Tetra cichlid MINI GRANULES.I put a pinch of each of these into a bowl and grind it up very fine.I feed them by taking a pinch of this and put it under water into the plants and release it by grinding my finger like you snap your fingers and the food coats the plant.This method is what I have done through trial and error, and it works great!!!!.And mom will bite you when you do this, so be qwick.I then feed mom her regular food about an hour after that.


If there is anything you want to know about Convicts, I have done some heavy research on them for five years strait.hope this makes sense. :D

iamntbatman

Very cool. I wanna do convicts one day, but I just don't have a big enough tank.

What else is in your 80g aside from the convicts? And how do you know when to remove the pair to the 10g breeding tank?

bhone20

Right now, just my two Oscars are in the 80 gal.

To answer your question-

After they have spawned and mom is next to the eggs and the male will usually be a few inches above her and off to one side.This means they are basically waiting for the fry to hatch.Now, my male has eaten previous fry before in an attempt to spawn again, or maybe some of the fry where males starting to mature,and males do not get along well with a female in the tank. Anyway, I take my male out just after the eggs begin to turn a light brownish/blackish color.The dark color is the developing fry ofcourse. The eggs start out a very light salmon pink colored until 2-3 days later,they darken.Only when they darken do I remove the male so if there is a large amount of eggs that are transparent,they are non-fertile.If that happens,I get rid of all the eggs by putting them into the other convict tank--CHOMP CHOMP(recycled).Within 9 to 14 days they will spawn again if they are both fully mature and healthy.Convict males viciously protect the fry when left in the same tank,but give him a few weeks and almost always some fry will be appetizers. I remove my female from the breeder tank about 18-20 days after the fry hatch. This applies only if you have a female that doesn't eat her fry.My other female had only one clutch of fry (by accident with a sibling) and she started attacking the school of fry within 10 days.I am sure it was because it was her first clutch.Female Convicts only get better at parenting as they get older and breed more.The number of eggs increases each time a healthy female spawns.My breeder had a count of around 180 or so the first time.On her fourth clutch,I believe it was around 250 or so,but cant remember.

my fingers hurt from typing,

hope this made sense. :)
--oh and my fry that hatched on June 2nd, Are 8-12 hours away from starting to free swim. I'll post the pics tomorrow .