Convict cichlids won't fertilize eggs???

Question

I have a male and female convict cichlids and they have laid eggs a few times, but the male won't fertilize the eggs. I have searched around a few forums and info on the net and tried those suggested: water changes, food changes, places to hide, and temperature change but no luck. Has anyone had similar problems with their fish or are mine just duds? Thanx....please answers only ...sarcasm bores me.

Answer 1

OK, one thing you can try - which applies to many if not all amazonian species - is to change the 'hardness' of the water, specifically from hard to soft.

The trigger for many tropical fish (mostly Amazonian) to breed is the onset of the rainy season. At this time a lot of peat and decayed vegetable mass is washed into the water system and this has the effect of making the water softer (reducing the disolved mineral content).

If you can mimic the change then you may get results. I know for me that when I relocated from a hard water area to a soft water area almost all of my Cichlids & Discus began breeding like there was no tomorrow.

Speak to a local aquarium dealer and get your water tested to see which way you need to go. If its hard then add a peat brick or log to the tank, if soft then get some calcium to dissolve in to make it a bit harder.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Hi, first off, take a deep breath and don't stress over it. They will get it eventually right. Nothing is perfect the first few times. May take a while but let them keep at it and it should work out in the end.

You may want to check out a forum http://www.simplycichlids.com

It is full of friendly new and experienced cichlid lovers. They can advise you in something that you arn't finding on various other websites.

Hope this helps you. And good luck!

Answer 3

provide them something to hide the eggs in. A small %. of %pipe, or a clay flower placed laid on it relatively is area. additionally upload some plastic flora to offer the fry someplece to hide, and someplace for mom and pa to hide them. We used the two with a pair of convicts in a 10 gallon tank and wound up giving 40 six to the community puppy keep.