How Should I care for my Texas-Convict Cichlid Crossbreed Fry?

Question

I just recently had a male Texas cichlid breed with a female convict cichlid in my Cichlid community tank. Has anyone ever heard of this or ever attempted it themselves?

Answer 1

The problem is that the common hybrids are created in a lab using several species and line bred to produce certain sellable results - when amateurs just decide to have fun crossbreeding the result is more often then not just an ugly mutt of a fish that nobody will want - then you'll have all those fry on your hands that you'll have to either keep or kill. If the pet store does take them off your hands then you have contributed to a degradation in the quality of fish availabel to real hobbiests. It's a shame how easily some of these fish crossbreed really.

Answer 2

It happens. Especially in Central American cichilds, their breeding behaviors are similar and the fish will sometimes cross breed. I'd be curious if the fry hatch. In many of these cases the eggs are not viable. Another possibility is the fry are born and grow, but they are sterile and can not produce off spring.

Parrot cichlids are an example of cross bred fish, in most cases for parrots severums and red devils are thought to be the parents. In parrots you get different all kinds of offspring, some pairs produce viable offspring which can produce babies. Others lay eggs which can't hatch.

If you do get fry that are viable you raise them just like other cichlid fry. The parents will probably look after them for a while, then feed them fry food.