How do i breed Convict Cichlid's and how do i tell what sex they are?

Question

I have looked around at how to breed them and can't find much. I can only find things that say "I have bred Convict's". How do i breed them and what do i feed the fry? Will liquid fry food and Ultra Plus Fry Food (tiny flakes almost specks)

Answer 1

Convict cichlids fish is very easy to keep and breed in aquariums and is therefore an ideal beginner’s fish and especially suited for those who want to keep their first cichlid. The name convict cichlid describes these beautiful fish and its black stripes on a white background very accurately. Convict cichlids are also known as zebra cichlids.

Convict cichlids is a hardy species that can adept to just about any water condition which is one of the reasons behind this fish suitability as a beginner cichlid for all aquarist how can offer them an aquarium of at least 100l/ 24gallon You should however know that Convict cichlids can sometimes be white aggressive towards other fish which means that they shouldn’t be kept with other to small or timid fishes. Suitable tank mates to keep with convict cichlids are instead fish species that are large enough to stand their ground or hardy species that are fast enough to avoid the convict’s aggressions such as some barbs. Another good option is to keep a pair of convict cichlids alone in an aquarium without any other species in the aquarium. Keeping them alone will make it easier to observe their fascinating breeding behaviour including the rearing of the fry.

An aquarium intended for convict cichlids should be decorated with a few flat stones and perhaps a cave or two. Plats are not necessary and most plants will be destroyed by the fish. There is however a number of hardier plants that can be kept with convict cichlids such as Amazonian swords plant and java fern. Using plants of this type can be beneficial by making the fish feel more at home and by making the aquarium more beautiful to look at. The fact is that convict cichlid will make them selves feel at home however you decide that you want to decorate as long as you avoid using harmful or toxic things in your aquarium decoration.

They will accept a very wide temperature range and pH level range as long as it keep relatively stable but is best kept in 20-28C/ 68-82F and pH 6-8.

Feeding convict cichlids is very easy since they accept any food you may choose to give them and can without any problem be kept and bred on foods such as flake food and pellets.

Convict cichlids are one of the easiest fish in the world to breed. They can spawn from very young age and I have seen a 50L / 15gallon in a store that contained about 50 1-2 inch long convict cichlids. The aquarium was decorated with 3 small stones at the bottom and under each of these stones you cold find a pair of convict cichlids that had dug a cave under the stone and breed in it. Whenever you visited that aquarium there would be fish breeding under each of those stones. Of course no fry managed to survive under those conditions but it reflects how easy convicts are to breed. The saying that all you have to do to breed convict cichlids is to add water is almost true. Feed your fish and they will spawn.
Convicts cichlids usually lay their eggs on a flat stone and both parents guard both the eggs and the fry. They are usually where good parents and can become very aggressive towards other fish that enters their breeding territory. The fry can be feed crushed flake food and newly hatched brine shrimp.

There are several colour variants of the convict cichlid such as an albino variant often sold as ivory cichlid and a pink variant. These variants can sometimes be a little harder to breed then the regular convict cichlid but you should be able to succeed as long as you keep the water clean, the fish well feed and have patience.

Good luck with your convicts

Answer 2

Hey, as mentioned by alot already. Convicts are extremely easy to breed. As long as you got a male and female together they are gonna do the deed.You can tell the female. She will have a orange spot on her belly. Sometimes it will be very hard to see, so look good. Also males generally tend to be bigger with their anal fin coming to a point.
it is also helpful to set the mood for them. Convicts like alot of rocks and stones. Also as someone mentioned earlier, old plant pots work well too. They will usually lay their eggs on a flat surface. the female will stay and fan the eggs until they hatch. Convicts are not mouthbrooders. They lay eggs.
Yes, they have liguid food drops that u can use or like u mentioned fish flakes that are crumpled up really well. You may also want to use a sponge in place of ur filtration stick. Just so they dont get sucked up into the filter.
Other than that, there isnt much to do. The parents will take care of the babies. The father and mother will take turns. Make sure you feed the parents well. If they get too hungry they may at times start to eat the babies. Especially the father.
Good luck

Answer 3

The males are usually bigger then the females and the females are lighter. The female will keep her fry in her mouth until the fry is big enouth. U can breed them in a 10 gal tank as long as they r the only ones there. When the female is hidding alot in corners of the tank take the male out. Like a few weeks it will take to let her fry go when she does take her out. and feed the baby fish brine shrimp.

Answer 4

Convicts will naturally pair off and breed actually recently mine which are only 1" long bred in a 27gallon tank. Females will have more roan escapes than the males and also males will be bigger and have longer pointier dorsal fins than females without a the orange scales.

Answer 5

As far as breeding them - these are a species that as long as you have a male and female in the same tank, you won't stop them from breeding! They can spawn as small as 1 1/2 inches. The males are usually larger and more blue-purple-gray in color with a long pointed extension on the back of the dorsal: http://www.aquarist-classifieds.co.uk/php/image/12489.jpg Females are smaller, with an orange-pink tint to the abdomen. Their dorsal comes to a more rounded point: http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/Fishpics/convict1.jpg

They are "cave spawners", so give them a clay flowerpot turned on its side for a place for them to lay their eggs. The parents provide parental care, so if you only have the two adults, you don't have to remove eggs or fry, or set up a separate spawning tank. If you use sinking pelleted food (cichlid pellets or shrimp pellets) for the adults, I've had parents mouth it and spit it out for the fry. I've never bothered to use a separate fry food for them.

Also see this link: http://www.aquariumlife.net/print/article.asp?id=26

Answer 6

you comprehend what dude, i wanna say that's a male, yet Im no longer so helpful. The tail seems to be very blunt like a women, however the anal fin has a effective factor on it and you in addition to mght did point out that it has some orange. So with out extra sparkling photos than those you gave us, its extremely troublesome to decipher. some women the orange may well be very lite or boring and troublesome to be certain, so pass with ur terrific judgement, in case you spot orange, its a woman, if no longer its a male. additionally watch the size of the fish, the girls stay approximately 3 inches. They dont frequently get a lot extra advantageous than that. The men tend to be a lot greater.

Answer 7

You have an excellent answer from copperhead, I also bred these fish for many years, their parenting skills are very addictive to watch. I did find, however, that I needed with some parents, to also have other fish in the tank.
These particular adult fish needed to be able to "defend" their babies against danger, and if they had nothing to do, they tended to start eating their babies.
You don't need to have fish with them that are a danger to the babies, any non aggressive but too big to be eaten fish will do.
Have you also tried mouth breeder Cichlids?
They raise their babies in their mouths, and its a delight to watch the babies all rushing into the parent fish's mouth at the first sign of danger.
I can't remember their names, its many a year since I bred them.

Answer 8

The problem isn't getting them to bred it will be getting them to stop!The female is slightly plumper and has a orange patch on her belly.Here is a web site with great information on how to breed them:
http://www.cichlidresearch.com/simpleaquarium.html