# breeding convicts as feeders!



## bootdink (Jan 17, 2007)

well i have a had some pm's this week asking me how to breed convicts for feeders..alot of people seem interested so i thought i post up some how to's on how ive been succesful with it!

breeding convicts is by far the easiest in my opinion..they are very hardy fish and can tolerate very poor water conditions if by accident something goes wrong.. first you wanna pick up a pair...how do you find a pair? easy... the females will generally have an orange tinge to there belly where as the males dont(the orange gets very deep/bright in color when breeding) and the females also usually have more coloration to them when breeding. anything from a given orange to a blueish dorsal fin...males although they have some coloration they NEVER have an orange belly on them so you can easily distinguish between the two...now how do you trigger breeding? if you grab a pair that need a little help from the get go(they could already just start to breed) then you can add things such as tunnels,caves,rocks,clean ceramic flower pots etc...I suggest ornaments that resemble a home...its sounds funny but this has worked best for me...feeding them bloodworms(cubes) and frozen brine shrimp(cubes) will have a great impact to trigger breeding...i dont know why exactly but it works and you can refer to other pages on the net to find out this answer...If you get a couple that dont start breeding in the first couple of weeks try raising the temperature about 2 degrees from what the tank is already set at...say for instance you have your tank set a dead 78f..raise to 80 and this should trigger breeding...i wouldnt suggest going any higher then 84f...

once you get a couple to start breeding they will lay eggs in whatever they have chosen for a nest/home!...theres 2 options when you have free wiggler(if you cant find the eggs,because they can be very hard to find) Option 1. is to let the new borns stay with there parents...the parents will not kill off the babies as long as they are fed properly, they are very very very good parents and will look after them quite nicely...then once they get to a reasonable size you can start taking them out and putting them into a fry tank that has the same temp as previous tank(parametres isnt a BIG concern because like i said they are very hardy and adaptable fish...)option 2. you may remove the eggs or newly born right from the get go and put them in a fry tank...If you are using a HOB filter i strongly suggest buying a sponge and cutting it in the middle(not all the way through) but enough so it can slip up past the intake of the filter..or you may use a sponge filter and do small daily water changes..whatever floats your boat...

*Tank Size*

generally it wil all depend on what size convicts you have...my convicts are only about 3" long and a little smaller for the female...you can buy a breeding pair that are 6" and id recommned a 30 gallon for them ALONE.....so really to answer your question id say a 30 gallon would be sufficient for any size breeding pair...because they only get to about 6" maybe 7" at the max...as for my fry tank...i usually just leave them in the parent tank till they are about 1/2" long and then put them in my 5 and 10 gallon tank...they dont seem to have a problem in this...a 20 gallon or larger would probably be better for them but i dont got the money right now for another tank as i have 18 tanks in total to keep up with and on the go...only reason i say a 20 gallon would be alot better is because they will grow alot faster with that many in the tank..

these are the main things to breeding convicts and once you get the hang of it, it is very simple...but BEWARE these things do breed heavily..and when i say heavily i mean expect a batch of fry about every 2-3 weeks..usually yeilding 50-100 fry or more!...

i hope this has helped any you who would like to use feeders but at a fraction of the cost! and if you have any questions, then feel free to pm me back!

enjoy!

p.s--


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## Leasure1 (Jul 24, 2006)

good tips......Only thing i could add is watch your fingers......they are mean as hell when you Eff with thier babies.....have been known to draw blood.


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## bootdink (Jan 17, 2007)

yes, thanks leisure..BECAREFULL


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## Rice & Beanz (Oct 30, 2006)

Nice write up!! This should be pinned! Very useful for anyone who doesnt want to feed their piranha's goldfish. Thanks bootdink


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## eiji (Sep 16, 2006)

i had 3 pairs of convicts before, they just fought around and stuffs and never breed, how could you know if you have a breeding pair?? how to tell the male from the females??


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## Leasure1 (Jul 24, 2006)

fish lover said:


> i had 3 pairs of convicts before, they just fought around and stuffs and never breed, how could you know if you have a breeding pair?? how to tell the male from the females??


females have pink/orange/red bellies....rounded fins.......hard to notice sometimes..it can be faint

Males have blue or no color differances, long flowing pointy fins


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## cueball (May 24, 2005)

this is just me talkin but,,, DONT FEED YOUR FISH FEEDERS NOT EVEN FOR FUN ,,,, um not being a ass but i feed my rhom that is 7 inchs now nothing but con feeders i breed for a month ( ones that looked healthy too) and he came on with hole in the head,, his water was keep tip top too.. i could only blame it on the feeders ive had him for 2 years and untill i gave him cons to gobble he was mint shape... do it if ya want but unless ya wanta look forword to goin to the fish shop for some meds in the next year dont do it...


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## bootdink (Jan 17, 2007)

yea i dont suggest using feeders either but thats just us...others might wanna so thats why i posted this..and i had some pm's sent to me asking how to breed so i thought id just post this to help anyone who was interested!


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## Leasure1 (Jul 24, 2006)

cueball said:


> this is just me talkin but,,, DONT FEED YOUR FISH FEEDERS NOT EVEN FOR FUN ,,,, um not being a ass but i feed my rhom that is 7 inchs now nothing but con feeders i breed for a month ( ones that looked healthy too) and he came on with hole in the head,, his water was keep tip top too*.. i could only blame it on the feeders ive had him for 2 years *and untill i gave him cons to gobble he was mint shape... do it if ya want but unless ya wanta look forword to goin to the fish shop for some meds in the next year dont do it...


Carbon is also found to cause HITH......ever use carbon????

I wouldn't chalk that up to just using feeders though. Possible though. HITH is weird stuff.


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## nirvanarules1 (Mar 14, 2007)

hey bootdink did ya post this cause of me asking bout the cons???


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## bootdink (Jan 17, 2007)

nope just thought it would be help full in general!







just for anyone curious!


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## pioneer1976 (Jan 14, 2007)

ive had oscars in the past that got feed nothing but dead food never feed live food and he got hole in the head. so i find it hard to believe that feeders caused that problem.


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## Dairy Whip (Mar 26, 2006)

wow good tips man thanks going to be using this in the future


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## bootdink (Jan 17, 2007)

glad ive been able to help !!


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## Dairy Whip (Mar 26, 2006)

your the man bootdink


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## bootdink (Jan 17, 2007)

rock on dairy


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## swimosunatedog (Aug 16, 2006)

male








Female


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## bootdink (Jan 17, 2007)

excellant pics...my cam sux...and damn ur female gets some bright...mine doesnt get half as bright as that...what size are they?


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## swimosunatedog (Aug 16, 2006)

male is probably 2.5" and the female is about 1.5". I think the females grow out of the color because the bigger ones I have seen have very little color.


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