# What to do with convict fry?



## Elijah

While it was fun watching the parents protect their fry, I think it's time for them to move on and have to fend for themselves. I really want to remove them as my female is sporting her breeding dress again, so it's only a matter of time until the baby factory starts production again  . I have decided to rehome the fry and use them as feeders.

Who should I put them with, or who would probably eat them, the firemouth and tiger barbs or the Betta I'm going to get?

How should I go about getting them out, since my siphon on my gravel vac doesn't seem to function?


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## Flippercon

Net em. The firemouth would have a field day. Betas seem to be layed back and like to float and eat. They don't really attack food. If you leave them in the tank then the cons could have snacks too. If you leave them they will still spawn.


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## AmishDude

I've actually had luck with stopping into the local chain stores. Dropped off close to 40 total youngins, about 20 to each store (petsmart/petco).
Trying to work out a deal at the better store for a "trade-in" credit, basically give him enough little guys to equal an adult fish that will...keep the numbers in check.
Was looking into either a green terror or a RD.


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## Elijah

Well I just netted all of the fry. It was pretty easy actually, but my male just would peck at the net . Honestly, I felt kinda bad for a few minutes taking Yoshi's babies from her, but I'm sure she'll get over it. I think they are blaming the algae eater, as after they noticed they were all gone, they began relentlessly double-teaming the CAE. I turned off the aquarium light, they should settle down quite a bit.

But I put all of the fry in with the 4 inch firemouth. We'll see what happens.


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## Elijah

AmishDude said:


> I've actually had luck with stopping into the local chain stores. Dropped off close to 40 total youngins, about 20 to each store (petsmart/petco).
> Trying to work out a deal at the better store for a "trade-in" credit, basically give him enough little guys to equal an adult fish that will...keep the numbers in check.
> Was looking into either a green terror or a RD.


Awesome. Did you call the stores first to see if they would accept them, or did you just show up?


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## MonteSS

Most Petsmart and Petco wont take fish. At least that is my experience down here.

I cant help you because I have a similar problem here. It's like Cichlids gone wild with all the breeding going on. And now the babies are having babies.

....Bill


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## AmishDude

I was in there many times just browsing around before I mentioned that I had 100 fry that were in need of a new home.
Petsmart was definatly harder to "crack" than Petco (at least around here) regarding them taking some fish off my hands.

Please note that this is just from my experience.

I found a manager roughly the same age group as myself, started talking to her and eventually brought up the story of having a ****-ton of babies. The Petco manager said come back in a week and she would try to have a tank open, and that she would take about 20 of them. I went back in a week, and low n behold! Open tank on their wall. Odly enough, they put a quarantine sticker on the tank (even though my parameters are probally better than theirs.)

Petsmart... Kinda the same idea. Had to give them the fish in smaller quanities, but still dumped 15 there so far, dropping off another 5 this weekend. Someone/something is either eating, buying or killing them. Whatever the case may be, at least they are out of my tank.

Some of the "Reef stores" in your guys' area is still worth checking out, sometimes they have a small area for fresh water, and the ones around here still have convicts in their tanks for "HARDY starter fish".


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## Elijah

Cool. Maybe I can dump some off at a few LFS. The 2 Petcos locally all have placards depicting that they have them, but do not. I kinda have a friendship going on with the worker at Petco; he seems to know a little about fish, so I don't see why he wouldn't take any. But like you said, Petsmart has a few, and I don't really know any of the workers, so they may be a little harder to crack.


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## Elijah

AmishDude said:


> Petsmart... Kinda the same idea. Had to give them the fish in smaller quanities, but still dumped 15 there so far, dropping off another 5 this weekend. Someone/something is either eating, buying or killing them. Whatever the case may be, at least they are out of my tank.


From my experience, Petsmart doesn't know or care about the compatibilities of fish. The one in my area, they house really small convicts with full grown blood parrots. :-? Almost whenever I go in, there is at least 1 dead con in there. The cons are so small, they should'nt even have been sold yet.


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## AmishDude

I have a few babies in my 75 gallon that look like freaks of nature compared to the handfull still in the 20 gallon. Huge size difference. I've cut down to two meals a day for the 75 tank and three meals for the 20 gallon. The ones in the 20 are about the size of a dime cut in half, while the 75 gallon fish are about the size of a nickel + fins.


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## Elijah

I've seen at least 3 babies still alive in the 20 long with the firemouth. But the tiger barbs were chasing them around.


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## Elijah

I gave in and scooped 1 fry out of the 20 long and placed him back with his parents. They were all hiding behind a giant cichlid stone. Do you think the parents will recognize that it's their fry?

Yoshi loves being a parent. And it seems like since the cons have something to do, they're not aggressive towards eachother.


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## MonteSS

Usually when they dwindle down to that small a number they give up on them.

GL...Bill


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## Elijah

MonteSS said:


> Usually when they dwindle down to that small a number they give up on them.
> 
> GL...Bill


I don't know, I mean before my female was mainly in the cave, now she's out swimming above it, and they are both violently chasing away any fish that dare come close. I have a feeling that they know it's theirs.


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## Riceburner

The fry I left with the parents got bigger than those I separated into an enclosure in the same tank


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## MonteSS

The bigger the growout tank, the faster and bigger they grow.

I have some in a ten gallon, and some in a 75g. The 75g they are 2-3 times bigger and get fed less.

...Bill


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## Elijah

Well I could'nt help but feel sorry for the little fry hunkering down behind the cichlid stone. I scooped both of them out, and placed another one with itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s parents, and one with the betta. When I introduced the fry with their parents, they knew right away to go in their trench! My male and female seem to absolutely love watching over them!









I began with 20 fry I poured into the 20 with the firemouth. Over the course of a night, he ate 17 of them! Now thatÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s population control!


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## Elijah

I snapped this pic today with my camera phone:








My male with a 22 day old fry


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## Elijah

Well my male and female convicts are in the spawning stage again; I think that my female has laid eggs already, in the flowerpot of course. This morning, it looks as if their protection of their fry expired, as the parents very peacefully chased them away from the nest. So I removed the 3 23 day old fry and placed them with my betta in the bookshelf setup. They wonÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t be snacks, as the betta is too slow. He chased them at first, but theyÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re quick little buggers, and I think he grew tired of it.









The fry seem to like the bettaÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s cichlid stone:


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## AmishDude

Elijah said:


> Well I could'nt help but feel sorry for the little fry hunkering down behind the cichlid stone. I scooped both of them out, and placed another one with itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s parents, and one with the betta. When I introduced the fry with their parents, they knew right away to go in their trench! My male and female seem to absolutely love watching over them!
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> I began with 20 fry I poured into the 20 with the firemouth. Over the course of a night, he ate 17 of them! Now thatÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s population control!


Dang, 17 in one night!? Screw my pike cichlid idea. :thumb:


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## Riceburner

lol...my JDs were great controllers of convict fry. 3 managed to make it and got given away.









I've even put some of my African fry into their tank ...one made it to a size too big to swallow easily....it got put back into the African tank.


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## Elijah

AmishDude said:


> Dang, 17 in one night!? Screw my pike cichlid idea. :thumb:


At the time I also had 6 tiger barbs in the 20 long. But all that I've seen the barbs do is chase the fry and nip at them. But I've seen the firemouth swallow 1, then the next minute, eat a whole Hikari Massivore tablet! That firemouth sure has an appetite!


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