# Ways to get convicts to spawn????????



## Bam204 (Mar 31, 2008)

Hello everyone.

I have 3 male cons and one female con. I have had the 3 males for about a month now and the female for about 10 days, and they do not look like they have paired up yet, i was wondering if there is any tips on getting them to spawn like

Water temp?
Food?

Any advice would be great.

Thanks 
bam204


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## Marc280106 (Sep 25, 2007)

Dig a small hole in the backyard, wait for the rain, then place a male and female in the puddle.

Seriously though, to many males. Remove two of them, get another female and skip the usual weekly water change. On the following week do a 70% water change, bump up the temp. a few degrees and repeat a few short bursts of water changes spread over that week. They're Convict's, just a matter of waiting on one of the females to be right to go.


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## AU Chief (Jun 20, 2007)

throw them in some water. If they don't kill each other they'll spawn. It sounds crazy but its is just that easy. If you are serious about it though, go with the above posters advice.


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## cage623 (Feb 2, 2008)

It also so depends on the size. They for sure don't have to be very large but it still takes time. You are better off with more females, like *Marc280106* said. Other than that, clean water and any good cichlid food should get them to pair off. Then the big questions is, "what do I do with all these little cons?!?"

Good luck and let us know how things are going.


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## Bam204 (Mar 31, 2008)

Thank you guys for your help.... it is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,Bam204


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## Japtastic (Jan 21, 2008)

Live food always helps kick start them and lots of other CA cichlids to spawn, I've used brine shrimp with my convicts and JD's with good success. Don't worry they will soon spawn then you'll be wishing they would stop, I had to remove my Male to stop all out war occuring in my tank


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## Joea (May 25, 2004)

Don't they usually spawn in the bag on the way home from the fish store? :wink:


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## Joels fish (Nov 17, 2007)

Put them in water.


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## CiChLiD LoVeR128 (Mar 22, 2006)

I agree with more Females but you dont have to do a 70% water change. Just stick with your normal weekly water change. Everytime I have bred Convicts I have kept 1 Male and 2 Females together until they pair off. Just feed them high protien such as: Brine Shrimp, Bloodworms, Beefheart, flakes, and Mysis Shrimp. Weekly water changes between 25-50%. Raise temperature 80-82 F. And let nature take its course. You don't have to do anything special with Convicts!


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## stuckinthemiddle (Feb 26, 2008)

Not trying to jack your thread, but why is it more successful to have 1 male and lots of females than 1 female and lots of males?


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## CiChLiD LoVeR128 (Mar 22, 2006)

So that the Males can chose and a more suitable and stable bond will be made. With more males than Females it will turn into more hostility than with a lot of Females. Males want more dominance and having other Males in the tank will make pairing off with a Female a little less likely because the Males are too busy deciding who's the King of the tank and who isn't. In all cases the Male will end up the most dominate and will be the one causing aggression issues when pairing or keeping a community. Yes, there are cases where the Female will be aggressive and chase the Male but as the Male gets bigger and older that will all change dramatically. At the begining stages of making a pair it will be a lot like keeping African Mubna because the rule there is 1 Male to every 3 Females to keep the aggression down. Also like Swordtails. You can keep multiple Males but its 1 Male to every 3 Females there to. If you have 2 Males and 1 or 2 Females the dominate Male will chase nip down the swordtail on the sub dominate male.


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## punk_123 (Sep 4, 2007)

i bet they will breed within 20 days. get a "house" for them, and chose he dominate male then get rid of the others! remember they usually eat the eggs/fry the first time they spawn.


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## CiChLiD LoVeR128 (Mar 22, 2006)

> remember they usually eat the eggs/fry the first time they spawn.


Not true! True the first spawn is usually not successful but it doesn't mean they eat the eggs. I have never had a cichlid pair especially Convicts eat their first spawn. The only time they have and will is when the eggs aren't fertile and good. If there is fry which usually is the case with Convicts they will protect them and will not eat the eggs or fry unless they feel the eggs/fry are in danger of being eaten or stressed. However, it can happen that they will eat the first spawn right away but its usually not the case.


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## Joels fish (Nov 17, 2007)

I agree with CichlidLover. once they spawn the likelyhood of losing the fry is pretty small. The only time I have ever lost fry from any spawn of any of my cichlids(other than the parents culling the weak or deformed, or me not realizing that they were there and siphoning them out during a water change :? ) was due to predation from the fish spawning in a comunity tank. Left to their own the parents will take very good care of them. In nearly twenty in this hobby I have yet to see a pair of spawning cichlids eat their brood. 
As far as getting them to pair up, I have always just gotten 1 male and 1 female but getting a couple of females helps and does generally help produce stronger pairing bonds. Multiple males and 1 female can lead to a lot of conflict and some pretty beat up fish. Like I said though I get mine very small and just get 1 male 1female but since they are so small when I get them they only know each other and this also produces a pretty strong bond. My current pair has spawned already and are only about 2" , and are inseperable. This method may not always work but I've had good luck with it.
Getting them to spawn is not hard. There is no majic bullet here but frozen foods can help , simply having them in the same tank is the only real requirement. I've heard of them spawning within hours of getting them home from the LFS. Doing a large water change to encourage them to spawn does sometimes work, but does so by changing the water parameters on a large scale which can stress the fish and be counter productive. Really the best way to go is just be patient, these are convicts and sooner or later they'll start to do their thing. Give them good water and good food , and soon you'll be up to your ears in them and be wishing they'd stop spawning :lol: .


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