# How Large Should a Male Convict cichlid be at 1 year old?



## MonsterCichlids (Jan 25, 2012)

hey everyone, just curious how many inches a male convict and how many inches a female convict would be once they hit the 1 year mark. How long after 1 year will it take for them to be fully grown?


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## dright21 (Nov 12, 2011)

*** had my Male con for almost a yr now and it has went from less than an inch too about 3" now. He is still growing but he is now in my 30 Gallon breeder so i doubt he will get much bigger until I move him back into my 55 gallon, his mate who I have had for 6 months has went from less than an inch to about 2" but she just recently got that big. So I would say depending on the Tank Size and The Diet they are on, Males could reach about 4-5" and Females most likely 2-4" but again that could be be different with each fish.


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## irondan (Nov 22, 2007)

my biggest male is 16 months old and 5 inches. my biggest female is 3 inches and 2 years old. they have grown up in a 125


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## ahud (Aug 22, 2009)

Way to many variables to even guess. Try growing out a group of 12 fish and see how much each one differs in size.


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## Azedenkae (Apr 19, 2012)

Depends on sex, genetics, environmental conditions, feeding, tank size, stress, etc etc. Yep, too many variables to be completely sure.


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## MonsterCichlids (Jan 25, 2012)

well lets see if this may help, i've got a male convict in a 75 gallon tank, he gets hikari and NLS pellets daily and get frozen bloodworms and mysis shrimp a few times a week. Right now, He's with some firemouth cichlids but I'm in the process of growing up a nice female convict for him to breed with. He's 10 months old and is between 3.5 and 4 inches. Is is size right where it should be for his age? He was born in the same 75 gallon tank 11 months ago, and when he was about half an inch long, i brought him and a huge group of his siblings to my school, as my biology teacher has tanks set up in his room. We put the fish in a 10 gallon tank and he assured me that he would bring in his 55 gallon tank to school and set it up and then move the convicts into that tank. Summer vacation came, and the fish were still in the 10 gallon but he said that at some point during the next week he'd bring the tank in and stop by during the day to feed them and whatnot. So, i took his word and i went off for summer break. Upon returning back to school after summer was over, i found that the convicts were still in the 10 gallon tank and only a handful had survived. On top of that, they didnt look like they had gotten any bigger at all -_-...I was a bit irritated but that same week he finally set up the 55 gallon tank (a little late huh) and i moved the convicts into that tank. My fear was that the convicts may have become stunted because of the tiny tank they were in and the lack of food they were getting. So anyway, fast forwarding to now, the only male to survive from the group started growing a bit and was looking good with daily care from me at school. Now, 11 months after he was born, I've taken him back home to give him the best care I can and to breed him. So, with what his current size, is he alright? Has he been stunted or will he be just fine? He's doing fantastic now and acting like any other male convict would lol. Its just a worry of mine


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## bernie comeau (Feb 19, 2007)

MonsterCichlids said:


> My fear was that the convicts may have become stunted because of the tiny tank they were in and the lack of food they were getting.


I wouldn't worry about it one bit. I don't have much beleif in the idea of stunting. Fish grow less over one period, they tend to grow more over another period......in all likelyhood, most fish will reach their expected size eventually. Small tank and a lack of food describes pretty much most fish from any LFS......one reason why I think they grow fast when you take them home.

Anyways 3.5-4" for a 10-11 month old male con is a decent size for a male con at that age. My current male con was definately much smaller then that at that age. He's still small for his age, but i have no doubt he will reach large size eventually, just like any other male con.

My last male 'pink' con was at least 5" at 7 months of age......but he was a 'freak' at a young age as he stood out from the rest of the batch at a couple weeks free swimming by being 2-3X bigger then all his siblings! Had a striped male about 3 weeks younger then this 'pink' male, and although he was largest of his batch, was absolutely tiny compared to the 'pink' male.......that is until around a year old, all of a sudden, in a matter of a few weeks, became slightly larger. Both measured 5 1/2" at 1 1/2 yrs. old. So the huge size of the 'pink' male at an early age had little to do whith their eventual size. Both males got 6", though the striped male was definately bigger and heavier.

I remember the original 6 young juvie cons I purchased from another aquarist almost 20 years ago; the beginning of my current inbred line of cons. One was larger then the rest and was a male; 4 females and one tiny runt. Months went by and they grew fast. Then all of a sudden the runt sprouted and was equal in size to the largest........I watched them for hours as the 2 males threatened each other before I was finally able to determine which was which!

Growth follows no pattern! It is my understanding as well, that fish never do stop growing because of reaching a certain size or age; though it may slow down to next to nil.


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## MonsterCichlids (Jan 25, 2012)

thank you for the great response that really good to hear! And ****, sounds like youve had some massive convicts! I guess my male will be all set then especially since hes been with me and living the good life! Since you mentioned your line bred convicts, i have another side question for you...How many generations down can you breed together before you start getting fish that are born with mutations and deformities and genetics faults? Because a while ago i had a convict pair that were unrelated, then i took a male and female from their offspring and bred them together, then a male and female from their offspring bred but after that i stopped their line becuase i was very worried id gone to far and i would start to see mutations. So how far can you go? And if your interested, here's a link to a line bred female convict that was produced in my tank some months ago...im quite proud of her!


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## bernie comeau (Feb 19, 2007)

MonsterCichlids said:


> ...How many generations down can you breed together before you start getting fish that are born with mutations and deformities and genetics faults? So how far can you go? And if your interested, here's a link to a line bred female convict that was produced in my tank some months ago...im quite proud of her!


Wow, that is a very beautiful and brightly colored female con!

My understanding is that the genetic faults pretty much need to be there from the begining (?).
I haven't kept good record but off the top of my head I have inbred for at least 8 generations......I'm sure I am missing a genertion or 2, at least, since I sometimes have had numerous generations at once and havn't always kept track which generation produced the succeeding. And no idea how inbred they were to begin with, when I got them.
When I take entire batches to raise, I can't ever recall one defromed fish, though i am sure i must of had one at one time or another (?). Though a number of generations come from survivors in the tank . There are always some, sometimes many, from every single batch, regardless of tankmates, so they are not removed as fry (includingthe last 3 generations) So I would not know the number of deformed fry that did not make it and were eaten.


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