# Convict Behavior



## benl.1036 (Apr 17, 2009)

I have 6 convicts I just got. I don't know their genders, but I think one is a male, who is being agressive. He sits in his cave and won't let anyone else in it. If any other fish go close to the cave, they get chased away violently. I witnessed him and another "male" fighting in the cave, but the other one lost. They are all about one inch in a 20 gallon tall. If anyone knows why they are doing this please respond. Thanks.


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## marmot74 (Apr 24, 2008)

Um, because they are Cichlids  I think you will definitely get fighting with 6 convicts in a 20 gallon....

One will eventually take on the dominant role and hopefully the others will accept it


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## benl.1036 (Apr 17, 2009)

I know they're cichlids. But does this mean anyone will breed if he's defending his territory.


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## xalow (May 10, 2007)

There may be eggs all ready, chances are pretty good. At that size they are easily large enough to breed. Females will have golden orange flecks on their abdomen area while males lack this. A 20 tall won't leave much room for the other fish to swim away from the breeding pair though so if you are lucky it is just a territorial fish.


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## illy-d (Nov 6, 2005)

That description does sound like a female defending her nest... Because it's a 20g you should probably remove the other convicts once you know you have a mating pair.


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## benl.1036 (Apr 17, 2009)

I dont think its a female because there are no ''flecks'', although i do have another one with flecks.


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## Mrperfectstar (Apr 28, 2009)

Like the other people have said the male has gotten a cave currect. hes going to try and get a female and then they well lucky spawn. and you well be getting babies very shortly!

but if you see a female in his cave and hes not attacking that one remove the other cichlids asap!

*xalow* he is right, mabye their are eggs in their, just check if their is a female in that rock with that male

bec usally the male is the outer guard fish for the nest and then the female is right by the babies.

if that doesn't make since please let me know...


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## Mrperfectstar (Apr 28, 2009)

Can you take a picture of this so we can see this..

just wondering thank you.

- Mr.perfect Star

keep swiming

:fish: :fish: :fish:


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## benl.1036 (Apr 17, 2009)

Ill try to get pics. One thing I forgot to mension was that i just got them on Saturday, so i dont think theyll breed yet. Right now the male is in his cave with a female, and they sit in there together. I DONT see any eggs yet.


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## benl.1036 (Apr 17, 2009)

I took pictures, but i cant get them on here. Anyone?[/img]


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## benl.1036 (Apr 17, 2009)

http://s615.photobucket.com/albums/tt23 ... g&newest=1

Copy and paste this URL. pics will come up on screen. All three pics are in upper left corner.


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## illy-d (Nov 6, 2005)

3 days is plenty of time for convicts to pair & spawn... you could have free swimmers as early as tomorrow


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## Mrperfectstar (Apr 28, 2009)

WoW she very coloerful on the belly lol 

she looks like she ready to spawn!


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## Black Convitct (Apr 5, 2009)

but be sure, that after aproxmwtly 3 weeks the parents will eat the fry's.

also don't terifay the fish by trying to recycle the water cuz they will immediately eat them cuz of the new thing that u r doing to the tank ,and that happend to me yesterday while I was recycling the water I qiuckly grabed the net and took the big pairs out.


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## benl.1036 (Apr 17, 2009)

I took out all but one of the other guys in the tank (one was too fast). So right now its the "pair" and one other small male which i will really try to catch. I see no eggs or fry yet, but ill keep you guys posted, Thanks.


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## remarkosmoc (Oct 19, 2005)

Black Convitct said:


> but be sure, that after aproxmwtly 3 weeks the parents will eat the fry's.
> 
> also don't terifay the fish by trying to recycle the water cuz they will immediately eat them cuz of the new thing that u r doing to the tank ,and that happend to me yesterday while I was recycling the water I qiuckly grabed the net and took the big pairs out.


This can and does happen, but it is hardly a certainty. I have parents protect their fry for upwards of 4 months sometimes and often have the next batch w/o destroying the previous batch. I've had them protect fry through major water changes/redecorating as well.

6 cons in a 20 gallon is quite a squeeze and you have a pretty good chance of fatal aggression when they are protecting their fry. 2 breeding pairs is the absolute max I'd recommend in a 20 and that's far from optimal.

As others have said you quite possibly already have eggs or the male is just claiming his spot and shopping for the best female.

Nice thing about cons is they breed so much that if you have bad luck with a particular spawn, another spawn will be right around the corner


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## benl.1036 (Apr 17, 2009)

Right now I only have the one pair in the tank. The rest are in a different tank for now. The male in my twentry seems to "shake" every now and then, while the female sitsnext to him. Anyone know why my male does this?


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## remarkosmoc (Oct 19, 2005)

just showing off and inviting the female over.


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## benl.1036 (Apr 17, 2009)

The other thing i observed them doing is biting the inside of the cave they are in. Why are they doing this, it it some way of cleansing the spawing sit?


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## remarkosmoc (Oct 19, 2005)

yep, cleaning it so the eggs will stick to it.


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## Riceburner (Sep 3, 2008)

get ready for this...









http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... p?t=194593


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## remarkosmoc (Oct 19, 2005)

That is a really great pic. I've seen a lot of snapshots of eggs but the clarity and focus of that shot is awesome.

Ben, any updates?


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## benl.1036 (Apr 17, 2009)

Nothing exciting yet. It seems like they're gonna spawn any minute now, but they wont.


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## remarkosmoc (Oct 19, 2005)

Sometimes they do it right away and sometimes they flirt around for a while. Keep us posted


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## benl.1036 (Apr 17, 2009)

I thought id update you guys. Nothing exciting yet, but colors are really intense on both fish and they've been "tail slapping" each other. Ill tell you when i see eggs.


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## benl.1036 (Apr 17, 2009)

They finally laid eggs.


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## remarkosmoc (Oct 19, 2005)

cool, pics?


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## benl.1036 (Apr 17, 2009)

Well, I tried taking pics, but they laid the eggs on the roof of the cave, so they are almost impossible to see. I looking today, and there seem to be less eggs than yesterday. Why is this?


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## remarkosmoc (Oct 19, 2005)

Not all eggs are fertilized, and the unfertilized eggs get fungus which can infect the good eggs. The parents will get rid of the unfertilized eggs to protect the good ones.

Also, it is possible they are starting to move them. They will often move them to a place that is eaiser to protect.


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## benl.1036 (Apr 17, 2009)

I just checked the cave, and all the eggs are gone! I looked around, but cant find where or if they moved them. They seem to be letting other fish over to that side of the tank now, and the male seems to be hiding from the female, while she is proctecting the missing eggs. (she is still in the cave where the eggs were)


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## remarkosmoc (Oct 19, 2005)

They may not have been fertilized. Its common for them to fail on the first attempt. If they did move them one of them will be guarding them. If they lost the batch or gave up on it there can be some heavy aggression.


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## benl.1036 (Apr 17, 2009)

If they gave up the batch, when will they respawn again? :-?


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## remarkosmoc (Oct 19, 2005)

Almost definitely. I've had times where after a bad spawn one kills the other so watch for over aggression for a week or two. After they get over it it would be very unlikely if the didn't breed again.


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## bachelor (May 16, 2009)

she also may still be hiding some fry. They are pretty good at suprising you, and I find often the female will chase off the male unless she needs him to guard the fry. You only have one other stray male in there (still?) and that's not much of a threat to a convict mother. I have had females boot the male for several days to a week even with oscars, and dempseys in the tank. It is of course possible it was a first time failure though, which does happen. They will breed again soon, if she is overly aggressive (biting him non stop till he's not looking so hot) take him out, and introduce him again in about 10-15 days. You would be better off doing this in a 30 gallon, but it can be done in the 20, I even did it in a 10 once, but the female would not tolerate the male after fertilization.

You will babies soon :thumb:


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## bachelor (May 16, 2009)

*have


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## benl.1036 (Apr 17, 2009)

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :wink: :drooling:   :fish: I JUST FOUND FRY IN THE TANK! I LOOKED IN THERE AND THERE WERE LIKE 75. I got about 60 out and theyre in a container. this just happened at like 4:45 central time. What should i feed them, where should i put them? HELP!


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## benl.1036 (Apr 17, 2009)

Im starting a new topic on this page. So just look in the index. I just thought the "Behavoir" and fry are different topics.


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## benl.1036 (Apr 17, 2009)

LINK:

http://cichlidforum.com/phpBB/viewtopic ... 3f4eae3577

Convict Fry


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