CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

hey whats up a few questons on convict fry first one is when is it ok to take the fry from the mother i can see them scrounging around the bottom of a hallow tree thingy i have but they arent actualy swimming they are about 1 week old i put the tree in a sepperate tank with the mother only but the father is takin a beating now in my big tank so i wanted to put the team back together should i wait longer? and also about how long does it take for the fry to actualy swimm ?

you can pretty much take to babies away from the mother anytime you like, convicts are good parents there is no need to seperate the male from the female and babies unless he starts to abuse the female, i always left my fry with the parents until they decided to breed again, since you have already removed the male he may try to eat the fry if you reintroduce him now, but i don't really know that since i've never tried it, if they have been hatched a week they probably are free swimming, pretty soon they will be all over the place;)

Well, it's too late now but I would have left both parents in with the fry for at least 2-3 weeks unless they were fighting over who cares for the kids. I've got about 100 fry that are over a month old(1/4'' to 1/3''). When I woke up this morning and turned on the light in the tank and fed them crushed cichlid flake as I usually do I noticed the female chasing after the fry. I couldn't tell if she was trying to eat them or herd them but once they are a couple weeks old I've noticed they will be fine by themselves. If you have deep gravel it's good to leave the parents in with the fry while they're very small because they will come to the rescue if the little guys get stuck. I watched them suck them up and move them around and it's pretty cool but this morning I was scared she was mad that she didn't get enough food and was going to use the fry as a supplement! Anyone have a similiar experience or any advice?

my cons always tried to herd the fry from one spot to another, my jds did the same thing, they would dig 3-4 pits and a couple of times a day the would move all the fry, after the fry became more active it drove the parents nuts trying to keep them all together

im new at this being only my third day but ive notice the mother picking up the fry to move them. Its neat to watch them parent the fry. Especially when the light goes off and they go on high alert hearding everyone into the deep gravel.

Yeah, Convicts are pretty neat. Great fish. Easy to breed, and good parents.

I see you've been doing a bit of research on raising them, 'eh tablfish? Its not every day we see a two year old post get bumped...lol.

Good job man. Makes our job easier when your willing to do some of the work.

I think I'll go take a nap, then...lol.

leaving both parents in the tank is the best thing to do

it might seem as if they are eating the fry

but they are actually hiding them from predators:)

After 1-3 days the eggs hatch at this point you could remove the parents

in my opinion i don't see the point unless there eating the fry

Hey tablfish, just wondering if anyone has told you how big your red tail is going to get? Sorry my question is off topic but just thought I'd let you know that you might want to get a 300 gal tank for that growing baby and leave your cons in the 55. red tails get at least 3 feet and need a very large tank. they are also nocternal so most active at night and carnivores what ever fish fits in their mouth goes in their mouth.

Yeah, when i bought him i was told he wouldn't get quite that big, but i soon found out the truth, sooo....

Right now he has grown from about 1" to 6" in about 9 months. I am currently taking a class where i will be learning to construct & mold things out of acrylic. After this i plan to build a much larger tank for him. Also in the next two years i hope to be settled into a long term residence where i will be able to build a pond for him to stay for summer months.

Thankyou for the concern

That's cool. Glad to hear you have a plan. I just about did the same thing but luckily looked into it on the net first.

back to the convicts, i was wondering what i need to do with fry if i have more than just a pair, will the other cons eat the fry? and when i transfer the fry should i transfer the parents with them? or are they ok completly seperated

They need the mom as she keeps them safe and shows them how to get food...IF you have not watched a pair care for the fry, you need to do so..As for moving them I answered your other post on this...