i have fancied having convict cichlids for ages but for a few reasons never got round to it. recently i saw some very young ones in a LFS. up till then i had not seen any in ages. i decided to buy 4. that was a couple of months ago. since then they have got a lot bigger and it appears i have 3 females and a male. i tried putting what i thought was a male and female into my 15 gal tank but it turned out that it was a very big dominant female that looks like a male and a smaller female. ironicaly the ones i left in the big tank have formed up as a pair and i am now sure that they are male and female.

i have been trying to take pics of them the last few days and tonight i was looking at the best ones. below is a pic that i realy like and i thought i'd share it with my fellow babblers to see if they like it as much as i do.

That is indeed a cracking pic mate Love the way you have "captured the convicts" I had forgotton just how nice a fish they can actually look Hope your right and that you have got a pair, but that could lead to some serious territorial battles in the tank

turns out i was right about the pair left in the 40g tank being a male and female (the ones pictured above, male right, female left).

the 2 i took out and put in the 15 gal turned out to be 2 females. a hyper dominant one that looks like a male and an ordinary female. these are now in seperate tanks as the dominant one just kept chasing the other female.

in the 40g tank the pair have dug a big nest below a bit of bogwood (i am amazed by how much gravel and sand they have moved) and have laid eggs.

here is a pic of the female from the 40g showing off her breeding colours ...





here she is digging out the nest ...





and here is a pic of the eggs laid on the bogwood above the nest with, i think, the male trying to attack the camera ...





this pic is of the dominant female showing off her colours. the tips of her dorsal and anal fins are very extended and pointed compared to the other females and apparently this is usualy a male trait. the male in the big tank is beginning to grow out longer anal and dorsal fins but not aslong as this female ...





and here is a pic of eggs that the dominant female has laid in the 10g tank that she is now temporarily housed in BY HERSELF, i.e. no male to fertalise the eggs?! ...

Nice pics as usual mate Have you thought about getting another male for the dominant female ? Keep us informed on how the pair with the eggs go

Those were great. The colors of those convicts really comes out in these. I also liked the egg photos, they are awesome.

i did think about getting another male Clunk but it might not be that easy. i havent seen any convicts in the shops for ages and when i bought these they were very small and it wasnt possible to judge the sex of them. i might try going back to the same shop to see if they have any adults left and if so try pick a male. i was also semi thinking of trying to match up the dominant female with the male i do have, but i'd feel a little bad about splitting up an existing pair if i did.

talking of which ... i had a look today and all the eggs in the 40g tank have hatched. they are now in a pit dug out at the roots of a large amazon sword, next to the original nest. this also happens to be right next to a filter intake. thankfully though, as this is a deep tank, i have raised the filter intake up about a foot which should help stop any of the fry being sucked in. if the parents are able to keep their fry alive i will be a little surprised and well pleased as it wont be easy for them seeing as this is a comminity tank. depending how they get on, i may move this pair into one of the smaller tanks on their own with a sponge over the filter intake.

in the meantime, here is a pic i took 10 mins ago that shows the fry in amongst the roots of the amazon sword. they are not easy to make out but if u look closely u can just see them in the middle of the pic ...



oh yea, and i was pleasantly surprised by how colourful these guys turned out to be Parrot

Think you could be right in it might not be so easy to find another male, also am with you in thinking its not fair to split a breeding pair up. Also think you have done the right thing with the fillter intake. Would be very suprised if you did not manage to raise some of the fry It might pay for you to move them to a breeding tank though

i ment to mention something else that i just saw again. the pair in the 40g tank that now have a fresh brood of wrigglers to look after and protect have disturbed the political balance of the tank slightly. up until now the queen of the tank has been the female bristlenose but her totalitarianism is being undermined.

in slightly simpler terms .. nothing in the tank got in her way, if it did she would assert her authority by attacking them and chasing them a bit but now that the convicts have fry to protect and being that they are good parents, the female BN no longer has the freedom to go where she pleases. if she gets too close to the convicts nest the male and female convict gang up on the BN and attack it. the attacks are quite funny and surprising to see. the convicts take a stand side by side between the BN and the nest and then "on the count of 3" they both charge and headbutt the BN. i noticed the other day that both the male and female BNs dorsal fins are a bit frayed just now, i assumed that it was due to them squabbling with each other but now i've seen the convicts defending the nest i have the feeling that the battle scars on the BNs may be due to them getting a little to close to the nest.

i am impressed by the convicts tenacity. i have seen blue rams try to fend off the BNs before but they gave in. even the very large angels tended to stay out of the way of the large female BN. to see the convicts, which are slightly smaller than my rams where, fending of the BN that is about 4 or 5 times bigger than them is very impressive and shows that i have a very protective and determined pair of convicts.

Well i did say that i thought that you would have a good chance of getting some of them raised as convicts can look after them selves

update ...

I was surprised by how many off the eggs seem to hatch, I didn’t see any go white (bad). for the last few days the wrigglers have been moved from pit to pit, all near the original nest.

as I more or less expected, today the fry have become free swimming. from my other experience of egg baring fish and fry I am again surprised by how big and quickly these guys have grown.

now comes the really hard bit, raising the fry, both for the parents and me. if the parents can keep the babies together, stop them being eaten by the other fish and keep them fed I will be well impressed. at the moment I have decided to let nature take its course with this batch and not interfere too much. I was tempted to try and move the fry and parents to another tank on their own, but partly as it is difficult to do just now and also I actually think leaving the parents and fry in the main tank for this batch isn’t a bad idea. one it will help bring out the parenting instinct of the adults I recon. i.e. they will have to fight to keep this 1st batch alive and also if I lose a few fry but have some survive then it is more 'natural', i.e. survival of the fittest.

in the meantime, here is a couple of pics I took today. the 1st pic shows the fry by themselves. the second pic shows the fry with mum above them, being all protective and flaring her gills at the camera.

Looking good there Think you could have a problem if you tried to move them now, so your probly right in letting them look after the fry themselves, and learning on how to become good parents

Wowsers ! Everyones been having babies whilst I've been away !

A trick I used with the Rams and the Keyholes, was to siphon off some of the eggs. You could do the same with the free swimming fry. Just take enough for the breeding tank, and leave the rest with the parents.

Those Keyholes had a good bite tho' !