Precocious Young Convict Cichlids

[Serpentine]

They're barely more than fry themselves at a whopping 1.5 inches, but darned if they aren't already making little convicts. Considering that their mature size is between 4 and 6 inches I supposed that they'd wait until they were at least half grown. Oh, no.

The joke is that convicts will breed in a bait bucket and start spawning in the bag on the way home from the fish store and it's not far off the mark. I am having fun with the convict theme and they have names like Hooligan, Ruffian, Outlaw, Renegade and Jailbird.

Ruffian and Outlaw paired off and are raising their first batch of fry. For their first time out and being so young themselves they are doing a great job. They are very devoted parents.

This is Outlaw the proud papa trying to block me from taking pictures.

Ruffian lovingly tending to her wrigglers. Cruddy images, but it was hard to get a decent shot with Outlaw in my face.

 

[fishhead0103666]

Well, they certainly could be compared to guppies or rabbits with their breeding abilities. Having children when they’re children, maybe they should go on “1.5 inches and pregnant”.
The dad looks very good, I wish I had the soace to keep convicts.

 

[Serpentine]

They are both really nice looking specimens. They've got their breeding colors on and I don't have overhead lighting in the tank yet as it was supposed to be a temporary setup. Normally this pair has crisp, vivid black stripes and some nice flashes of blue iridescence in their fins. Great contrast and coloration. Mom has an eye-popping orange belly.

They never even got a chance to earn their high school diplomas before suddenly childhood was over. I have never seen cichlids breed at such a young age before. They are a lot of fun to watch.

 

[Kvandy]

I love convicts . I actually still have the first fish I ever bought which is a female convict. Got her in a divided 55 with a pair on both sides...between the 2 pairs there’s always fry everywhere. I feed them to my other fish most of the time to thin them out.

 

[Kvandy]

Here’s a pic

 

[Serpentine]

That's a really nice setup. Where do you get those dividers?

 

[Kvandy]

Home Depot , Lowe’s, , hardware store. They are called egg crate lighting diffuser. For 10$ You can get a decent size sheet of it.

 

[Serpentine]

Do they eat each other's fry if the little ones wander through the divider to the wrong side?

 

[Kvandy]

Honstley I don’t know. I just set this up and only the one side has fry. I’ve got to imaging if both sides had fry around the same size they wouldn’t be able to tell the difference

 

[cichliddave]

Nice

View attachment 1353069 Here’s a pic

setup. I’m trying to do the same thing but can’t find any females.