I just purchased two convict cichlids the other day, and thought I would share my experience on these wonderful cichlids.

Someone had once told me that the old phrase, "They started breeding in the bag on the way home!", was not one that was exaggerated.

Although I am pretty sure I have a male and female, I have yet to see if they will breed.

One of them is the typical, larger male, while the other is smaller, and has gold stripes in between the black ones on the back of it's body. It also has a dorsal and anal fin that goes from a lime green color to a dark blue. From what I hear though, this is a sign you have a female. They are only about an inch and a half to two inches, so I guess time will tell.

They are very active and always come up to the front glass at feeding time. I absolutely love personable fish. I have a purple blood parrot and dojo loach that will eat out of your hand! If you have never had a fish that is like that, you ought to give it a try. You'd be surprised how much fun they can be!

Convicts are one of the smaller cichlids, having a average max size of around six inches. You can house a breeding pair in an aquarium with as little as 20 gallons. The length and width of the aquarium and more important than the height, however.

Convict cichlids are very good for those who have never kept cichlids before. They are very easy to keep and can tolerate a wide variety of water conditions. They are also one of the easiest cichlids to breed according to many cichlid enthusiasts.

If you ever have a chance to get one of these cichlids, or I ever have more than I can handle from them breeding too much :blink: , I would. You will find that they will make a great addition to your aquarium!

Mine killed my biggest angelfish!! :angry:

Thats no good! They are extremely agressive from what I can tell. They seem to be fine with their own species, but then again, that goes for most cichlids. If you are looking for a cichlid to go with your angelfish, you might try German Blue Rams, Bolivian Rams, or Kribensis cichlids. They all are great for the community and are really beautiful.

that was a long time ago..

After moving some of my fish around I realized that they were missing their flower pot. So I wen't back in there and noticed what looked to be sand. Upon closer inspection I noticed that they were actually eggs!!!

I actually got a male and female pair. I'm not sure if they were fertilized or not, but the fact was that they were in there!! I didn't think they had bred, so it didn't occur to me to look in the flower pot. I wish I had! I don't know how long the eggs can survive out of water, so I guess we will see. I'm sure they will eat the eggs if they aren't alive and try again. Hopefully I will have some convict fry in the near future.

The Convict Cichlid is a cave-breeder and will accept a range of water conditions. To promote breeding increase the water temperature to between 75-79°F. Some females will spawn between a cave and an open area. The Pink Convict Cichlid readily pairs and forms a patriarch/matriarch family and both the male and female will care for the young. The fry will respond to signals from both the male and the female.

Unfortuneately, if the eggs have died, which is likely more because of the temperature swings than being out of water, they probably will not eat them. If you don't have fry within 21 days, you should remove the remaining eggs, and they should breed again within about 14 days.

That cichlid information HAS gone to your head! LoL. If they don't hatch, I will remove them. Their tank stays at a steady 78 degrees, so it's nice and toasty. We'll see what happens. Kind of disappoints me that I didn't see the eggs. The flower pot was inverted in the aquarium, and now I put it in there on it's side so I can see in there. The female stays in there ALL the time and the male patrols the tank. It's pretty neat to watch. They are very nice fish to have.

congrats!!

Thanks! I can't wait to have some cichlid fry floating around the tank. I've always wanted to breed fish, but have never been able to. I waited for my neolamprologus brichardi to breed FOREVER, and they were supposedly easy to breed, but I never got any results. I'll keep you posted!

me too!! :( Don't know why I can't. :(

It surprised me that I hadn't noticed my convicts breeding, especially because everyone said that all you had to have was FISH + WATER + TANK = BABIES.

Haha! They said it was surprising easily to breed convicts, and they were considered the easiest out of all the cichlids.

I've tried many times..

With convicts?

Kinda yeah.

Are you sure you had a male and female? The males are less colorful and their dorsal fins extend all the way down to then end of their tail. My female is just very beautiful. Shas gold stripes on the bottom back half of her belly, and has greenish blue fins. She's also a bit smaller than the male.

Yep. It was, though the female was really small.

I'm poretty sure that after they get to about 1.5 inches they will start to breed. It helps if you have some sort of cave in the tank. Lots of people have luck with flower pots. Myself included. From what I hear, the first few times that they breed, the male may not fertilize the eggs. After a few times though, he will get the hang of it and you will have some convict fry sooner or later. The eggs that I found were clear a few days ago. I just noticed that they are a darker color. I'm thinking this means that they were fertilized. We can only hope! I'll check again at the end of the month and see how things are going.

I bought a pair and they bred the night i got them. Both the male and the female had the blue-green- dorsal, but only the female had the red belly, as that was a sign of having eggs. i just recently moved the female out of the breeding tank because the male was ripping her to shreds. the 20~ babies are now in a barebottom, half of a 29 with a sponge filter.

These guys are very shy when it comes to picture time. These were the best pictures I could get at the time. It's a picture of my female guarding her eggs, and a full view of their temporary tank.



If you look closely, you can see the eggs.



Unfortunately, the way the flower pot was angeled, you cannot see the eggs.

I moved the convicts to my 15 gallon pond. I took the male convict back because the female scared him right out of the pond. I found him about an hour and a half later, and put him back in the water. After a few seconds he began breathing again. It took him a few minutes to get oriented, but after about 30 minutes he was good to go.

*** Important Update! ***

The baby convicts now have tails! They are scooting along the bottom, but not free swimming yet from what I can tell. I'm curious whether or not I should be feeding them at this point, or if I should wait. I know that fish that hatch from eggs will eat the yolk for a few days AFTER they become free swimming, so I may wait. I'll be sure to keep you updated on thier progress.

actualy, tey become free swimming when the yolk sac is gone :). i fed mine BBS for the first day, then crushed flakes.