Convict Cichlid Fry Questions...?

Question

They fry hatched the other day. I have had them divided off in the tank alone, is this ok? Should I have left the mom with them? When do they start to swim? If you have advice on how to care for them and more in the future please let me know. Thanks!

Answer 1

Convict Cichlids MUST STAY with their children!! They never eat their babies, they raise them!!

Consult this website: http://www.aquariumfish.net/information/...

Answer 2

Convicts are good parents. Fry don't need to be separated from parents. I have my convicts in with a Jack Dempsey. And they keep him at bay. Convicts are the the rabbits of the fish world, You'll have more than you'll know what to do with.

Take flake food put in plastic bag. Keep working it till it's a real fine power. Put a pinch in aquarium, it will sink so fry can get it. when a little older you can feed newly hatched brine shrimp

Answer 3

Nicole,

If you are providing the correct types of foods for the fry, you'll be fine if you moved mom out.  While the parents are not likely to eat their fry, it's not completely necessary to leave the parents with them, IF you have the fry in their own tank, where predators would not be an issue.

Using foods like infusoria, and de-capsulated brine shrimp should work well to offer food that is smaller and has good protein counts so they can get out of the inital stages of growth.  Then you can start offering grinded up flake foods.

I do hope though, you have large tanks and a large number of them.  Convicts breed like guppies.  This isn't going to be the first brood you get from the parents, especially since it sounds like you have several adults.  They will breed like the world is about to go extinct.  You will not get very much in terms of value if you sell them because they breed so easily and in large numbers.  If you can even get 1 dollar for a fry, you should count yourself lucky to get that much.  That's how much of a common fish they are.