24 replies to this topic

[yasha]

Thank you for the tip. I've never seen convict cichlids before I'll have to look up more on them and see if stores around here ever have any. By what little I just looked up on them it looks like I'd need a diffrent tank to breed them in as there aggressive when breeding. Unlike with the molly (or guppy for now) that would be big enough and calm enough to just breed in the tank with the suns. It's all good to look in to so I do like the info and suggestions. I do like the Idea of breeding the food as you know it doesn't bring any disease in the tank with them. I used to go to the pet store every week to buy mice now I breed the mice/rats for my snakes. I find it about the same price as buying them all the time when you factor in the entertainment I get watching them and knowing what they have been fed and live in.
I've always wanted to breed some livebearers and that was my plan before I got these ones so it would be nice to still do so and now have something to do with the babies. But I also was looking at getting a tank of cichlids so breeding a pair of them would also be nice. The greater numbers will make them better for feeders for sure. The faster growing may not be the best for this little guys at there current size but for a little down the road that would be very useful.
The brine shrimp at the store here is about 500 for $2 so isn't overly bad price the guppys are $1.25 for 12(have to wait a little till they can get there mouths on the small ones).
I was thinking of buying some brine shrimp eggs to hatch for them i fond some cheap ones 10 grams for under $5. I'm not sure how well that will work but for $5 it will be fun to try and as long as it doesn't hurt the suns. It will be fun to watch and give them the entertainment of the chace(not much of one but still) of pray they can catch.

[gzeiger]

There's definitely nothing wrong with keeping mollies with them. Adult guppies will eventually become food themselves. All livebearers have some ability to hold their young in the presence of predators and you're not going to get many fry in a tank full of sunfish.

Every pet store that sells fish has convicts. After guppies and goldfish, they're the most common species on the market. You're right, they are extremely aggressive and will kill larger fish when breeding. They do need their own tank. I kept a pair in a 20 gallon (but 10 would likely be ok) with a 5 gallon tank for fry, and it produced more than enough to be the sole food source for a pickerel.

[butch]

I'd rather using livebearers than convicts. Sure convicts are easy to breed.....but they are excellent at hiding and evading the predators when dropping in the tank. And the survivors will eventually starts to terrorizing everyone in then tank. Not all LFS carried convict cichlids. In fact I never saw one for sale in all 14 LFS that I frequently shopping at because there is no demand for them. Convicts used to be common but they are getting rare nowadays.

[yasha]

Thank you both for the reply.

We only have 5 places around here that sell fish and 2 are not really pet stores. We have Walmart, Meijers, Petco, and 2 smaller private pet stores. I didnt see any at the 1 small pet shop only firemouths, green terror and a diffrent type I don't remember the nake on that gets as big or bigger then a oscar The 2nd pet shop that deals only in fish also doesn't carry any. The otherstores I didn't look as closely at but don't remember any that looked like that. I well read up on them and as a look/call the few stores to find out if they do have them.

Edited by yasha, 23 December 2014 - 12:51 PM.

[Matt DeLaVega]

Search "convict" at http://www.aquabid.com/ and you will find them for sale. I have never kept them, but I have heard enough to believe that they are easy and prolific. Now I have to do my own favorite feeder plug. Red cherry shrimp! Super easy and super prolific. You will find them in the invertebrate section on Aquabid.