Hello, I'm new to this forum and have a question about desirability of hybridfish.My convict (female) layed eggs, my Jack Dempsey fertilized them and now I have some cool looking convicts. Typical Convict shape and bars, but with some of the colors and pronounced spots of the Jack Dempsey.Is this a common thing in a community tank with nothing but cichlids, no two fish are of the same species, or is this some oddity?They realy do look neat. I'm going to keep a couple for myself and get rid of the remaining ones, as there is about 50 of the little guys and some are now about an inch and a half long.* There killing me in food*twirlysmi
Convict and Jack Dempsey sittin in a tree...
- Thread starter CJT
- Start date
With the amazing selection of cichlids available in wild form, hybrids are not something most hobbyists want. Also how the fish will live, grow, act is an unknown at this point so it would be almost impossible to say how the fish will end up once mature.
To be honest, most hybrids are looked down upon for one reason or another. It's not uncommon for hybrids to pop up when a mix of fish are kept if the species are close enough.
To be honest, most hybrids are looked down upon for one reason or another. It's not uncommon for hybrids to pop up when a mix of fish are kept if the species are close enough.
I'll try and post some pics latter if not tomarrow.
Of all the people I know or are related to do not have fish.
I'm not looking to make money, I'd give 'em to a good home just to
be rid of 'em. I am going to keep a few, because at 1 1/2 inches they
are starting to get some cool colors and markings.
Scince it has happened this time, I'm sure it will probably happen again.
I guess time will tell how they fare.
I have a 65 gal. with The Con., Jack Dempsey, Green Severum, Firemouth, and another cichlid that I'm not sure of, maybe I can post a pic of him too.
The smallest of these is the Firemouth about 3 inches. Con. is slightly larger,
the Jack Dempsey is about 5 inches and the Severum is about that as well.
AND LOTS OF BABIES.!!*laughingc
Of all the people I know or are related to do not have fish.
I'm not looking to make money, I'd give 'em to a good home just to
be rid of 'em. I am going to keep a few, because at 1 1/2 inches they
are starting to get some cool colors and markings.
Scince it has happened this time, I'm sure it will probably happen again.
I guess time will tell how they fare.
I have a 65 gal. with The Con., Jack Dempsey, Green Severum, Firemouth, and another cichlid that I'm not sure of, maybe I can post a pic of him too.
The smallest of these is the Firemouth about 3 inches. Con. is slightly larger,
the Jack Dempsey is about 5 inches and the Severum is about that as well.
AND LOTS OF BABIES.!!*laughingc
I would agree with the rest of the guys.Hybrids are normally doll in color and you sometimes never know on how they will act with other tankmates.But in the case of your convict/dempsey hybrids:I personally am amazed in how they came out in the pics you posted.They look beautiful with the convicts body/shape and the dempsey greenishblue color scheme.
Good luck with your babies!
-IronLung
Good luck with your babies!
-IronLung
neat fish! my convict is trying to lay eggs right now and it is paired up with my dempsey. i didn't know that was possible!! she lays the eggs and tries to keep the other fish from eating them! my whole tank has become very aggressive in the past couple weeks. maybe its because those two are breeding?? so have you decided if you would sell your convict/dempsey mixes? i don't know if mine are going to make it! i would be interested if you could ship them!!
I have a couple hybrids as well. I got lab maingano hybrids and I think they are the coolest lil farts in my tank. they got the maingano body shape as well as alot of the blue highlites and black stripes with the majority of the body being yellow with a blue shimmer. looks realy cool. only problem is my female hybrid had a batch of babies and I have no clue what she spawned with but I saved them and looking forward to how they turn out as well. got 2 pics. first is the female second is the male. well at least I know for a fact the first is female and speculating that the second is male.
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Realy, I'm not looking to sell. I'd give 'em to a good home, don't know what I would do as far as shipping. Never had to ship fish before.
If these turn out as cool as I think they will, I might consider selling them, but for know If any body wants some, come and get 'em.!!
I was told there was no way the babies would make it unless I put them in a basket or seperate tank. I don't think I lost a single one to another fish.
The Dempsey and the Convict would'nt let another fish even close to there side of the tank. It was realy cool to watch. There big enough now that I don't have to worry about it.
If these turn out as cool as I think they will, I might consider selling them, but for know If any body wants some, come and get 'em.!!
I was told there was no way the babies would make it unless I put them in a basket or seperate tank. I don't think I lost a single one to another fish.
The Dempsey and the Convict would'nt let another fish even close to there side of the tank. It was realy cool to watch. There big enough now that I don't have to worry about it.
thanks. I am durios what the hybrids babies are going to look like. I have no idea who she may have spawned with so hard to say. could been her father the maingano, or one of the labs, or even possibly her brother another hybrid. so it's anyones guess at what the offspring will end up like. but my guess is it will be interesting.
Electric Blue Jack Dempsey x Convict
I have a female Convict (I'm not sure of what variety, she has strong blue-green coloring on her fins, and varies from light gray to dark purple depending on mood) and a young Electric Blue Jack Dempsey male. I had purchased the EBJD as a mated pair with another, but she did not survive his courting, and to keep him company I added the female Convict.
She started in a community tank with a male convict, two oscars, a firemouth and some plecos. The pair took over the tank from the bigger fish and successfully bred once before I removed the convicts for the safety of the oscars and the firemouth.
I had thought the fry had all been eaten by the oscars, when a few weeks later I cleaned the canister filter, and found juvenile convicts in the reservoir, happily feeding off the leftover bits of food from the messy oscars.
Scared the life outta me though, as i pulled the filter out and a fish jumped at me.
I settled the mated convicts on one side of a divided tank with a young flowerhorn on the other side. This turned out to be a mistake. When the pair produced another brood the enticing fry darting back and forth across the divide aggrivated the flowerhorn to dig up and dislodge from its fastenings the barrier and kill the father and consume the young fish. When I came home to find this I rescued the female and the remaining juvenile convicts (hiding beneath the fallen wall) and moved them in with the EBJD. He was, after all, about the size of the adult convict, and quite skittish.
This had been fine until a week or so ago when the female convict and the blue started to dance. The one remaining offspring of the last brood had to be moved back to the original oscar tank for its safety (seems contrary, but the little guy is happy as a clam now, and the oscars have ignored him except to say hi the first day).
I now have a number of eggs in a corner of the tank they removed all the gravel from, and constructed a wall of gravel around. Prior to this she had always layed her eggs inside of rock caves, but the blue refused to go inside, I think it was a little too small for him.
There seem to be a larger number of dead (white) eggs than the straight convict x convict matings, but I somewhat expected that from what I know of genetics. Also it seems to be taking longer for them to hatch into wigglers. Been over 48 hours already, but the temp is a little low. . .should definately hatch today though.
I'm very curious to see what these will look like. In particular, I'm tempted to cross the hybrids, or possibly try to back breed with the EBJD father if the coloring doesn't show in this generation.
Thoughts? Anybody seen this cross before? Personally, I think the stigma surrounding hybrids is unfortunate, but understandable, particularly as released hobby fish such as the flowerhorn (a new world hybrid now found commonly in malaysia and thailand) can cause devastating damage to native populations of many other species anywhere they are introduced.
I have a female Convict (I'm not sure of what variety, she has strong blue-green coloring on her fins, and varies from light gray to dark purple depending on mood) and a young Electric Blue Jack Dempsey male. I had purchased the EBJD as a mated pair with another, but she did not survive his courting, and to keep him company I added the female Convict.
She started in a community tank with a male convict, two oscars, a firemouth and some plecos. The pair took over the tank from the bigger fish and successfully bred once before I removed the convicts for the safety of the oscars and the firemouth.
I had thought the fry had all been eaten by the oscars, when a few weeks later I cleaned the canister filter, and found juvenile convicts in the reservoir, happily feeding off the leftover bits of food from the messy oscars.
Scared the life outta me though, as i pulled the filter out and a fish jumped at me.
I settled the mated convicts on one side of a divided tank with a young flowerhorn on the other side. This turned out to be a mistake. When the pair produced another brood the enticing fry darting back and forth across the divide aggrivated the flowerhorn to dig up and dislodge from its fastenings the barrier and kill the father and consume the young fish. When I came home to find this I rescued the female and the remaining juvenile convicts (hiding beneath the fallen wall) and moved them in with the EBJD. He was, after all, about the size of the adult convict, and quite skittish.
This had been fine until a week or so ago when the female convict and the blue started to dance. The one remaining offspring of the last brood had to be moved back to the original oscar tank for its safety (seems contrary, but the little guy is happy as a clam now, and the oscars have ignored him except to say hi the first day).
I now have a number of eggs in a corner of the tank they removed all the gravel from, and constructed a wall of gravel around. Prior to this she had always layed her eggs inside of rock caves, but the blue refused to go inside, I think it was a little too small for him.
There seem to be a larger number of dead (white) eggs than the straight convict x convict matings, but I somewhat expected that from what I know of genetics. Also it seems to be taking longer for them to hatch into wigglers. Been over 48 hours already, but the temp is a little low. . .should definately hatch today though.
I'm very curious to see what these will look like. In particular, I'm tempted to cross the hybrids, or possibly try to back breed with the EBJD father if the coloring doesn't show in this generation.
Thoughts? Anybody seen this cross before? Personally, I think the stigma surrounding hybrids is unfortunate, but understandable, particularly as released hobby fish such as the flowerhorn (a new world hybrid now found commonly in malaysia and thailand) can cause devastating damage to native populations of many other species anywhere they are introduced.