Yet another convict question...sorry!

[AlyKat]

Did a little reading up on them, and read that the female, if kept with the babies too long will eat the babies after they've grown some. The male gets pretty much get pissed at her for doing it and will get aggressive towards her. So has anyone had this experience? Will I have to remove her and leave just the male with the babies once they've grown a bit? Cuz the whole reason I'm doing the cons instead of the guppies is to KEEP some to grow out for Oscar and Jack...
HELP! LOL!

 

[Pure]

Aly, once the fry become free swimming they will become food for mom and dad both. If you find that the female or male for that matter eats the eggs prior to the free swimming stage...give them another chance. Sometimes they have to do it a few times before they get it right. Then again some individual fish are just egg eaters by nature and will always cannibalize their spawns. If you are unlucky enough to get a fish like this, just pull the eggs promptly after spawning. Mom and Dad don't have to raise the fry. There's no reason why you can't do it.

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Agreed, try and take them out when they become free swimming.

 

[AlyKat]

Hmmmmm, the whole reason I was going to switch from raising guppies to cons was because they were good parents. Now I'm wondering if there's something easier I can raise...I do have an empty 10G but was not really looking to have another tank set up...

 

[Cichlid-Man]

My pair usually kept their fry until the next batch. And the time frame of the next batch is not set in stone. Could be a matter of weeks or months. Its just safer, and assures you a bigger yield of fry if you remove them at free swimming stage. They won't ALWAYS kill them, but they sure do kick them out of the nest when the new ones are on the way.

 

[AlyKat]

LOL, gotcha!

Since I'll be breeding them for feeders, I'm not too worried about yield...as long as I get more than the guppies...they were eating ALL the babies!