convicts and breeding

[fishfreaks]

we have a male and female conivict, and i know their huge breeders. Problem is, they havent had babies yet. We want to use them as feeders, we dont have room for another tank right now, otherwise we would raise them. The male is 3 inches and the female is 2 inches, we have a clay pot and a rock as well as other decor (were in the middle of redecorating) and our tank temp. is a steady 78 degrees. I'm beginning to think there is another reason they are not breeding?

[TheOldSalt]

Well, let's try to figure out just what that reason could be.

How long has this tank been up and running?
Any other fish in the tank?
pH & hardness?
Photoperiod?

Lots of foot traffic near the tank?
Are the fish mature at only 2 & 3 inches?
What are you feeding them?
Water change schedule?

[fishfreaks]

1.Set the tank up beginning of last september
2. green terror, texas cichlid, some kind of gibbecps pleco, and a clown loach
3. ph is 7.0, i dont know the hardness
4. what is photoperiod? ive never heard that term before.
5. not much, only when we leve for work and when we get home, most time a day anyone is near the tank is about 1- 1/2 hrs.
6. how do i now if they are mature? the female has been showing lots of blue yellow and red, and the male has a small bump on his head.
7. food ranges from sinking pellets, freeze dried krill, and plankton, frozen beefheart, bloodworms, brine shrimp, and sometimes live foods such as brine shrimp and bloodworms.
8. we do a 30 percent water change twice a week.

[TheOldSalt]

1-- okay
2-- Hmmm...could be the trouble alright. Kinda hard to spawn when you're being dominated by some badguys who want to eat your fry.
3-- Central american cichlids like it a little more alkaline, but not like African mbunas. 7.4-7.6 is about right. Of course, domesticated as they are, they probably don't care anymore, so don't sweat it.
4-- Photoperiod is the length of time the lights are on, that is, how long are the "days" in the tank? If the photoperiod is irregular or too short, the fish won't spawn because their breeding hormones are controlled by daylength.
5-- okay
6--They're kinda small for adults, but the good colors are promising. I see you've already noticed that Convicts are peculiar in that the females have all the color. It could simply be that they're too young.
7-- okay
8-- okay, but could possibly need some tweaking if fixing the other things doesn't work.

What I would do:

1- cut the photoperiod back to 8.5 hrs, steady on a timer.
2- feed the fih very good foods
3- drop the temp to 74
4- cut back the water changes to 1/week, and slowly adjust the pH to 7.4 and get the hardness up to "medium" levels
5- get rid of the other bigger, badder fish

After 3 weeks of this,

1- increase photoperiod by 15 minutes a day until it's 11 hours and leave it there, steady on a timer
2- slowly increase temp by one degree every 3 days up to 77F.
3- Monitor fish for color and plumpness in female
4- when fish look good for spawning, do a 30% water change with PRE-prepared water of correct parameters matching what the tank should be by then, but 2 degrees cooler.

That last one is optional, but I've found it handy.
With all this, the fish should spawn if they like each other. they ARE cichlids, after all, and if they don't measure up to each other's evaluation, nothing will happen.

Convicts are some of the easiest cichlids to breed. Normally you don't have to go to all this trouble, but then again, normally they spawn no problem.

[fishfreaks]

2-Well the green terror isnt a "terror" just yet. From what i have noticed, (even from far away) all she does is swim. the convicts actually bother her. And my texas cichlid does the same, but mostly he sits there and swims. sits there and swims.

4-well the past two to three weeks we have been leaving the lights off, at most an hour a day, we were having a problem with brown algae, we scrubbed that all away this friday so i suppose i can follow what you suggested.

also, they do swim together, they don't chase each other, they chase the other fish. They have their "own" corner, as i call it because they always dig up this one spot under a rock and all around it on the one side.

thanks alot for all you help!

[TheOldSalt]

Well, in that case, things are looking better. If they have claimed a territory and started digging pits, then they are likely already thinking about spawning someday.
Get the lights on and feed them well and you might get some results soon without doing all that other stuff.

[fishfreaks]

thanks, oddsalt you're always so informative!

[aquatic_dynasty]

I dont know if this might work for you, but it work for me really well. My convicts are shy and usually hides under the flower pot, so I provide plenty of cover with rocks and plenty of pots. I turn my flower pot the other way facing the back of the tank so they wont be disturb by me when they are spawning. I notice they spawn much faster and I have much more babies alive. No one wants to be disturb or watch them when they are "mating"