# will breeding pair of convicts eat their fry?



## jayc

my convict just had frys. they have been doing great with the parents at the moment with the parents protecting them very well. just wondering when the fry get big, will the parents start attacking them? or maybe the frys attacking other fry? thanks for any responses. would love to hear from ppl with breeding pair of convicts and wanted to see how i can keep as many alive as possible with minimal tanks.


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## K0oKiE

I *wish* my parents had eaten some of theirs! lol j/k (kinda) I finally sold my parents off cuz I couldn't keep up with their spawning. I now have about 100 baby convicts to deal with. 

I have heard though that newer couples will each their fry once they feel like spawning again, which sometimes isnt too long. Guess it just depends.


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## pisces

usually the parent wont eat their fry, but male not sure!! but the female will take care them until the fry they can alone swim! so better take out the male! let the female take care! same as my flowerhorn, the female did very good job! but the male will eat the fry , so i need take out the male !just sharing my idea, hope can help u!


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## SparkyOscar

no the parents will not eat their fry, I have a breeding pair of convict cichlids who have 2 batches of babies in the same tank, the babies are about a month to 2 months apart in age and from 2 different mothers same father. I have had to give away a good majority of the babies just to lower the number in the tank.


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## Johnnyfishtanks

i first fish tank was one pink convict, one convict and one tiger Oscar in a 50 gallon like 15 years ago. the convicts had like something like 600 babys our something they protected them to the end. they killed my tiger oscar ,they protect the babys so much the are aggressive little guys when it comes to babys


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## Hammer

Usually, convicts and similar cichlids will be protective with their young for some time. That being said, there are situations that could result in young being eaten. I think when the environment is stressful...overcrowded, or some other criteria for happiness is not met. When the young get bigger..the male may kill (not necessarily eat) young males (theough I have never been able to officially figure out the sex). I think this is the way he drive them out to find their own area. In a tank, they can't move out...they end up getting killed. Sometimes, cichlids just eat tehir young..or eggs..not sure why. These are my explanations...I am not sure how accurate they are..I dont really know what my fish are thinking.


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## Fishkeeper

I agree with all the notes above, I have seen Convict Communities, with a couple generations in the same tank....good size tank though with room for the youngsters to get away from spawning parents....I have also had some fry eaten...not sure why....just depends on the set up and enviornment....but for sure they are great parents....good luck...my two cents...

If you want to save them all you can remove both parents and raise the fry by yourself like we do with lots of other fish, but convicts should be fine....


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