January 20, 07

Cryptoheros nigrofaciatus - Convict Cichlids

I was at the local small pet store (Nature Boy in Vancouver) when I spotted a tank full of convicts. I have been looking for some dwarf cichlids, and these convicts really caught my eye. I thought they were a drab fish, but these guys have gorgeous rainbow colors at the base of their fins, and a bit on the sides. So I got the brightest pair. They are in a tank with the male Lokundje. Right now he is more aggressive, so they are hiding in the plants.

Feb 21, 07

I walked into the fishroom this evening to see mom and dad protecting a brood of HUGE fry (well, HUGE compared to baby bettas, anyway)! Of course by now they have the tank to themselves, since they were terrorizing the poor lokundje, so he was moved to another tank.

Dad works very hard keeping that spot cleared of gravel. He's fascinating to watch.

March 27, 07

Today I got the best picture yet showing the female's colors. Look at the bright belly, and the color at the base of the dorsal fin, and then the blue edges! She's gorgeous in person, but it's very hard to pick up with the camera. So to anyone who thinks convicts are dull and boring, I disagree!

The babies are getting big too. I'm having a great time watching them and watching the parents protect them from me.

5/13/07

I took the previous batch of fry to the fish club meeting for my first BAP (Breeders Award Program), and gave the rest to Virgil for his Newts - hated to do that, but what am I going to do with 100 convicts!

There were about six I couldn't catch, and when the parents started a new batch of fry a week or so ago, I watched as they tried to protect them from the six juvies, but they were fast and outnumbered Mom and Dad. Their tummies were fat and silver - full of the new fry! I finally netted them and removed them out to The Big Tank, where they will probably be food for someone, but that's their problem. Now Mom and Dad are tending their new fry in peace. I love watching them take them on outings around the tank, and Dad is busy clearing a new spot for them under the plastic rock.

There's no rest for Mom, even on Mother's Day!

June 03, 07

Well, we went away for a little camping trip last weekend, and came back to find Mom Convict wasn't there begging for food. I looked around a bit and spotted her picked-clean skeleton behind a rock! Damn fish! She was my favorite - boy am I mad at Dad right now! I don't know why he went all nutso on her, but he's so heading for Auction next month. Maybe someone will buy him and feed him to an oscar! Bad fish!

June 12, 07

Dad tending his brood. Hope he likes doing it all by himself. Jerk...

July 3, 07

I pulled Dad out and most of his babys and threw them in the 110g tank. I figure the fry will be feeders, and hopefully dad won't harrass everyone in there too badly. If he does, he's out of luck.

I pulled the two biggest convicts out of the 110g and stuck them back in the convict breeding tank. I'll see if they're a pair. I don't really need more convicts, you can't give the babys away, so they are just good for feeders, but it's fun to see what happens.

Dec 3, 07

A few weeks ago I pulled all the convicts out of the 110g tank. I left Dad in there, and one baby I couldn't catch. Dad is about 4 inches now, and the baby I left behind was about half an inch. Well, it turns out that one was a girl, and she's shot up to about an inch in the last few weeks, colored up, and appears to be full of eggs and ready to breed, despite their disproportionate sizes, and the fact that they are father/daughter!

All the territorial fish in the 110g tank have set up in the same corner. George, and 10 inch Severum, Beek the 7 inch Bleekeri, and the convicts are all in a space the size of a 20g tank. Of course there's lots of room to move around outside, but primarily they have staked out spots within inches of each other, and the convict spends most of his time chasing the other fish away, including the occasional clown loach or pictus cat who wanders by.

George hanging out in his usual spot. The convicts are excavating under the log right below him.

They have dug out quite a bit of rock, and the little female is actually working on excavating a bit under the rock for a hiding place as well. Her hole is too small for the gigantic male to get under, but I'm sure it will be nice cover for her and the fry.

This is Dad, the same Dad as in the earlier reports above. He is about 4 inches now.

This is the little one inch female. The pics are blurry, but they show her colors nicely. She's beautiful, just like her mom.

I wouldn't be surprised if this works out. Dad will have to protect the fry from 2 pictus cats and 7 clown loaches, I don't think anyone else in the tank will care about the eggs/fry. Dad is so ferocious, I'd just about put money on him doing it.

Dec 15, 07

This morning I found mom protecting a small group of fry, while Dad guarded her from the other fish. Not sure how long this will last though, there's a LOT of fish in that tank!

I have already arranged to give these two to another club member, so they'll be moving next week anyway.

December 18

I traded these guys to another club member. I feel bad I broke up their nest of fry. I wasn't going to, but I had to catch some other fish in that tank, and by the time I did everyone was stirred up so badly I went ahead and caught the convicts too. That was just their first batch, I'm sure there's many more yet to come.

January 6, 08

I was out and about today and swung by the little pet store where I bought the Convicts to begin with, and they had another tank of them. They were brightly colored, blue fins, red bellies. I asked the owner if she knew where they came from and she said yes - a little eight year old girl down the street raised them! Well, nothing like buying local! They are such a pretty strain, I picked out the brightest colored one and brought him home. I'm going to try and pair him up with one of the Rio Chuloteca convicts and see if I can really get some color out of them.

January 18, 08

The one I picked up from the pet store was a girl, so I pulled my boy chuloteca and put them together about a week ago, and today I see they are hiding fry behind the flowerpot. I wouldn't have noticed except for the big pile of gravel where he cleared it down to the bottom glass. Those fry sure get to work quick!

January 21, 08

Fry are free swimming after a few days of sitting in a clump in the corner. Mom and Dad are out protecting them, but Dad is so shy he will go hide if he even sees me come in the room! Some protector he is! I had to take this picture using the zoom from the hallway. Dad is the darker one. You can see a bit of the nice color on Mom's fins.

January 26

Seeing Mom watching over a flock of baby convicts always makes me happy :-)

April 10, 08

Fry are about 1/4 inch. Mom and dad looked like they were setting up to spawn again so I pulled Mom and put her in with the other rio chuloteca female in the salvini growout tank.