Breeding The Convict Cichlid

Breeding the Convict Cichlids is very easy as they breed readily.

You will need

A 20 Gallon Long (Recommended)
A Pair Of Convict Cichlids
Flower pot or cave
A Bit of time

When breeding a pair will become very aggressive and will be intolerant of tankmates, they do best in their own breeding tank.
Convicts are notoriously easy to breed and pair easily.
The reason a 20 gallon 'LONG' is recommended is to give the fish space in case they need a bit of space, they can turn on each other.
Once you've got a cycled 20 Long or 15G Minimum, with the temperature set at 26c generally you can put a male and female together and they'll pair however if this does not work, its advised to start of with 6 Juveniles, let a pair form then remove the rest.
Once a pair them, they'll start digging a pit in the substrate (if any) and they will eventually spawn.
If they don't which is unlikely, there are ways to encourage it such as cold water changes, mimicking a rainfall and turning the heat up a degree.
Once they spawn it'll take around 3-6 days for the eggs to hatch, and a day or 2 for the fry to be free swimming.
Normally they don't get it right the first couple tries, IME they got it right from first off.
Feed the fry on fry foods such as Liquifry or just grounded flake food, baby brine shrimp works best and will boost growth.
Regular water changes also encourages growth of the fry.

It is advised when the parents start spawning again to remove the first lot of young if their small enough to be eaten.
If their big enough, you can leave them in.
Convicts will breed approx. once a month, fry can sometimes be hard to get rid of.

Convicts are very easy to sex, female having an orange under belly and rounded fins, males having longer more flowing anal fins and have no orange.

Female Convict -





Male Convict -