Lake Tanganyika Species • Breeding live food

[chago]

I wanted to breed my own food for my adult fronts, I read in another forum (think so...) that a good option are covicts..... now, this got mt thinking:

a) fronts are about the laziest fish i've seen, so, will they be able to catch them?, or will the convicts be too fast?
b) will they let them live cause of the similar pattern (vertical dark lines)
c) Has anyone done this before?, if so... share some experiences

Any thoughts?, good or bad

Thanks for the help

[lloyd]

i tried it with 3 pairs of hypsophrys. i got the idea to utilize their fry as feeders when i had a 75 gal. bursting with unwanted 1/2" fry. however, production never came close to matching demand, and i eventually found the effort exhausting. each pair of nics was set up in their own 40gal., and two 75's were used for housing fry. one to accommodate new spawn collections, and the second for growing/holding them out to 1" for harvest. murphy's law eventually killed the project: the fish stopped breeding and i ran out of fry.
also, any tank whose inhabitants are offered raw feeds, requires additional mechanical filtration, as well as increased water changes. HTH.

[chago]

any tank whose inhabitants are offered raw feeds, requires additional mechanical filtration, as well as increased water changes. HTH.

hhhmmmm.... hadn't thought of that...... guess it makes a whole lot of sense....

thanks lloyd!!!

[Floridagirl]

Convicts breed like rabbits. I know many who use them for fry to feed their other tanks. This would be the fish I would pick. Another options is to house Labs with the fronts. With enough females and rock for hiding, the babies will be plentiful, and the Fronts will get them as they emerge from hiding.

[GJx]

Convicts breed like rabbits. I know many who use them for fry to feed their other tanks. This would be the fish I would pick. Another options is to house Labs with the fronts. With enough females and rock for hiding, the babies will be plentiful, and the Fronts will get them as they emerge from hiding.

The only reason that I stopped doing that, was that I didn't always remove my fry from the tank & I found out that having fry of some kind in with your Fronts for them to hunt & feed upon, kind of kept them in an ultra HUNTING mood all of the time. And subsequently when & if you have front fry in there with them, they are more prone to hunt them down & eat them, since THAT is what they are use to doing all of the time. Instead of having that reaction when some live food source is introduced to them from the top of the tank.

[chago]

yeap..... i'd rather have the convicts in another tank and feed the fronts normally.... plus i don't want any fish around when they are spawning

[tirzo13]

convicts hide when they are fairly young.

angel fish juvies hang out closer to the top, making them easier to eat, as do live bearers such as guppies, swordtails and platys.

[chago]

thats exactly what concerned me... and how much easier is it to breed guppies, platys and angels?

will they be as fast as convicts? can i do this with only a 20gal tank?

[tirzo13]

guppies, platys, swordtails, mollies are pretty easy to breed, and in a 20 will give you plenty.
if you get a good breeding pair, angels will also give you plenty of fry if you keep removing the eggs and grow them yourself, but much more work then livebearers.

swordtails are the best IMO, good size compared to guppies.
not that fast, and they are top water column oriented for the most part, as convicts will hide in the rocks.
plus red swordtails will never be confused as frontosa fry like a young convict may.

[KoenEeckhoudt]

will convicts stay alive and breed in the same water conditions as you keep fronts in? I have ideal water to keep tanganyikans, but I don't think that convicts would do good in that water?

Grtz,
Koen

[eoconnor]

kribensis also breed quite easily

[MalawiLover]

will convicts stay alive and breed in the same water conditions as you keep fronts in? I have ideal water to keep tanganyikans, but I don't think that convicts would do good in that water?

Grtz,
Koen

The natural habitat for convicts (Central America) has rather alkaline water with a good amount of hardness. Convicts are also the champion species for breeding in adverse conditions, and tank rasied specimes can adapt and thrive in almost any condition. It wouldn't surpise me to see convicts happily breading in a mud puddle in the middle of a road.

[KoenEeckhoudt]

[KoenEeckhoudt]

what size tank do they need to breed? maybe a good idea to keep a pair, for live feeding once in a while...

[MalawiLover]

Most people seem to keep them quite comfortably in a 20 gallon (long) tank.

Dimensions: 20L (76 Litres) 30in x 12in x 12in (76cm x 30cm x 30cm)