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I got a pair of cons a couple of weeks ago to put in my little pond (I thought it would be an interesting way to control mosqitos growing in there) but the weather turn stormy and a little too cool for them so in they came. These guys were under two inches so I thought I'd be safe from having to deal with about a million baby cons for a while. WRONG!!! Within 48 hours in my 55 they had spawned and I had around 60-70 eggs on the glass in a back corner of the tank and they all hatched!!! I didn't see any wrigglers after a few days(thought they must have eaten them) and since it was time for a water change I went ahead. When I got to that area with the siphon the parents went nuts but since I couldn't tell which specific area they were trying to protect I kept going. Needless to say I wound up disposing of most of the fry. After I finished the water change I noticed my Cons franticly digging around the fake plants in that corner and I just figured they were remodeling after their pits were filled in during the cleaning. Two days later I saw mom hovering over about a dozen free swimming fry!! Evidently they had stashed the babies under the bases of the fake plants and what didn't get sucked up they were able to rescue.
Lessons learned:
1 never assume the parents ate their fry, they're in there somewhere.
2 No matter how much you think you know about convicts, they can always prove you wrong.
3 It's embarassing to find yourself outwitted by something with a brain the size of a piece sawdust.
Lessons learned:
1 never assume the parents ate their fry, they're in there somewhere.
2 No matter how much you think you know about convicts, they can always prove you wrong.
3 It's embarassing to find yourself outwitted by something with a brain the size of a piece sawdust.
