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Breeding live food

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C

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Discussion Starter · #1 ·
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
 
L

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#2 ·
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.
 
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Floridagirl

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#4 ·
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.
 
G

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#5 ·
Floridagirl said:
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.
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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.
 
T

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#9 ·
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.
 
MalawiLover

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#12 ·
KoenEeckhoudt said:
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
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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.
 
C

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Discussion Starter · #16 ·
when I got my first 2 fronts y had a left over of a couple of convicts, and although the fronts were almost twice the size, the convicts ruled the tank... :?

so now I fear that because they are extremely fast, the lazy fronts won't catch them and eventually they will grow, bite off the traitor fins and so on, and leave me with some crappy fronts.......
 
S

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#17 ·
Female brooding convicts are the most aggressive fish I've ever kept. I would not recommend keeping convicts in the same tank as fronts for extended periods of time. The fry should be fine as feeders and a good pair will keep you up to your ears in front food. Also, convicts are regularly returned to pet stores so finding large adults is simple and easy. Keep in mind that convicts can (and will) breed at just over an inch in size.

What I plan to do this summer to supplement my fronts' diet is to buy a home worm farm and raise tiger earth worms (red wigglers). My fish love them, they eat your organic (non-fatty) garbage and their biomass will double in 3 months (if you start with a pound of worms they become two pounds) under ideal conditions. These guys are small enough to feed whole and pack a lot of protein, plus after the initial investment - they're free.

Online, large worm farms are around $100 and a pound of worms is $35 +shipping. This beats the **** out of buying them from Wal-Mart (I loathe that place) $3.50 for two dozen.
 
L

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#18 ·
sldabclmnop said:
What I plan to do this summer to supplement my fronts' diet is to buy a home worm farm and raise tiger earth worms (red wigglers). My fish love them.
Click to expand...
an excellent idea. i am raising european crawlers for some of my big fish and stingrays. it's easy if you choose the right worm to start. i chose euros because they do not require refrigeration/cool temps for keeping long term.
 
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C

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Discussion Starter · #19 ·
well..... just got a couple of adult convicts and they're in a 15gal tank with some rocks.... NEVER in the same tank as the fronts.

I hope this works... :-? .......

I tried worms one time, but my fronts didn't like them, plus my girlfriend hated them..jejejjej
 
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