Sitemaps

What is the growth stages of a convict cichlid2007-11-24 23:12:01

how does it take for them to be mature?

Answers:

This isn't textbook stuff, just my personal observations.

It takes about 2-4 days for them to burst out of their sack & require food after hatching.

After that it takes about 2 weeks for theri parents to stop herding them super vigilantly, and somewhere between week 2 & 3 the parents will lead them to the top of the water surface to feed at feeding time.

After a few more weeks they'll start to grow faster... They'll grow for about another month & a half or so & then the parents will start nipping at them instead of protecting them.

When you see them fighting with each other & when the parents start to reject them, its time to move them to another tank / or consider them independent. At this stage, as long as you don't have a super predatory fish in the tank, they have a pretty high chance of surviving. They're defensive skills are pretty good, even when they're little.

A couple months more & you'll start to see secondary sex characteristics come out, like the pink bellies.

A couple months after that they're adults & capable of breeding.

Its been my observation that they're very feisty youths, constantly jockying for pack dominance and bullying rights.

---

When you have a lot of fish to grow out there are three things to consider 1 ) you have to feed them more often 3-5 times a day with a high quality varried diet 2) the bigger tank you have them in the faster they will grow .Too small a tank and they will be stunted until some die off and leave more room for the survivors.3) keep the water clean with more fequent water changes

---

takes about 4-6 months depending on diet for them to be able to mate, by the time they reach 2 inches they can mate. First, they are eggs> fry> juveniles> adult

Do you love Cichlids?

Come to my newly made forums, complete non-profit www.cichlid-board.tk and become part of the community!