Topic: Store Bought Convicts v Wild Caught Convicts

[cichxy]

This is my first time posting here, so we'll see how it goes.. but I have 2 pairs of convicts. 1 pair i bought from my LFS the other i got from someone who aquired a whole group of them from a river in Costa Rica. My question is what exactly are the color variations to convicts (aside from black and albino)? The LFS pair i have, have a metallic blue/green tint to their fins while the wild ones seem to have more yellow on their fins. I have thought about my lfs pair being hybrids with HRPs but their color really isn't comparable to HRP's. Also, do tank bred convicts get as big as wild ones? my wild pair are approximately 5.5 inch for the male and the female is around 3.5 inches. The lfs ones are both near 2 inches long and they've been that way for about 5 months after i had already gotten them. last question then is.. what is the likelihood that most of the convicts that are in the stores are hybrids?

[Stormbringer]

your wild 1,s wont have or shouldnt have any chance of being inbread and that sounds a good size for them  , i think most lfs bought 1's your lucky to get over 4 "as to whether some lfs fish are hybrids ive no idea as to whether they are Honduran Red Points i dont know or whether hey are hybrids of them again no idea , sorry not a lot of help

[cichxy]

Yeah i'm just thankful that i have an extra wild female so that if i do decide to breed them, i'd try not to inbreed them as much as possible. Then again i could just get an F1 from the guy i got the wild pair from. Who knows if the F1 generation will ever get as big as their parents but thanks for the reply.

[fnesr]

HRP's aren't hybrids but are a very similar looking fish. The tinting of the fins and belly can vary greatly in any case with convicts. It can be diverse even amoungst various batches of captive breed fish. The colouration is used for two purposes, attracting a mate for breeding or attracting broods of fry making it easier for them to locate their mother. Allthough males can show some colouration it is generally a trait of the female and if males show excessive colour it can hint at non-pure linage. The colour varies brood to brood and whilst adults may display differing "tints" (from gold to greeny/blue to red) it's unpredictable what the female offspring of an adult will posses colour wise.

For standard colour variations (base color morphs) there's barred (aka "black"), pink (aka "false albino") and marbled.

[cichxy]

I know HRPs aren't hybrids. What i was asking was whether or not regular store bought convicts are mixed in with HRP therefore causing a hybrid (thus the different coloration) Sorry about that confusion. If i didn't explain enough..

[Gage]

i doubt it, i personally think it is just overbreeding, as they breed pretty easy lol, things do change after being bred that much.

[stilllearnin]

This is my first time posting here, so we'll see how it goes

Welcome to the forum 
Bare with my long reply,I spend to much time talking to fish geeks 

but I have 2 pairs of convicts. 1 pair i bought from my LFS the other i got from someone who aquired a whole group of them from a river in Costa Rica. My question is what exactly are the color variations to convicts (aside from black and albino)? The LFS pair i have, have a metallic blue/green tint to their fins while the wild ones seem to have more yellow on their fins.

Many variables

but - as a base - inbreeding like others have mentioned makes a difference.

Also (from what little tracking used to be done/kept) supposedly most of the "convicts" in the hobby are of Nicaraguan  origin so that alone will make them look different then your costa ricans.

It's only been in recient years where enough people bothered to track convicts and collect them in different locations so LFS "convicts" could all be hybrids , who knows 

But I've had a few wild types - Lake Nicaraguans , Rio Mongas and Honduran red points and they were all "blue" but different shades,different fin highlights , different attitudes , different spawnings and different sizes


If you get bored or want to try to figure out the "convict" mystery.....
Search online for  Amatitlania <----- The new Genus convicts belong to    but last I figured is noone was absolutely sure of anything except that "convicts" and their related species? or variants? (formerly Cryptoheros ) were a mess  and  were in need of reclassification and could be a large enough group as "convicts" to fill a whole genus by themselves.


For your own sanity keep the costa ricans breeding with themselves.


On Honduran Red Points - the arguements goes and goes and goes.
But ALL of the "Honduran red points" I've seen in stores do NOT match the fish Amatitlania siquia (it's newest latin name) as they were described by Rusty Wessel when he discovered,collected and brought them into the hobby.

 People swear they're not hybrids but if most orginated from and looked like Rusty's fish , it's a big coincidence they were everywhere all of the sudden and don't all match the orginals