Abstract
Cold spells have been known to eradicate species of fish from bodies of water (Barbaug 2018). While many experiments have focused on the temperature tolerance of adult fishes, little is known about the tolerance of eggs and other early life history stages of fishes. In this study, we will be spawning Convict cichlids (Archocentrus nigrofasciatus) and exposing their eggs to temperatures as low as 6℃ for 2, 4, and 6 hours to see if the eggs can still hatch into viable offspring. Our results so far indicate that Convict cichlid eggs can tolerate exposure to water as low as 6℃ as well as rapid temperature change. In the future, we plan to do trials with lower temperatures to test the extent to which Convict eggs can survive the cold.