bungholio Posted January 24, 2004 Share Posted January 24, 2004 Hey i got my tank today its a 4ft x 18" x 18" and i want to put some convict cichlids in the tank, how many should i get as a good starting point to get good chances of getting a male and a female. As well i want to know if i want them to breed can i keep any other fish with them maybe like a/some firemoth or kribensis or some catfish/pleco's im not sure what to get so i dont have any miserable fish. any replys would be greatly appreciated. Regards Adam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mermaid Posted January 24, 2004 Share Posted January 24, 2004 Hey I'm getting some convicts soon too. I think it'd be best to have a group of 4-6 young convicts and then just keep the first 2 that form a pair. Hopefully you'd have a male and female in amongst 6 of them. From what I've read and researched, you can't keep other fish with a breeding pair of convicts. They're extremely good parents and will injure/kill all other fish in the tank "just incase" the fish want to harm the fry. I don't know about the firemouths as I haven't had any experience with them, but I doubt Kribs would do well defending themselves against an angry convict parent. If you plan on getting convicts, it'd most likely be a 'species only' tank. Although you might be able to add some dither fish to give them something to chase and add a bit more movement to the tank. Just don't buy expensive dither fish because they'll most likely end up as snacks, or victims of serial killer parents. Let me know when you get your convicts! I'm extremely excited about getting mine. I'm even thinking up names I love naming animals. I once named a school of white clouds. No idea which white cloud was which, but it was entertaining telling my friends I knew them all by name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoges Posted January 24, 2004 Share Posted January 24, 2004 My boyfriend has a breeding pair of convicts who are now parents to a few hundred day old fry. Since the arrival of their babies, they have become fairly violent towards the other fish in the tank and a divider has been put in place. Plecco/cat fish is probably a no no!!! My BF's poor plecco had his sailfin hammered one night reccently. The other tank inhabitant a fully grown female severum although 6 times the size of the convicts still gets chased by daddy convict. I think when they do not have babbies then other tank companions are fine, but introduce some little ones to the equation and that policy goes out the window. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pipsqeek Posted January 24, 2004 Share Posted January 24, 2004 Correction - I have kept convicts in my tank along with others like E.Yellows, E.Blues, Rusty, Venustus, Tang Pea. etc.... I have had no issues with them. When I started with Cichlids, I was not aware of the differences from Americans to Africans. So I just bought what I liked in the shops. Most people said that it was crazy doing that, but I have not had any issues. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimbo Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 pipsgeek did u have a male and female? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mermaid Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 pipsgeek: Lone convicts, or females would be okay in a community setup - but we're referring to a breeding pair. A breeding pair of convicts would quickly put the other fish in their places.. or make them pushup daisy in no time. heh If you did have success with a breeding pair in a community, then congrats! - although this doesn't seem to be a very common thing so suggesting it for people to do may not be a good idea, it could end badly and expensively if the convicts decide to do a re-an-actment of the movie 'Scream'. (Although I don't think the killers were protecting fry in that film ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pipsqeek Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 Sorry I did not specify. They were a breading pair and had many fry which I sold to friends, shops and various people. I just kept the original pair. With no problems Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benno Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 Id go with one other large peacful sorta cichlid like a Green terror an oscar or a green severum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D.apps Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 K, I currently own a breeding pair, they have fry at the moment and my male puts me in my place if i step outta line, I would not suggest that under most circumstances you have fish with them when they have got eggs or fry, however, I keep tetras, sharks, bristlenoses and gold sucking cats with mine when they are not breeding so they are fine, I do remove all other fish when they lay eggs! You will quite often hear of a lrge male convict attacking and killing/ seriously injuring large fish such as o's gt's etc...., Be very wise with what you do if you cannot move fish around as they may end up as snacks. But if you have a lrge enough tank you could always seperate the tank with a divider when they breed? This is just my holy opinion..., fell free to disagree! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Other Ed Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 Hi I have breeding convicts too. The first setup they were in was a 3 ft with 4 firemouth and 2 oscars. The male convict put them all into one corner of the tank, but the fry only lasted about a week (got eaten) then the tank was back to normal. There were enough fish so the convict couldnt pick on just one other fish IMHO.(have since sold the oscars as they got way to big) I now have them with about 6 Krib and a big b.n.cat but the krib never have fry (not wondering why ) again the male pushes all the other fish into one side of the tank. Also had a pair alone in a 2ft and after breeding the male killed the female, so IMHO i think you should find some fish to go in there, just make sure they have somewhere to retreat to. HTH. Ed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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