Interesting turn of events...

[Community Disorganizer]

Well Sunday night my convict pair seemed to be fighting often; and the male took over the fry watching duties, as he didn’t even let the female in the nest, he relegated her to the upper corner of the tank. So on Monday morning, I removed the female before anything could go horribly wrong (she didn’t have any torn fins or anything) and placed her in my 20 long. But after a few minutes, she was hunkering behind the cichlid stone, as my firemouth was brutal.

Nevertheless I was mad, so I netted the firemouth and rainbow shark and placed them in the tank with my male con and fry.

It’s not as bad as I thought, even though the firemouth is relegated to one side of the tank, he doesn’t scare easily, as he flares his gills whenever the con comes close. He is expanding his territory every hour it seems, as the con, who is smaller, only darts at him when he comes super close to the nest.

So I thought if the female watched over the fry, my male would have all the time in the world to occupy himself with guard duties. So I placed the female back in, and right when she hit the water, she went right in her cave with her fry. The male has been too busy fighting off the shark, firemouth, and the CAE to fight the female.

I have no sight breaks in the tank and its bare, barring the cons’ flowerpot. It’s just a matter of time until ***** hits the fan in there! I have a feeling that the firemouth is gonna rule the tank.

A few good things came about from this- my con couple has formed a stronger bond, I think, as they both have the same goal in mind.

My firemouth is no longer scared of me; nor of any other fish, and he is fire engine red and flares his gills at the con and the con retreats!

 

[SkidMark]

if theres a question in this thread i must have missed it. even so i have advice. if you're going to keep the firemouth and other fish in the breeding convict's tank, you should add some sight barriers to calm things down. it will also create some boundries so it's less likely one fish will claim the whole tank and wreak havoc

Nevertheless I was mad, so I netted the firemouth and rainbow shark and placed them in the tank with my male con and fry.

i'd like to add that your cichlids are only doing what comes naturally to them, you should know that. when you throw an intruder cichlid into a another cichlid's space, they're simply going to do what cichlids do. getting pissed off and trying to punish them by putting them into a breeding tank was wrong imho. it seems to have worked out for you though, gl and have fun with the little guys.

 

[Lab_Rat]

Why are you setting your tank up for failure and fish death? Do you want to see them fight or something?

 

[Community Disorganizer]

if theres a question in this thread i must have missed it. even so i have advice. if you're going to keep the firemouth and other fish in the breeding convict's tank, you should add some sight barriers to calm things down. it will also create some boundries so it's less likely one fish will claim the whole tank and wreak havoc



i'd like to add that your cichlids are only doing what comes naturally to them, you should know that. when you throw an intruder cichlid into a another cichlid's space, they're simply going to do what cichlids do. getting pissed off and trying to punish them by putting them into a breeding tank was wrong imho. it seems to have worked out for you though, gl and have fun with the little guys.

Yes I realize that they were only doing what's natural to them. I have a pretty strong emotional attachment to my female con that explains why I made that decision in haste. It wasn't right, but it was my decision nonetheless. Thanks for the input.

 

[Community Disorganizer]

Why are you setting your tank up for failure and fish death? Do you want to see them fight or something?

Not particularly. I was planning on taking back my firemouth to the LFS. I shouldn't have bought him in the 1st place, it was an impromptu decision, as I really don't have the tank space for a fish that size. Even though I have him in a disastrous setup, he does seem to like it. I don't know, but maybe he was bored with tiger barbs, and now that he has encountered a fish that can have him toeing the line, it keeps him alert?

 

[SkidMark]

Yes I realize that they were only doing what's natural to them. I have a pretty strong emotional attachment to my female con that explains why I made that decision in haste. It wasn't right, but it was my decision nonetheless. Thanks for the input.

it wasn't really all that bad, i've seen worse lol. firemouths can't do much damage anyway. from what i've seen, they're all bark adn no bite. take care

 

[Community Disorganizer]

it wasn't really all that bad, i've seen worse lol. firemouths can't do much damage anyway. from what i've seen, they're all bark adn no bite. take care

Yea I just put a flowerpot in there so he has a territory of his own to defend.

 

[Community Disorganizer]

it wasn't really all that bad, i've seen worse lol. firemouths can't do much damage anyway. from what i've seen, they're all bark adn no bite. take care

It seems that you are right SkidMark. Last night I was cleaning the algae off the side of the tank where the other fish are made to swim, and right when I put the long algae scraper in, my firemouth darted to the convict's side of the tank. He went right next to the nest. Nevertheless, they both did a throughout job on him, and one he won't soon forget. Now, whenever he so much as leaves the perimeter that the cons set, my female con darts at him, it matters little if he flares his red gills or not.

 

[acleckner]

I am an amature at being a fish parent but I have a convict male and firemouth female pair. Their fry are about 7 weeks old now and all still in the same tank. They are both excellent parents and neither one of them like me to get close to the tank as to the firemouth starts puffing at me and the convict starts twitching! lol.

When I started my ( 33gal hex ) tank I had the convict, firemouth, 2 electric yellow and another similar cichlid. I had failed horribly previously with my 10 gal community tanks so I decided to try some fish that are a little more hearty. Well, success!

Since the fry, I had to remove the other 3 fish but as mentioned before the parents and fry are all still together and are doing fantastic. I am not sure though when I can start to get rid of some of the fry ( there are prob. 100-150 at least ) I will be moving in about a month so I have not started up a new tank. My plan is to see if the local fish stores would like them.

From the research that I have done, people seem to be against or doubtful of these two fish breeding but nonetheless it is an amazing thing to watch the fish grow up and relate with each other. I can't wait to see what they look like once they get older!

Good Luck to everyone, and as always I am open to all suggestions!

Peace and God Bless!

 

[Community Disorganizer]

Hi acleckner. I don't know if I'd release any hybrids into the marketplace, anyway most of the chain stores aren't allowed to accept fish from the public. I don't know about any mom and pops LFS's though.

If your fry were alot younger, say 2 weeks, then I'd say get a 5 gallon tank and a handful of tiger barbs and feed the fry to the barbs, they love them! But at 7 weeks I don't know what fish would eat them other then another cichlid. Since you have another 10 gallon, I'm assuming the electric yellow and the other cichlid are housed in it? Put a few fry in there and see what happens. If they eat them, then you have an outlet for them, if not, then I don't know.