i have a firemouth and a black convict. instead of the convict being a bully its the firemouth. there hasnt been any split fins or anything but the firemouth wont even let the convict out of the rocks to eat unless he sneaks out. how can i dispearse this anger. could i do a safety in numbers deal and get another convict or would that make trouble for the future? i can fit one more small cichlid in my tank, then its taped out.
aggresion issues
- Thread starter littlewolfpaw
- Start date
littlewolfpaw;4352501; said:
If you add another convict make sure they are the same sex. Convicts are like rabbits they will most likely pair up and destroy your firemouth.
Freddie Mercury;4352967; said:
the op stated that he could add 1 more small cichlid to the tank and it will be full, this should have told you that its already full and adding dithers would be overloading on bio.
i do agree with the caves and plants, do anything you can to break up the line of sight, if the firemouth cant see across the tank it doesnt know if the con is out or not.
3rd thing if you are saying your having aggro issues, and that adding another small cichlid would max your tank out i think the aggro issue may be stemming from the tank being too small
The thing is that they have ALOT of space, i mean just loads of it. Its a thirty gallon tank and Iv piled rocks up all along the back of it so the convict has his own little castle so to speak. He defends it fiercly. I then decided to pile more rock stemming from the middle of the rock wall to 'split' the tank in half. It kinda worked. The convict can get some time to himself but not lots. Im to afraid to get another convict, im not good at sexing and would hate to get a pair of them and lose the firemouth but Im almost thinking Im going to have to just get another convict...The pet store here normally only carries one gender of certain fish to not cause breeding problems so I acually might be safe to get one. Safety in numbers i guess. That wouldnt max out my tank at all. I wouldnt add anymore in but i would think of the tank as done for stocking. I remember last time I had two convicts at once they fought like crazy, I acually had to bring the other back it was so bad, is that normal?
littlewolfpaw;4354408; said:
Yes it is normal convicts are very aggressive little suckers, and spawning only intensifies the aggression 10 fold.
As far as sexing goes females have orange, red, or yellow on their bellies while males do not.
It seems today that there starting to settle and respect each others space more. The convict has been out 90% more then he has been but from time to time the firemouth will come bolting across the tank at him and interogate a ten second fight. So Im thinking everything should be ok as long as the convict has his rock fortress lol