Black Convicts fighting...

GraFFix

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 7, 2006
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N.W. Chicago
I recently setup a 29g tank with 3 black convicts. They are about 2.5" in length there are 2 females and 1 male. They have been in the tank for about 2 weeks now and I have plenty of hiding places/caves and rockwork.

The past 2 days the one female (the largest) is attacking the other 2 in the tank. Nipping their fins keeping them hiding or staying close to the surface. All these fish came out of the same tank at the LFS.

I thought that once paired off I might have a problem with 2 females and was prepared to bring the one of them back to the store. I never thought she would beat up on the male convict. but now since this has been happening i doubt the store will take them back since they look kind of beat up. I dont have room to move them to another tank but I also dont know what else to do.

Ive checked for eggs and dont think the atacking female has layed any yet but I dont know why all of a sudden she is attacking everyone else.

Any Ideas? if i dont do anything these other 2 fish are going to die. they are already stessed with nipped fins, loss of color and hiding at the top of the tank.
 

joel

Polypterus
MFK Member
Jul 14, 2005
2,468
237
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THE GARDEN STATE
if you don't seperate them you are going to end up loosing 1 or 2. if you don't have another tank put a divider in temporarily.
 

phreakyfaerie

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 7, 2006
219
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michigan
i personally would take the agressive female back to the LFS if you don't have an extra tank to put her in, if she is terrorizing the male she may not breed with him.what is the water temp? they like about 80degrees to breed. how often do you change the water?i have 5 breeding pairs in a 250gal community tank i change the water once a week and i have noticed that they get a little aggressive if i am more than a day late. i think a 29 is an alright size for one breeding pair though. i am assuming you have gravel in the tank, they will dig holes in it to make a nest when they are ready to breed, a nice piece of slate for her to put her eggs on also helps. these fish are really easy to breed IMO if you remove the mean one, bring the temp to 80, give them a piece of slate, change the water often and give them a little time to heal up, before too long you will have more fry than you know what to do with. also some aquarium salt and melafix should help the damaged fins heal
 

Jason_S

Polypterus
MFK Member
Oct 5, 2005
3,692
215
96
Indianapolis, IN USA
agree with the others. return the aggressive female and see how the remaining male and female get along. :)
 
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