dempseys and convicts
- Thread starter ALAINA
- Start date
Never ever underestimate the power of a convict. No matter what the size they will face off with everything. I am on round 3 trying to get a convict in my tank (i actually think they are beautiful fish) and the first two tries failed and they got donated to someone else. They are vicious and will always try and establish dominance. I have a 7" nicaraguan a 6" JD and a 4" salvini and he will flare, tail whip and go face to face with all of them without fear. my convict is 1 inch lol. I specifically waited for my fish to be much much larger before trying one last attempt at having a convict. So far no damage has been done but we will see in the long run. The bummer part is it will take a long time for your JD to grow to be big enough to be dominant because they tend to be slow growers. Good luck none the less.
the new male jd is 3" (alot narrower than the tall fat con) and my male con is 5 1/2" including tail fin (i dont know if u include the tail) im thinking the jd is younger than a year.. my con is def an adult but was beat up by another male when i got himi had to nurse his tail back which was gone, and he cannot see well.. i have a hard time getting him to see his food.. i had hoped he wasnt going to be the prob!! it was the new fish i was worried about? i was wrong obviously??!! my con has lived with dwarf guarami, three month old baby cons, a pink tetra, and two snails.. till now has NEVER shown aggression. im worried about baby jd for he is hiding and i cannot feed him
Thats your problem, that convict is his adult size and the JD is still a baby, as you already know, i would actually put the JD in the 29 (depending on the fish that are in there) until he is around 6'' or so, and without the con the JD should start eating again, than after the JD is large enough to keep the Con from attacking him, and those two could probably live in that 55 if you kept up on water changes, just make sure the JD is bigger that the Con when you put it back.
When an adult Cichlid has been established in a tank for some time it's virtually impossible to get them to accept another Cichlid unless it's a mate. Even if you have a peaceful Severum and add a nasty Jag, you can bet the Jag would get bullied at first, even tho it should be the other way around. No matter which one is the strongest or more aggressive, one of them is stressed and confused in a completely unknown environment, and the other sees the whole tank as its territory. It's a huge disadvantage for the new fish.
My advice is put the Convict in the 29 gallon tank, re-arrange the 55 as much as you can, add new caves, move driftwood, add new plants, lay it all out differently, clean everything and change as much water as possible... then add the JD. A week or so later when you feel the JD is comfortable, try adding the Convict and monitor the "visit", if he tries to bully the JD, move him back to the 29, and keep trying. This way you will turn the tables around and it will be the Convict entering a new territory, but since the JD is too small to be a threat, you should be fine. Good luck and keep us posted.
My advice is put the Convict in the 29 gallon tank, re-arrange the 55 as much as you can, add new caves, move driftwood, add new plants, lay it all out differently, clean everything and change as much water as possible... then add the JD. A week or so later when you feel the JD is comfortable, try adding the Convict and monitor the "visit", if he tries to bully the JD, move him back to the 29, and keep trying. This way you will turn the tables around and it will be the Convict entering a new territory, but since the JD is too small to be a threat, you should be fine. Good luck and keep us posted.
i would have put him in the 29 but i have eight, three month old con fry in there.. so i put the con in there since he doesnt bother the babies at all
they wont be in there forever either.. i did a water change and re-arrange everything in both tanks.. they seem fine separate accept my con hates the light on the 29 gal lol ill be putting the con back when jd gets bigger than him thanx tons ;P
i have put the con in the 29 with baby cons.. how do i feed him and the babies without him thinkin they r food? i have a variety of different kids.. micro wafers, floating wafers, medium algae pellets, frozen blood worms, and regular flakes.. i just dont want to dirty the tank or over feed!!
nevermind i just fed them and the babies didnt come up to the top this time
they wait for the bits he cant see to fall.. worked out great
^^ i agree, if they cant sort it out today and i separate them, they will stay separated
im gonna change my mind on this one soon
idk he doesnt like the small tank at all.. should i switch them? or try again with them together? i cant decide ahhhh