Fighting over Females!

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Stramn

Gambusia
MFK Member
Feb 8, 2011
262
1
16
Michigan
Alright, So the other day my hunt for a female Convict ended when I looked into the bucket a woman was carrying into the LFS. She gave me the fish as she was going to drop it off anyway. So After I finished up shopping in the store I took it home and put into my 60gallon thinking the lil lady would pair up with my nearly 4 inch male....

THen the war happened... In the tank i keep a 10" chocolate Pleco, a 5" Red Devil, 6" Texas and now a pair of convicts.. only the issue is that the female convict is the only female fish in the tank... Now everyone is trying to court her at the same time well other than the pleco. What should I do, nobody is getting torn apart... they all just swim around buffed up and occasionally head butt one another. Each male has cleaned off the inside of a flower pot( i keep these in the tank for decor)... a different pot for each of them and they all guard each pot with their life. But the female con could care less she just swims around being a lil $lut shakin her tail fin for the boys until they puff up and slam into one another...

What should I do? I don't want top pull her out as I really want her to pair up with the other Convict. But the only other tank I have availible at the moment is my 90 gallon which houses my 14" Red Devil and his "best friend" our 15" common pleco... My Male RD is very aggressive towards anything I put in the tank other than the pleco that was in the tank before he was. I fear if I put the texas or the 5" RD in with him they would be belly up in minutes.
 
Well, in a 60g I don't think it was the best of ideas to get a female con for your male con as they are known to turn into hyper aggressive mode when spawning. And if she does end up pairing with the RD or Tex then the rest of your stock might not make it much longer.

Either pull her out or get another tank for the Con pair and feed their fry to your other fish for live feeders or something.
 
With or without the female Con, that stock in a 60 gallon is headed for trouble due to the size and temperament of the fish. Adding the female only initiated the inevitable. I doubt the female Con can breed with the Chocolate. Once the female decides to breed with the RD, Tex, or male Con, the pair will be very aggressive to the others. Since you do not have the appropriate housing available for these fish at the moment, you will need to remove them for their health and for you to have the opportunity to utilize the tank with a more fitting stock. If you decide to keep only the male and female Con, the 60 will provide them with plenty of space. You could even add other fish like barbs, tetras, and possibly mollies.
 
I would keep watch on everything for a few days and see what happens. You do not want to lose any fish to fighting.
 
no fish have been lost, however it seems that the two cons have schooled up with the texas and are all cleaning the same stop... Maybe the Tex and the male con are going to tag team the female con? any thoughts on this? The more I think about it the less I want to muddy the blood lines. Maybe I should search CL for a 40 breeder and just put my cons it in.
 
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