So a few months back i purchased a 270 gallon tank from a Dr. that was retiring to Florida and couldn't take it with him. He housed 8 large Oscars in it for several years before eventually losing them all to old age. Somewhere along the line he also acquired a male convict that lived happily with the Oscars in this huge tank. I have never kept cichlids really except for our single adult angelfish in our SA planted 75. At the time there was a guy i had met in the hobby that offered to take the fish. On the day of the move, the guy stood me up and i was left with my new aquarium and a bucket with a 4" convict. Luckily i had a spare 29 gallon set up which i quickly set up using things from my other tanks. I didn't know what to do with this fish but wasn't going to just dump it off somewhere. My wife took a liking to him and we've decided to keep him. I am almost to the point of moving our other fish into the 270g and that will vacate an established 75 that we would like to move him in to. I have been researching for days and find it hard to figure out what fish i can put in with him to fill this new tank. NO FEMALE CONVICTS. I would love to experience the breeding but would quickly run out of things to do with the fry. I would love to keep the convict as the centerpiece and grow him out to a huge adult with a hump. Are there any dither fish or anything else that could put together a nice tank set up. I'm partial to keeping things in the same location, biotope-ish. I can do live plants and a nice scape. What would you put together for a complete tank?
Male Convict Aquarium
- Thread starter Druknmonkey
- Start date
I've heard of using swordtails. I guess i could add a ton of smaller fish like that. What about bottom dwellers? I would think the convict would roam all over and the swordtails would stay in the mid to top of tank. Anything on the bottom?
I had a large 5 inch make it was half pink convict and half regular convict. Literally looked like a cow and bought it like that from some local warehouse who sells to the local shops. I housed mine with flowerhorns Texas red Red Devils vieja in my 200 gallon. He spawned before and actually when I bought him the guy told me he was one of their best spawners but since he was a hybrid his fry would come out like him and store owners didn't like them. I remember I paid like 15 for him since he was big and had a hump.
I've always had hit and miss with convicts, some I've had were very peaceful; with only occasional darts at dithers, others were downright murderous.
Hopefully you get a placid male, I really believe you can set-up great displays around them; they are very curious and as previous posters have said, when you see a rare huge adult convict, they look superb.
Hopefully you get a placid male, I really believe you can set-up great displays around them; they are very curious and as previous posters have said, when you see a rare huge adult convict, they look superb.
Ok, so i'm going to start out with some swordtails (preferably green) and see how that goes first. As for bottom dwellers, are there any nice plecs that don't get to large and would fit the SA theme?
I would try bristlenose pleco or rubber lip pleco since they are easy to find, and if the convict does not like it, it is not a big loss.
Other bottom dwellers that might work, are a school of pictus catfish or a school of green emerald cory catfish (Brochis splendens).
Other bottom dwellers that might work, are a school of pictus catfish or a school of green emerald cory catfish (Brochis splendens).
