I have a parrot, two firemouth, jack dempsey, convict, clown loaches in a 90 gallon tank. Once in a while I would notice that the convict is fighting w/ others. I placed a piece of 3 inch pvc which the convict turned into his home. And now anyone that comes near the pvc angers the convict. Is that normal?
My Convict cichlid fights everyone in the tank! Is that normal?
- Thread starter Abdullah Jubayer
- Start date
Yes it is normal. Convicts are very aggressive and territorial species. I would be more surprised if he didn't attack your other fish. Hopefully your other fish can handle themselves, if not they may be killed at some point. Your tank is stocked on the heavy side, and a community of central American cichlids is not easy to do successfully. I would expect lots more fighting with this mix of fish in this tank.
yes, the other fishes fight back so it seems balanced; like the two firemouths team up to fight the convict, and parrot and jack are bigger in sizes so they should be fine
It may be fine like you say, if the firemouths can stick together and the other fish are too large to be killed. I would get a divider, and keep it around, just in case you see things change and the convict overpowers another fish. That way you can step in and stop it from killing them.
If the two FMs are teaming up, you may have a breeding pair, which is a whole new can of worms.
Convicts are tough, most I’ve seen can handle almost any tank mates. The only problem is when your other fish realize they can kill them instead of putting up with their crap. I’ve seen it go both ways, I’ve seen a con stand off an 11 inch male Dempsey, and I’ve seen a lot of convicts disappear when they square up with bigger fish. Either way they seem to always start the trouble. It’s a fish that will fight regardless of size.
The tank situation is probably going to be a dice roll, if one of them looks like he’s getting banged up, you might need to move it. Good luck either way buddy. Hope everything works out.
The tank situation is probably going to be a dice roll, if one of them looks like he’s getting banged up, you might need to move it. Good luck either way buddy. Hope everything works out.