Hello all I'm a new member here but not new to fish keeping in general. I've been maintaining aquariums for over 15 years now. I'm starting to drift into some variates I have no experience with. I'm about to set up a 55 gallon aquarium and plan on putting in 2 Senegal bichirs and some cichlids, would like to have a jewel, firemouth and a male and female pair of convicts as I would like to have them breeding. And that brings me to my biggest concern. I've been lurking here on the forum and looking up other information and I've read that cichlids become aggressive and territorial when breeding and that it can be quite vicious and have read that convicts can be quite brutal. I'm wondering in this size aquarium with the inhabitants and approx 4 caves, driftwood and plants will the convict pair destroy the others in the tank? If it comes down to it I'll go with a female pair and not breed but really would like to have a male. So I'm looking for advice, opinions, experiences and the such.
Questions & Concerns About Convicts & Others
- Thread starter From The Depths
- Start date
A breeding pair of convicts will claim and defend at least 24" of your 48" tank. They'll also probably make life difficult for the cichlids on the other side of the tank.
I'm starting to lean toward doing an all female tank even though I want the breeding pair. Going to think on this for a while since I wont be getting the fish until a few more weeks.
Not to mention you cant control what territory they will claim to lay their eggs. What happens if they lay them in the middle? Nobody is safe. LOL Definitely don't want a pair of breeding cons in a 55 w mates. I had this situation, 2 cons, 2 salvini, and a baby jag. I thought both the cons were females because they both had orange bellies. I guess the male had female coloration, because they sure enough spawned. Right in the middle of the tank! The Sals were shredded, even the Jag was brutalized. I was growing him out for a friend, so I just gave him to him early. I had to separate the Cons. One went to a friend the other went to another friend. All thats left are the Sals w a new Firemouth mate and some tetras. All is well..for now.
2 female convicts will mate just as easily as a male and female and will protect the eggs just as aggressively
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Ahhh the situation is becoming more and more complex. One a brighter note I think we will be getting a 75 gallon instead of a 55 so a bit more room. I'm still trying to sort out what I want to get cichlid wise. Got to make sure what I put in wont get eaten or eat my Senegal bichirs. I'm open to suggestions
Ahh good point, I recall reading about that. Would an all male tank work? I know sometimes sexing fish, especially juveniles can be difficult so this is assuming the males really are males
If you want all these fish and still want breeding convicts, you could set up an all male display tank and a seperate 15-20 gallon tank for a female convict. When you feel like having them spawn you can toss the male con into her tank.
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Bull tanks work better than all female. Sexing most ca/sa cichlids is fairly easy when they get big enough by venting. You could also go the more expensive route by ordering your fish from Jeff rapps at tangledupincichlids.com. He can sex them for you.
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I'm actually considering this, as I don't mind having a lot of tanks lol. Will the male cichlids get along fairly well if there are no females in the tank? If I go with a male display tank and its 75 gallons with two Senegal bichirs how many cichlids would be a good number?
By the way thanks to everyone who has put input into this thread
