Where's the convict in my convict?

[bluehairman]

From what I hear convicts are supposed to be pretty beastly and can handle their own up against a fish. Hearing this I thought a convict could handle my FM.
Well now this beastly fish is constantly hiding or swimming away from the FM.

My question is, could it be due to the fact that my FM and convict are both males? Or to the fact that they both were put in a new tank? My convict used to be the aggressor and even flare his gills at the FM through a divider before I joined them, but now he just runs and hides.

 

[lilfats2]

If you only have two cichlids, get a third. It will even out the aggression of the FM.

 

[bluehairman]

I might purchase 2 tiger barbs tomorrow and see how it helps.
Do you think them both being male has anything to do with it?

 

[gnuisance]

how big is the tank?

 

[bigspizz]

Then it could turn back the next day...I am not sure what you are asking.

 

[Toby_H]

Consider this... in nature how many of the 200~500 fry born are 'meant' to survive to adulthood? How many of those same number of fry born in a hatchery are raised to a sellable size and sold to the common market?

Looking at it from that angle the vast majority of our fish are "sub standard" to what nature intended to survive...

It looks like you got a bottom end Convict and an upper end FM... congratts on the FM...

 

[Natural_Born_Killer]

Well, you know my convict situation!

My female is way more outgoing than the male. My male tends to hide - and this is just in a 14g with just the female. I can't imagine what he'll be like when i put him in gen pop!

 

[bluehairman]

It's a 20g but there's plenty of hiding spots. The fish aren't adult size yet either.

Nutcase, you have a good point..

I'm considering maybe getting a female because of how Naturals female is.. I'll see how he is tomorrow after a nights rest...

 

[Natural_Born_Killer]

Yeah get him a lady

Hopefully you'll get a feisty female like mine is...! If so she'll harass your male into activity!

 

[lmacklin81]

If you get another convict, you are more than likely going to have the two teaming up to beat the hell out of the firemouth, especially if you wind up with a male and a female. A 20 gal is not much room for fish with grumpy dispositions. They need to have lots of territories and in such a small tank, they don't have the opportunity to hide from one another. I agree with lilfats2, though, cichlids are best in odd numbers or schools (depending on the species). And as far as tiger barbs go, they would be good dither fish (meaning they are intended to get beat down) as long as they are big enough at the start. Too small and they might serve as a snack for your other fish.