convicts and acaras

[Zack]

I'll start by saying hi, now with the questions, Will blue acaras and convict cichlids mix in a fifty five gallon tank or is it not enough room for them to claim territories?? Do these cichlids even claim territories?? If not in a 55 gallon how about in a 125-150 gallon ?? continueing on, Will the acara or convicts eat tetras or are they tetra safe?? I'v read that convicts are extremely aggressive little buggers, will they nip on my catfish?? The cats in the tank are

4 pictus
1 striped raphael
1 chocolate raphael
1 black water gibbi
1 rusty pleco
3 clown plecos

Will these cichlids tear up plants and uproot them?? Alright thats all i can think of right now, im sure I'll be back with more soon though. Thanks in advance.

[optix]

all of the fish you have listed should be fine with a acaras and cons. I don't trust breeding pairs of cons so if you plan to breed they may need their own tank. Most if not all tetras should do fine with cons and acaras especially. If you have any doubts they will come with the cons. Acaras are relativly peacful. They should all do fine in a 55 but I'd go with a 125 if you are planning on keeping the pictus cats. They can get pretty big and if thats the case I doubt I'd go with cons because I've recently realized how big their mouths can get and pictus are predators so the cons may very well end up on its future menu

[Zack]

Thanks for the fast response optix. Pictus cats actualy only reach about four and a half inches and cant eat anything bigger than a white clouds or neon tetra, The pictus your thinking of is lairious pictus (im sure thats spelled wrong) or sailfin pim. I dont plan on breeding them, so should i only keep one each cichlid?? Or could i keep multiple males or females??

[optix]

yes those are the pictus I am thinking of :) so then you are fine with the little guys. Yours are spotted right. the lil silver guys with black spots?? Sounds to me like you have a great little set up. As far as the cons and acaras. If it were my 55 with the catfish you listed I would go with a male con for grace and poise, and a pair of blue acaras. If color is your thing you may find the female convict a better choice but I am pro male con all the way. I love them when they develop their nunchal hump and flowing fins. I must warn you though I have recently been attacked on here by a troll who doesn't like cons and thinks im a bad person for owning them :p, watch your back ;) lol

[dave76]

the only thing that would concern me about that setup other than breeding cons is that you might have be a little heavy on the bioload as pictus cats tend to have a large appetite, mine does anyway, I would make sure that you have appropriate filtration and everything should be ok :)

[Zack]

Oh yes theres plenty of filtration, it used to also have three geophagus cichlids so im sure the filtration is good enough for the cons and acaras as well as the cats, my pictus seem to eat alot but iv never noticed much waste, the main waste producer seems to either be the clown plecos or the gibby. Oh by the way the filtration is one whisper 220 canister,and 2 whisper 220 h.o.t's. Thanks.

[Tightdog1]

my borhter has 3 convicts (2m1f), 2 firemouths and a blue acara (1f). they all live peacufully. he used to have soem tiger barbs and a few zebra danios but they all got eaten. so if you do decide to go with that setup be very careful what you put in especially with cons. blue acaras can be aggressive and eat other fish too, i feed my blue acaras home grown guppies so they will eat small fish if they are in there.

by the whisper 220 and 220 HOT, u mean magnums right? (made by marineland)