Overaggressive Cichlid

[Forum221]

I bought two convicts awhile ago to breed. They were both about 1" long. Soon the male grew to about 2.5" and was chasing and attacking the female, he even bit off most of her tail. So I removed her and bought a different female from the LFS and threw her in the tank today. Same thing happened. So I but her into my 10 gal quarentine tank. Do you have any idea's that will make him less agressive? I already tryed rearranging the tank before I added the new fish. It still didnt work. I think I may throw the male in the 10 gal and the female in the 20 for a while. Mabye the female will grow a little to defend herself and the male will be less territorial when he returns. Any ideas?

[breaker_1113]

i would say it depends on how big ur tank is for the first part.
also i like the idea of putting the female in the tank and let her pick out her territory then put ur male back in.
im pretty new to fish keeping but i keep convicts too so.....

[ChilDawg]

How much smaller is she than the male at this point? If there is a significant size differential, you may want to consider keeping them apart until the female attains a comparable size. Too much reproductive action can diminish her growth considerably, since she is using her nutrients on producing eggs rather than growing, and removal of the stimulus to produce eggs (the male) may cause her to put some of her nutritional intake into growth.

[Luca Brazzi]

Maybe your convict is Gay. Try throwing another male in there and see what happens :D

Sorry... I couldnt resist

[Forum221]

Mabye, After the last attack my new female convict didn't survive. I'm starting to think that my male is too angry to breed. I'm not sure what i'm going to do with him.

[ChilDawg]

Was she even gravid? Sometimes male fish with aggressive tendencies get angry when potential mates aren't really ready to mate. I would suggest conditioning females in another tank until they become egg-laden, and then inserting the male in her tank. This might help control his aggression as he is (a) the newbie in the tank and (b) he'd get a chance to mate with a willing partner.

[Tyler718]

Originally posted by Luca Brazzi
Maybe your convict is Gay. Try throwing another male in there and see what happens :D

Sorry... I couldnt resist

LOL!!:D I was thinking the same thing.

I had this problem. What I did was instead of putting in another male I put in 2 other females with them. I let him decide which one of the three he wanted. Once I figured out the compatability, I then took out the other 2 females. I spaced out the removal by 1 week at a time.

Hope this helps,
Dave

PS. Childawg, where you been? Haven't seen you around in a week or two.

[ChilDawg]

Hey Dave!

I was on Spring Break, and I can't get online at home all that easily (stupid dial-up). I should be around for a while now! :)

[TigerBarbMama]

Maybe your convict is Gay. Try throwing another male in there and see what happens



lmao!! im just ghosting on these boards trying to make a decision on what to put in my new 20 gallon. good luck with your convict!!

[Baraka]

They are just MEAN fish
I have always found that Convicts
have the highest level of
hyperaggressive freak vs melow ratio

I had a phsyco male named Ike
because he would beat his partner Tina
till she was **** near dead

[ChilDawg]

Um...Ike and Tina--a dysfunctional couple?!? hehehe, that's great!

[TigerBarbMama]

I had a phsyco male named Ike because he would beat his partner Tina till she was **** near dead

lmao lmao lmao again this board has me roflmao:D

[ChilDawg]

You might get more hits if you start calling this "wife beaters and gays among convicts"...

[GEV83]

I see people have gotten off the subject in this post. Convicts are known to be agressive by nature. Not all convicts are the great thing about cichlids is that they all have differant personalities. You mention putting your female in the 20gal til it gets bigger. Well convicts if im not mistaked get 6" or a bit bigger then that well for two convicts you would need like a 30-40gal. The rule goes the bigger the tank the less agression since there is more territory to claim and territories wont overlap as much. Some males will get pist off if the female wont mate even if shes just not capable of mating. I would suggest a bigger tank or just sending one back. It would be to much of a hassle to get them to get along unless you went with a bigger tank. Just incase your like theyll be ok in here like I use to do I would just let her get a bit bigger meybe even bigger then him since he is the agressor she needs some type of addvantage. Hope this helps one other idea is get a differant male.