Convict Question

C

canucksfan1

AC Members
Feb 26, 2007
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Gibsons, B.C.
I was wondering if maybe i should put my larger dominant con in a large breeder net in the tank for a while to let the other 2 establish a territory, because as of right now the other 2 only really get to stay up in the corners because the one biggest is controllin all the caves??? keep in mind that once i find a male and a female have paired one of them will be going to the lfs(not even sure if i have a female but the 2 less dominant ones are very dull coloured prolly due to stress which is why i want to do this). and also right now they are only in a 23 but they are still pretty small the largest being on the smaller side of 2"

I don't really want to bring one back right now because i don't want to bring back the wrong one and end up not having a pair. I coul possibly put one in my 55 but i'm worried it would kill some of my other fish, it has 2 BP, 1 angel, a samll pleco, rainbow shark, 2 dwarf gouramis, 2 small clown loaches, a rope fish, and a wether loach (they are all small right now and some of them will be moved to another tank when they get larger, I also have extra filtration to handle the bioload)

I have added anoter rock beside the other to make another cave (don't have a more recent pic) and now the dominant one controls them both.

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Females will have a slight pink cast to thier bellie region. It should even be visible at that age. Sometimes you can only see it at the right angle.

Your tank is still WAY under aquascaped. Go to a Rockyard/landscape supply store and buy enough rocks (about 23cents/lb) to really fill that tank up.
 
a 'breeder net' is a terrible place for a fish to be forced to live in. the problem you're having is (a) convicts are cichlids and cichlids are naturally aggressive. (b) you have very little cover in that tank and few cave opportunities for each fish to establish a territory. (c) the tank is really too small for a trio of convict cichids.
 
Yea i'm doin that this weekend after payday when i ave some extra cash, for now i moved the bigger one to my 55 so hopefully he doesn't kill any of my fish in there he will only be there a few days hopefully then when i get my new rocks i will add him right after so they can all establish there territories at the same time, and hopefully now that my toher 2 convicts are not so stressed they will start to show a lil more color, they are really faded right now which is why i can't really tell if they are male or female.
Hopfeully one will be female then i can give the other to my lfs and hopefully athe male and female will pair up
 
re arange the tank, so that he can not establish his teratory. put in more rock and caves . see if this works, it did for me :)
 
remove the bully (you said you moved him to 55). let the other 2 become comfortable, couple days to a week. then throw him back in there, then let him taste his own medicine. haha

OR

GET A BIGGER TANK! :dog:


just my advice. however the bigger one will prolly always bully or even kill tankmates in a small aquarium like that. until a pair is formed. also a little bit of advice agian is, most all CA/SA cichlids will bully (if not kill) other smaller fish of same species, until a pair is formed. especially in smaller aquariums. :huh:
 
Yeah i know the problem is that becasue the other 2 have been bullied so much i there color is really fadded so i can't tell if any are female, so the bully has been put in my 55, hopefully the other to will brighten up and one will be female then the bully will be coming back and one of the others thats not female will be going to the lfs.

And also in a few months they will be going in my 29 when i get it back and cycle it
 
As said above, a lot more rock is needed. I would put rocks on both sides with lots of caves which basically divides the tank in two. They can then establish which side is theirs. My 75 gal is set up this way but because it is bigger I also have rocks across the entire back. Every one of the 12 cons in the tank has a place to call their own. It maybe overstocked but it is the only way I can keep them from breeding and therefore not being WAY overstocked. They still taunt each other, but they all have a home to go to when they chicken out and retreat. I put eggcrate down first and the the rocks. It stops them from undermining them and having them fall into the glass. If you they are agressive now, wait till they have a family. These guys will take on hell with a bucket of water.
Overstocking will be taken care of. I am going to change the whole tank soon and get rid of them.
 
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