hello everybody im new to this and id like some advice. I'm going2 buy 2 convicts; 1 male, 1 female, a 55gal. tank w/stand, an aqua clear filter (60-90gal), and all the other essentials like a heater, thermostat, air pump and a aqua vac. Any ideas of how i should set the tank up, i was thinking sand for the bottom but with the aqua vac how can i clean up the feces without picking up sand, so im still not sure whether to go with rocks or sand. Also i wasn't sure whether to go with real plants or plastic ones. We have a tank in our classroom at school with real plants and i like the way it looks. At school we have 2 tanks 1 55gal and 1 20gal. In the 20gal we have a small jack dempsey because he was getting beat up by the 1 in the 55gal but hes still tough. So what i was thinking was to put all three of the fish(2 convicts and the 1 jack) in my new 55gal at home. Do you guys have any ideas for me on all this.

personally I would do sand and fake plants. convicts make uproot them. i wouldn't do convicts and a jack dempsey. they would most like have problems in the future. you could do convicts or a jack dempsey with other fish such as giant danios. make sure to do at least a fishless cycle or another kind of cycle.

EDIT: with the sand, i read that you hold it about an inch above the sand to do it. I've tried this myself and it did work for me.

This post has been edited by randallhart: Dec 17 2007, 04:43 AM

Convict's whaen paired up will destroy the jack dempsey. I had a 3 inch pair of convict's in a 20g flat hex tank. So i put a female in there. She got bullied, so then i put a male in there in hopes of them pairing off adn regaining some territory! Well, i came back later to find the new male convict completely DESCALED! Poor thing only live a few more day's( in a community setup!). Also, make sure you CYCLE the tnak before adding anything. Get rock's that around around 1/2 a centimeter in diameter, as they like to dig. Plants are not a option as they will uproot and eat them! I hope this informaiton will help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Krib