50g Convicts ... Anything Else?

[piranha_tim]

Hi Everyone,

I have been looking to get into Cichlids ... Someone gave me 4 for free.

CONVICTS ... now I know they are aggressive.

I have 4 = 1 male, 3 females

They live in a 50G tank 36" x 18" x 18"

I have built a lot of hiding spots for them and any future arrivals.

I have a friend who claims he has some Africans with his Convicts and now is over populated and willing to give me some for free (but since I never got the name of the fish I won't count on these but I will let you know they sounded the same size and I thought Africans are agressive generally and might be able to live with the convicts [I also know africans need buffered PH but my water naturally sites at 7.7PH after settling and the fish where born in even a lighter PH])

I guess what I am asking ...

Looking at what I have stocked now
with the tank side and hiding

can I house anymore fish? and if so ... what?

Any comments welcome ... good or bed lets hear it.

 

[ox5477]

If the male and one of the females pairs up... which they likely will as cons are the JAW fish of the cichlid world.. then the other two female cons will get beat up so I would try to give them to your lfs. Maybe try some dithers... but most will prob get beaten and battered by the paired cons.... prob just best to only have the paired cons

Ox

 

[piranha_tim]

I haven't seen them breed as of yet but I am sure they will the moment they settle in ...

but the previous owner says ... the male and female pair and generally chase the other females around which eventually stay away.

but he hasn't witnessed any damage to any fish just chasing.

and claims once the babies are born the male tends to simply pair with another female and the babies are left unprotected.

and the process is started again.

The fish are in perfect condition.

 

[fishyfreak]

Oh they'll breed...trust me!

If you do add anymore fish, you're going to need to move the rocks around and create a "new tank" that way they'll have to establish new territories. If you just drop new fish in an established Cichlid tank that's aready been claimed...then I'll put $100 on the Male convict!

 

[piranha_tim]

Oh absolutely ... that is like almost all aggressive fish ...

 

[randymyr]

Like ox said, you should keep a very close eye on the convicts, if they to become a pair, they will beat the #### out of the other convicts, and possibly kill them... if you like the convicts, you're either gonna need to get another tank, or you're gonna need to get rid of the male, if you want a breeding pair, the male and female that pair up will need to be alone, with no other fish in the tank but them.
but if you have the females (as i have one myself) they should be good with almost anything, they can be aggressive at times, but generally they're fine, but African cichlids tend to be very aggressive, so you might want to look at another kind of fish. you could just get more female convicts, or some sort of new world cichlid... there's lots of possibilities...

good luck

 

[pica_nuttalli]

I had that exact tank size and a pair of juvie convicts out of wild stock... and they definitely tried to kill everything but the plecos when it was breeding time. That said, I think convicts are great fish all on their own and that a pair of them would make a great species tank. (Plus they'll make plenty of feeders for your piranha!)