Breeding pair commotion

[Stefan3289]

Hello all!
I have not been on the forum in a while, but I have not given up my fish hobby! So right before I decided to shut down my 29 gallon tank, I wanted to buy 3 PB convict parrot cichlids to quarantine them in that tank and then add them to my 75 gallon with my two severums, EBA, syno, and other PB. However, me not reading the description correct, 9 came. I currently have all 9 in my 29 gallon, but now I have a pair that looks like they are getting ready to breed as they are aggressive and protective of the middle of the tank and bully the rest. Currently have them two in a net at the top of the tank, what should I do?? I still have my 75 gallon tank as well if anyone has ideas of splitting maybe m in one tank f in the other.

 

[kribensis12]

Hello!

Glad you've not given up.

Convict's are highly aggressive even when not breeding - but it's much worse when they are. I'm sure that there are some success stories of keeping multiple breeding pairs in a VERY LARGE tank but there is no way on this planet that the others will survive if there is a breeding pair in the 29g.

I would recommend setting up a separate tank for the remaining ones and also think through what their future looks like. I've kept convicts several times and personally have a hard time seeing how that many could co-exist in a 75g due to how aggressive they are, but I am also open to being wrong on this one. Hopefully someone with more experience with a large tank with many convicts can speak into this.

 

[Stefan3289]

So I separated what I believed were 6 females in the 29 gallon tank, which there is a little aggression that’s normal they built a sort of higharchy (pardon my spelling) so that’s going well. As for the 3 males in the 75 gallon, they both pick on 1 and he looks a bit beat up. Should I add more males to the 75 to avoid targeting? My other SA cichlids do not bother any of them and I do have space. I’ve tried separating the one male that gets beat up but then he ends up picking on the females in the 29 and I don’t want him to end up pairing like other did.