Convicts In Planted Tanks

[GShorty1981]

I am considering in the future keeping a group of convicts (hoping they will pair off) in my heavily planted tank,it is liek a jungle of cabomba,dwarf hair grass,vallis,amazon sword,java fern,java moss and christmass moss amongst other plants i dont know the name of.

How do they get on in planted tanks? will they dismantle the tank? if so what other hardy,easy to breed around 6" cichlids can i keep in my tank?

I cnat keep angles as my tank is not tall enough.

Firemouths are a bit boring looking,Kribs to small and all the local specimums are dull,Rams to small.

 

[jb12288]

simple answer, no! they will dig and dig and dig. you could keep keyholes maybe 2 or 3. the are very pretty and gentle.PROFILE

 

[GShorty1981]

Pretty gentle and pretty boring

I find the more agressive the more intelligent the fish is lol

 

[jb12288]

maybe post in the predatory section. most cichlids will dig. i did a quick search in the predatory sub forum and found THIS!.

 

[Mr Bliss]

Convicts will eat the tastier plants and destroy/uproot the others, either accidentally (because of all the digging) or on purpose (they don't like things that break line of sight within their territory). They are intelligent and fascinating fish, but if you want them to live in a nice-looking aquascape, make the scape out of rock. They'll bulldoze everything else.

By the way, be prepared to remove the other convicts as soon as a pair has formed up. The pair will dominate the tank and most likely kill the others.

 

[Mr Bliss]

Also, re aggression and intelligence: The reason convicts are so aggressive in aquariums is probably that in nature their territories are huge compared to most other cichlids. They choose these territories based on availability of food, and defend them against other fish to protect their food supply against competitors. Many other cichlids only care about territory at breeding time and forage widely for food at other times. Even the largest tanks are cramped compared to the natural territories of convicts. They're not used to other fish coming as close as they are in the aquarium, since in nature they'd have chased them away from a much greater distance. Personally I think their compulsion to flatten everything in the tank is a symptom of this as well; they're annoyed by having to live in close quarters and are trying to make more space. You see the same with some other cichlids, to a lesser degree, like rainbow cichlids which can get destructive in small tanks yet are perfectly plant- and community-friendly in bigger ones. So arguably their "interesting" behavior is merely a reaction to unnatural circumstances.

 

[GShorty1981]

I meant more personality..just couldnt think of the word at the time.

Yeh im aware of why Fish behave a certain way in aquaria,thanks for your input tho.