Rescued 12 Convicts.

[SamUK]

as my 180 gallon tank was pretty empty i took 12 convicts from my friend whos tank had been over run by them.


he didnt take much care of the tank so that didnt help but he wouldnt of gotten rid of them in a humane way so i took them till i can move them on properly.


thing is tho, i like em!

there a dark blue colour with darker blue stripes. what type are convicts are they?


there in with my oscar, severum and BGK and seem to have settled in ok apart from the oscar occasiionally diving at them in a kinda ROAAAAARRR Im the boss style melee attack lol.

ive read what convicts can be like but since i have 12 will the aggression be spread out?


and will any fry get eaten buy the others?


or do i need to try rehome most of them as planned?


thanx in advance.

 

[jayjay]

you will really want to get rid of most of them lol.

you won't like the aggression caused by a load of pairs of breeding convicts!

i would be most worried about them nipping the BGK,

 

[SamUK]

i thought as much.


the BGK is only around 3" and hides amongst rocks so he should be safe.


are convicts normally a blue colour?

 

[jayjay]

there's lot's of different colour strains, natural strain is white and black though, that's where convict come from. i've seen pic's of sort of blue 1's before though.

 

[vancouver]

Could they be honduran red points? They look quite similar to convicts, but usually have more blue on them..

You will probably see territorial fights.. might have to just keep an eye on things and if certain ones start to breed, get rid of all the males.

 

[Rust]

As long as there are plenty of places for atleast the males then there will only be fighting to deternin who lives where, (like fighting with your bro or siser for the top bunk bed) so more places to hid = happy and peace full fish and comuntiy.

 

[vancouver]

^^ That's not true.. brothers don't kill each other for ''the top bunk''... I would be VERY surprised if at least 1 male and 1 female don't pair up and cause problems.. That's why I thought that removing the males would be a good idea if and when spawning/fighting occurs.

 

[SamUK]

well everythings still ok this morning.


guess i wont really kno whats gonna happen till a pair decides to form.




have to say they look damn good tho!! 13 (not 12 lol) convicts (kinda) shoaling around my tank.


they kept there colour too which is good cos i thought they might of jus been stressed and would fade.


ill try get a pic later, girlfriends still asleep less than a 1ft away from them at the mo.

 

[SamUK]

do convicts flare like bettas?


cos mine do lol.


looks well funny for a cichlid. there faces are fat enough as it is.


EDIT - got some pics.

have to excuse the reflection and the moonlight that had fallen down.

 

[saboy]

Damn, 13 convicts are gonna wreck havoc soon, when they wanna breed.



Even though they are like they are with breeding and agression, I still love em !




Good Pics

 

[vancouver]

They flare to show dominance... just like bettas.

 

[LisaLQ]

Convicts are supposed to be evil little gits when they start pairing off. No more than one pair in a tank is what I've read, and be careful how big that tank is and who's in it - cos they will kill other fish invading their territory.

Lovely looking fish, shame their personality doesn't match *lol*

 

[SamUK]

well i think my 6ft tank has the space for them.


a few have already paired up and established there home and occasionally someone gets chased but its more protecting there lil space than a full on chase.


im gonna add a load more rocks to make caves at one end so if i do keep them then that should help.

made a thread to see if anyones interested tho.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=144518

 

[BRANDX]

Wow, Sam,

What a project! would love to hear an update on that tank. Anybody else in the tank?

 

[SamUK]

its goin well thanx.

i decided i wanted a bichir so ive dropped my number of cons back to 6 to make room.


the fish were 100% fine! i had 2 spawns (1 is still jus about surviving) and even then when cons are meant to be at there worst i didnt have any trouble.

they only guarded a small area and everyone else jus figured out to stay out the way.


keeping the 6 i have, was painful losing the rest.

guess ill jus see how they all get on in a years time when they grow up a bit.