Striped Convict

[daniel_koch]

I have an 40 Gallon hexagon tank,in it i have an striped convict about 5 months old. when i purchased him i also purchased 1 tiger oscar and a electric yellow cichlid. in less than a month he killed both of the other fish when though he was smaller than the oscar. now my tank looks empty with on one small fish in it and i dont want to buy more fish to put in with him that will just be killed! so im asking what would be the best fish to put in my tank.. thanks

 

[Davo86]

Hi
what are the actual dimensions of the Hex?
In this type of setup you don't really have room for multiple territories as they are generally slim, tall tanks, therefore your best option is to go with a few dithers or smaller hardy catfish,

The two fish you tried to add were totally unsuitable, an oscar can and will get to between 12-16" but still isn't that aggressive compared to an adult 5" convict, The electric yellow on the other hand is an african cichlid, which really should be kept just with other mbuna cichlids,

By adding the Convict to the setup first and allowing it time to settle in and make it his home, it now thinks that the whole tank is his territory and will be very aggressive towards any tankmates you add,

This is why it may be a good idea to remove the convict (once you have purchased his new tankmates) and then rearrange the tank, do a small water change and then add all of the fish (con and new tankmates) to the tank at the same time.

 

[daniel_koch]

ok thanks... when i bought the fish i didnt know much about them and the idiot at the pet shop said they would all work together. then when i brought them home and they began fighting about 3 days later i called back to the shop and they told me there was nothing i could do about it and i was not able to return the fish because it had been more than 48 hours. which is the reason they ended up dieing


thanks for the help