Tankmate for con?

[Mustang5L5]

I resurrected a 38gal tank I had running about 10 years ago. I've updated the equipment in the tank, but the last two occupants of my old setup 10 years ago was a painr of Convicts that bred 5 batches of fry. I had to give the fish away because i had so many.

Anyway i loved the cons so i want to set up this tank....planted...with a breeding pair of cons.

Anyway i'm interested in what other critters i can put in the tank with them for the sole purpose of keeping the tank clean. I'm looking for fish/etc that will take care of algea or my little snail outbreak that came in with some plants i put in. I was thinking of maybe a shrimp or perhaps a loach? Basically anything that will stay out of the way of the cons and help clean up the tank.

Thanks

 

[thecichlidaddict]

Mustang, an tough pleco is about your only choice, and even then, hope for the best. On convict isn't a problem to find tankmates for, but a pair of breeding convicts - yikes.

 

[Mustang5L5]

One convict isn't a problem to find tankmates for, but a pair of breeding convicts - yikes.

Well, you won't beleive this when i tell you, but when i had my last pair of breeding cons, my tank was basically a community tank! My tank is 24" tall so the two 4" cons took up the bottom 2/3 of the tank and the other fish had the entire upper level and a small bit of the bottom.

I can't remember what the other fish were, but there were a dozen or so other normal fish in there and they did fine. Then just never went near the cons or their fry. Eventually as the fish got old they died and the baby cons grew up and it just became a con tank that way....but never by the cons killing off tankmates.

Obviously i don't want to do that this this. I just want to keep it simple with a breeding pair of cons and whatever else will survive with them? Like i said, the only reason i want other fish is to help with tank maintainence like snails (i counted four little 1mm snails and one decent 5mm snail so far) if they get out of control in the future or controlling algea. I would like to try a shrimp as they seem pretty interesting.

The tank is pretty big. If i remember correctly it's 30w x 24h x 12d which i beleive is 38 gal? I tried to look up the displacement on the front page of the site but they don't have my measurements. There are a lot of hiding places in the form of driftwood, plants and slate and such. Hopefully the cons will leave this stuff in place but i have a feeling they won't.