Can Anyone Id This Fish For Me Please?

Hi all I'm new here and have a slight problem! I bought some tropical fish last year from a fish shop in Crews Hill and the guy told me they would only grow to 1" in length - they are now nearly 3" and are constantly having babies - the thing is I only have them in a smallish tank and I'm sure they are still growing! I also haven't been catching the babies but could do to grow them on in a seperate tank but I'm not sure as the parents seem to look after them!

Anyways I'll try and upload the pictures now!

Thats a pink convict cichlid - quite an aggressive fish at times so be careful with tank mates. They breed constantly as you are witnessing. But they are great characters I am starting to really really love the pink ones and the calico ones as well some of them are just so great to look at.

When you say small tank how big is it? Some people can maintain a pair in a 20 gallon tank where as when you want to start adding other fish you need a 55 gallon and add other tough fish like firemouths or jack dempsys schooling fish like tiger barbs or giant danios work as well but like I say a big 4 foot + tank is needed.

They do look very healthy though

Wills

Thanks for the super quick reply!!!

The tank I have at the moment is about a foot by a foot and half by a foot and a half - not sure how much water it holds though!
I have 5 in there at the moment and was told not to keep them with other fish, 3 are around the size of the bigger one in the picture - then there is two smaller ones - one small one is healthy although the other smaller one is being bullied - I am going to try and seperate it from the main tank.
I am looking today at new tanks so what would be the best size/type to get?

Also how would I go about growing on the babies? And any idea on how to sex them?

Pink Convicts are hard to sex as regular cons are sexed by their belly colours but with yours the ones with the longest fins top and bottom like the most pointy are male and the smaller ones female.

On your calculation you have a 10 gallon tank which isnt great for 5 Convict Cichlids. To keep these long term I would get something around 40-60 gallons so you have room for each pair and then the spare one in the middle or something like that. If your only able to upgrade to something like 20-30 gallons maybe just keep one pair and add a few carefully considered tank mates.

So far as growing out the babies is upto you. You could let the parents hatch the eggs in the big tank then transfer the babies to the small tank you have at present then lots of water changes to make them grow fast and you will be able to sell them/ give them to the fish shop.

Wills

they will get to 6 inch plus and are very aggressive. put anything with them and its gonna get killed. your also gonna have a #106### load of babies all the time. a 4 f00t tank is what you would need

Can I have other colours of Cichlids in with them?
Have been trying to persuade hubby that I need to make room for a 4 foot tank - fingers crossed he'll give in and let me move some furniture around!!

i would keep them with fish the same size.

Would they not bully fish the same size as them?

How long do they take to get to adult hood? I have had them about 8 months now,

tracyw said:

Would they not bully fish the same size as them?

How long do they take to get to adult hood? I have had them about 8 months now,

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Because they are breeding they will be growing much slower also the small tank will be limiting their size though in a larger tank they may do better.

I have to say I am really really supprised that they are still alive after 8 months, most convicts would kill naything in such a small space when breeding

did you have a look at tanks what size you thinking?

I have been looking at 4 foot tanks and am trying to persuade hubby that we have enough room for it!
I have some rocks and plants in the tank that the others tend to hide in when there are fry in the tank.
Hope to get a new tank tomorrow and get it set up so it can start doing what it needs to before I change the fish over to it
not quite sure how long that will take though so need to do alot of research
would I be able to put different colours of cichlids in with them in the new tank?

Ah cool 4 foot tanks are a good size to go for. With cichlids width is also an important factor so always go as big as you can front too back.

With convicts you have the problem with them being pretty aggressive so what you need to do is find equal levels of aggression to them. Depending on the over all capacity of the tank you buy so if you go for the biggest standard 4 foot tank which is also 2 foot deep and 2 foot wide you have options of things like electric blue jack dempseys or texas cichlids or green terrors or boucourti cichlids etc. The main issue you will face is the fact you have a group breeding. To be honest 5 convicts would be quite an ample stocking for a tank in the 40 gallons region. As Bullit said they are capable of getting to 6 inches with some big bull males getting to 7/7 and a half. So perhaps you might be best off rehoming a few of them if you want a more diverse tank.

Wills

Because of there aggressive nature, they are often kept with bigger fish like wills has mentioned, jack dempseys, green terrors etc. These are 8-9 inch fish so youd only get a couple in the new tank. But cause you have a group and especially as there spawning, putting anything in is gonna be risky. So before you jump in and buy a new tank, try decide what you want. Either rehome some or complety start again. if you want a colourful cichid tank, then the african malawis may be best for you.

edit. because of there nature, you can keep these with malawis instead of ameriacan cicilds, so you can have more fish and the colour you want.

Rehoming some of mine would probably be the best option,
would I rehome the breeding pair and keep the other 3 though? They don't seem to have paired as I'm guessing they are all males
is there a link to the best way to set up a tank for the cichlids and others that can go with them?
I definately have to keep some of the pink ones though as the reason I bought them was that it was always a dream of mine to have a tank of pink fish and these were the first pink ones I had ever found!

haha the pink cons are very nice As for which fish to go with them its down to personal preference but also the max size of the fish. You need to choose either fast large schooling fish and/or other aggressive cichlids. You dont want massive fish like oscars in there but like I say it depends on your tank size choices.

Convicts are not the best fish to plan a community around to be honest. If you want pink fish the majority of albino fish are pink and you can get a lot of community fish in albino forms so it really depends what you want from this tank. In the mean time if you give me some colours or shapes you like I can give you a few suggestions to go with the cons

Wills

Well hubby agreed to a 4 foot tank!!! I'm happy now!!!

I'm going to let mine grow on a bit in the new tank for a while and decide which to keep out of the 5

I like the fish that are unusual - blues and purples would make the pinks look pinker!

Also whats the best substrate for them? gravel or a sandy type? at the moment they have small black gravel which they can easily move around to suit them!

So excited at the thought of getting my tank today! Luckily I had more money than expected in my savings account!!!!

Also any reccomendations on tanks and filters?