Convict cichlids ??????

[CFC]

How aggressive are convict cichlids and how much room do they need ?

The reason i ask is that i have recently bought a chaca chaca (frogmouth catfish) which is proving to be a difficult customer to feed. They are ambush specialists which lie submurged in the sand and wait for their prey to get close enough to be syphoned into their huge mouths. Ive been trying ghost shrimp (live) and blodworms but so far none have been taken so i think im going to have to resort to live fish to make sure it dosent starve.
Live bearers and goldfish are out since they spend much of thei time in the surface and middle layers of the tank so cichlids are going to have to be the food.
Could i have a breeding pair of convicts in a 40g and would they leave the catfish alone, other tankmates would be a shoal of congo tetras and 3 small bala sharks which im growing out to put into the big tank and obviously i dont want them assualted either.
I openly admit to knowing next to nothing about central american cichlids so any info would be greatly appreciated, if the convicts are unsuitable can anyone suggest a alternative ? They must get to over 4" and breed regularly enough to provide food for the catfish.

 

[Alien Anna]

I know nothing at all about this species except for the information in Baesch and Planet Catfish. Very interesting article there - apparently, if you don't have a juvenile you're probably going to have to feed feeder fish.

I personally hate the thought of it but maybe you are going to have to breed goldfish.

 

[aernympha]

but isn't breeding goldfish reallly hard!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Alien Anna]

but isn't breeding goldfish reallly hard!!!!!!!!!!!

I thought you just got a pond, chucked them in and waited?

 

[Flippin'thing bit me eye]

Go for the cons with the cat, he should be able to deal with them, How big is he BTW?
You may find yer Congos will take a kicking around breeding time but in a 40G long they should be fast enough to dodge the stripey fella's.
As long as tankmates are fast and few then you should be OK.

 

[CFC]

The tank is 36x18x18, is that long enough for the congos to be able to outrun the convicts, i have no idea how quick/agile they may be. The frogmouth is 4" at present, i think it will be ok as it spends most of the time burried in the substrate, just hope the cichlids dont dig it up all the time.

 

[CFC]

I personally hate the thought of it but maybe you are going to have to breed goldfish.

As i mentioned goldfish are no good as they spend a lot of time on the surface and mid water levels of the tank where the frogmouth cant get them, small corys would be the ideal food but corydoras just dont breed often enough to supply a steady stream of food.

 

[Flippin'thing bit me eye]

How many Congos are there, jus outta interest, 36" should be fine for them but be prepared for some carnage.
If its just for live food then perhaps a more mild mannered Cichlid would be better.
Rainbow cichlid, or Australis, they breed well too.
Oh another thing, When your,e fry have hatched it will probably be an idea to extract the female for a while otherwise the male will hound her to get it on again , they may also accuse each other of eating the fry if Mr Catfish gets his way, The female should be OK for a while in a tank of fairly hardy fish until she is reunited with her fella.

 

[smb]

How aggressive are convict cichlids

When breeding they are about as mean and nasty as a fish can get.

Cons, neets and salvini's are 3 fish where their small stature belies the terror within. They just don't have the size to back them up against, say, guapotes for example. They still won't back down from much tho. I've seen a 6" con male die while trying to kill a 18" umbriferum. They con was obviously no match for him but they just won't back down from anyone when protecting fry. (Well, didn't see it, but saw the haed laying there and knew what happened)

It all depends on the particular cons if a 40g is big enough for them to not take out other inhabitants.

If you pressed me to give you a yes or no answer I would lean towards no. I have a breeding pair of cons stake half a 55g as territory and only went after others if they came close to the border.

I've also had a different breeding pair of cons years later (Male 5" and Female 4") take out a 10" Red Devil working together to kill him. I wouldn't put anything in that you wanted to keep with a breeding pair of cons in anything less than a 75g, imo. I know there are others that think different and that is fine, I'm just talking from my experience and it's not meant to be a rule.

The cons wouldn't be able to breed fast enough to keep the cat well-fed, tho I assume you know that already.

I can't give any other tips on what would be better to breed because cons are the probably the fastest breeders. I'd buy a 29g and put about 6 con juvies in there and let a pair form and take the rest back.

One note tho- IME, you should always have dithers in there that the pair can bond and think there's a threat in there. Sometimes, w/o a threat the male will take out the female, especially if something goes wrong with the eggs or if she's not ready to breed and he is. I've heard others never do this and they have great success also, so you can decide on your own which works best for you.

 

[ChiclidBoy]

THE GET BIG THEY ARE CICHLIDS (VER AGRESSIVE) AND ALOT OF ROOM IS NECESSARY UNLESS U WANT TO CHANGE THE WATER 24/7