Convicts

[SDWalters]

I have been reading about various cichlids as i am looking to add some to my tank once upgraded to a 180us g, this weekend (fingers crossed) One i have read up on is the convict.

They sound like cool fish to keep but also agressive as hell!! Does anyone have experience with these?

How would they get on with (or most likely not!!!):

Blue acara
Firemouths
Golden Severum


Im guessing they wouldnt work but just wanted some opinions from people who have kept them as opposed to the fish's profile information.......

 

[Confish]

I have been reading about various cichlids as i am looking to add some to my tank once upgraded to a 180us g, this weekend (fingers crossed) One i have read up on is the convict.

They sound like cool fish to keep but also agressive as hell!! Does anyone have experience with these?

How would they get on with (or most likely not!!!):

Blue acara
Firemouths
Golden Severum


Im guessing they wouldnt work but just wanted some opinions from people who have kept them as opposed to the fish's profile information.......

tbf they are not that aggressive, unless you have males and females then they do get really aggressive but i think they would be ok with those fish you listed, firemouths are very similar to convicts then again someone probably knows a lot more thats just my opinion

 

[SDWalters]

I have been reading about various cichlids as i am looking to add some to my tank once upgraded to a 180us g, this weekend (fingers crossed) One i have read up on is the convict.

They sound like cool fish to keep but also agressive as hell!! Does anyone have experience with these?

How would they get on with (or most likely not!!!):

Blue acara
Firemouths
Golden Severum


Im guessing they wouldnt work but just wanted some opinions from people who have kept them as opposed to the fish's profile information.......

tbf they are not that aggressive, unless you have males and females then they do get really aggressive but i think they would be ok with those fish you listed, firemouths are very similar to convicts then again someone probably knows a lot more thats just my opinion

I would only be wanting to have the 1 so that would be great if true, can someone confirm what confish thinks....

 

[KittyKat]

Depends on individual fish, sex and if any of your fish pair up. Provisionally, given correct care is provided, there are *LOTS* of hiding places and none of your fish pair up, you should be fine with a couple of females.. so long as you get appropriate sized ones to start off with. Of course, this could all go terribly wrong and the fish could all kill each other.

Convicts are aggressive, but so are the firemouths.. and are less aggressive then many other SA/CA fish I can think of.

 

[shelaghfishface]

i had a group of 7 i think it was in with my large oscar.. they all got on fine till there were fry then they beat my oscar to a pulp.. they were fine till this point tho, so maybe just move them when they have fry with them

 

[Davo86]

In a 180G tank you will not have a problem, especially if you are going to only keep one,

Like all cichlids, Convicts establish a territory and then defend it, just a little more aggressively than species like Os, Sevs and Acaras,
That said in a tank with ample space you should hardly notice their aggression as the other fish will have much more room,

In the right conditions Convicts can be live peacefully with almost anything

 

[SDWalters]

In a 180G tank you will not have a problem, especially if you are going to only keep one,

Like all cichlids, Convicts establish a territory and then defend it, just a little more aggressively than species like Os, Sevs and Acaras,
That said in a tank with ample space you should hardly notice their aggression as the other fish will have much more room,

In the right conditions Convicts can be live peacefully with almost anything

Awesome, now i need to find a good juve black convict to add to my tank, might add a few other less aggresive ones 1st to settle....

thinking 1 Geophagus surinamensis, 2 Honduran Red points, 4 Silver dollars and adding 5 tiger barbs to my current 5... making my eventual 180us g stock list

1 x Blue Acara
1 x Firemouth
1 x Golden Severum
1 x Black Convict
1 x Geo
2 x Honduran Red points (or should i stick to 1?)
10 x Tiger Barbs
4 x Silver Dollars
2 x Reed fish
4 x Croy's ( cant think of which ones they are!)

Sound ok, too many, space for more or sound about right?

 

[always4lora]

Reed Fish prefer large groups , also if you can get more Silver Dollar's i had 6 and mine were jumpy as out. Not a fan of Tiger Barbs as they can be nippy.

 

[Davo86]

tbh you don't want to be adding a convict if you are going to keep HRPs, these are two very closely related species and the chance of them interbreeding is very high,
Also as said you really want to up the numbers of SDs, Reedfish and Corys,

1 x Blue Acara
1 x Firemouth
1 x Golden Severum
1 x Geo
1 Convict or 2 x Honduran Red points
10 x Tiger Barbs
6 x Silver Dollars
4-6 x Reed fish
12 x Corys

I would also personally look at adding a few large golden panchax for the upper level and maybe a trio of hoplos or a nice exotic pleco like a Hypancistrus sp. or Royal

 

[SBL]

HRP's are colorful Convicts that lay about 50-100 eggs instead of the Convicts 100-200. I say HRP's are a populations of Convicts that have been seperated from all others and have evolved to a different species.

 

[SDWalters]

I got my convict wahoo!!

So he is in with:

1 Blue Acara
2 Firemouths
1 Severum (Gold)
4 Panchax
5 Tiger barbs
2 BN Plecs
1 Freshwater puffer ( I know i probably shouldnt but he was in my old tank and my gf loves him and after being in the tank for a good few months with firemouths and blue acara he has been ignored and even though they are supposed to be super aggresive he hasnt attacked anything!! Opinions welcome.....)


Loving the convict, he has settled in well, swimming all around in and out of caves etc, seems afraid of the smalle firemouths and gets shy at feeding but has only been 2 days so still settling in i guess!

Next on the list... im thinkgin 3 more TB's and then some form of Geo in the coming weeks.

 

[Cichlid_Crazy]

Adult Male Convicts are nuts...alot of people say 'i think they are fine' haven't tried putting a 6" Male Convict with anything!

I tried it and it ended badly! They are even worse when they breed...as in can kill a Red Devil or something similar.

Cons are great until they hit around 4"...then they get worse and worse.

Female Cons on the other hand are much nicer...don't get as big...they are territorial but not nasty and they tend to look prettier.

 

[SDWalters]

Adult Male Convicts are nuts...alot of people say 'i think they are fine' haven't tried putting a 6" Male Convict with anything!

I tried it and it ended badly! They are even worse when they breed...as in can kill a Red Devil or something similar.

Cons are great until they hit around 4"...then they get worse and worse.

Female Cons on the other hand are much nicer...don't get as big...they are territorial but not nasty and they tend to look prettier.

Hmmm, well im definately not going to be getting a pair for breeding as i know they go a bit mental!! But with a large enough tank and plenty of caves etc i have been told by various sources 1 Convict would be fine......

Also what are gender indicators that i can look out for?

 

[Confish]

m8 you will be fine specially with just one. there easy to sex the females are smaller ( i know that doesn't help when there all different ages lol ) but also they have orange colouring to there bodies, also have shorter fins to males also males when together with others can grow lumps on there foreheads to show that there the dominate male. im selling a few cons at the moment any takers lol

 

[SDWalters]

So.... I got my convict who to begin with was very timid and was chased by my FM's and to a lesser extent my BA.

Now however! He has taken over the middle of the tank ( a big cave) in which he has removed all the gravel (fascinating to watch) and is bullying my FM's badly!

They both try and double team him to fend him off but have come out with chunks missing from their forehead area.....

Do yo think this will get worse i.e. do i need to remove the convict???

He also chases the BA but to a lesser extent