Dithers For My Convicts?

[Elite]

My boys like to kill EVERYTHING. I have 2 adult convicts, males, who live in seperate 10 gal tanks. I have 8 convict fry in one of their tanks, becxause you used to have a lady friend before he decided he "didn't want her around anymore". I'll be getting rid of the fry, although I don't really want to (they're about an inch in length now, appear to be all males). I really want to sell both my 20 gals and get a 55 gal and put the two adult convicts together. I'd like to put a firemouth in there as well.
But I don't really want as much aggression as I had in the past. When the boys were together in a 20 long one almost killed the other. I've had them for about 2 years now, I'm pretty attatched. So I'm considering getting dither fish to keep their aggression away from eachother. One of the convict tanks already has 1 yoyo loach and 1 kuhli loach who get along suprisingly well with the con. He unfortunately killed all my other yoyos, though.
So, I was thinking of getting a few livebearers (possibly platies), and letting them have a batch of babies in the 55 gal before I put the boys in. Is that a reasonable thing to do for dithers? Or should I just go with a few barbs or something? Do you guys think dithers are even a good idea in this tank?
Thank you!

 

[Dwarfs]

I think that silver dollars may work out well. They are big and fast. The cons probably won't be able to kill them, but even with dithers in the tank, they may not stop fighting, and the firemouth will probably be killed.

 

[vancouver]

Convicts are tough to find dithers for.. I've had some luck with large silver dollars.. smaller ones didn't do so well.. my 1-2'' ones were constantly unhappy.. my 3-4'' ones have done a lot better..

Some large tiger barbs might work if you get enough of them.

 

[chrismr]

I would say the 20's are too small for a pair personally... let alone convicts with dither fish. My guess would be the tank size contirbuted to the death of the female. Are they 10 or 20 gallon? You say both.

In a 55 you might get away with some rainbow fish as dithers... they are fast, but you would need to get them at a couple of inches long I think.

 

[Elite]

oh sorry I meant 20 gal for everything. Wouldn't dilver dollars get too large for a 55?

 

[vancouver]

No, silver dollars are OK in 55g tanks. They should max out at around 5-6''

 

[sub.42]

Well,

My Cons tried killing just about everything I put in the tank. I would only ever try specimen tank next time. Smashers of all other living things at spawning time I found.

sub.

 

[Elite]

How many silver dollars could I fit in there with the 2 convicts and the firemouth?

 

[vancouver]

A pair of convicts will kill a firemouth for sure... are we talking a 55g tank now or what?

 

[Elite]

They are not a pair of convicts, the are 2 males. And yeah, I'm talking a 55 at this point, I wouldn't do any smaller with 2 male cons.

 

[Elite]

So I have a sorta new idea...could I put a senegal bichir in there? I could replace the firemputh with one...I'd rather have both but if the bichir stands a better chance of surviving that'd be nice.
So that would be a 55 gal tank...
2 male convicts
1 senegal bichir
1 firemouth
4 silver dollars (I have no idea how many to have, lol...help on this?)

or that without the bichir or without the firemouth. Course, I'm not sure what I'd do with my yoyo and kuhli loaches...I'm sure they'd get killed by a bichir. I guess I could have a 10 gal feeder tank and keep them in there? Seems cruel to a yoyo tho...

 

[vancouver]

I don't see a firemouth surviving with a convict, but I guess it could work..

A bichir might be ok.. give it lots of places to hide.

 

[Dwarfs]

The firemouth will die

Cichlids have a tendency to bother fish that are either cichlids or closely related to cichlids, and the firemouth is a cichlid, which means the silver dollars will be ignored. Firemouths are also bluffers (They put on a show to scare off other fish), not fighters, so keeping them with a convict is like keeping a rabbit with a cat, and you are putting the rabbit in with 2 cats, 2 very ticked off, hungry cats.

The silver dollars may distract the convicts, but since they will be in the tank with the FM for a long period of time, they have all the time they need.

 

[Elite]

So then could I just get rid of the firemouth, have the 2 cons, 4 silver dollars, 1 bichir....is there any other cichlid I could put in there who wouldn't get destroyed? It's just that tank would be a little devoid of color...every single one of those fish is grey.

 

[Dwarfs]

A severum, jack demp, or green terror would probably fit into the tank without being beaten up. The only problem you will have is finding one of those that is bigger than your cons already. If you choose a sev, it will have to be much bigger (Severums cannot put up with aggressive beating IME)

I think that any NW cichlid that will outgrow your cons by at least 2-3 inches (and still fit in the 55g) will be fine