firemouths vs convicts

[iloveyou]

i have convicts and firemouths that are about the same size... if i was to put them in the same tank... would 1 species kill the other? or would they leave each other alone?

 

[OscarCichlid]

Well that depends. What size is the tank?? How aggressive do your cons seem to be( they are IMO THE MOST unpredictable fish)??

 

[iloveyou]

whats IMO mean?

i have 2 aggressive cons and 2 calm ones.... im puttin them in my 20 gallon and im wondering if i can stick my firemouths in there too.... i know those 4 will be ok in the 20 . .. . . im just wondering if my firemouths will get massacred aswell.... im sure there would be little fights over caves but im just wondering if one could kill each other

 

[OscarCichlid]

IMO means In my opinion... Cons are very capable of killing those firemouths and 4 cons is alot for a 20 gallon tank. I would not do it. You have 4 cons, that means it is very likely that at least one of them is a female. The male will breed with her and then become very aggressive twords the other tankmates. The other cons should be able to handle the aggression of other breeding cons but firemouths are not as aggressive and will most likely be killed. You can try it if you want (although i dont reccomend it) but make sure that you have another tank ready to move the firemouths to if they are getting beat up.

 

[LoveMyOscar]

...

 

[iloveyou]

them 2 aggressive brothas clash sometimes, but are both bigger than the other male and female so they dont bother with each other much... the smaller male gets picked on but doesnt get injured really... they all want that 1 female i think.... for now they can all chill in their tanks until i get a bigger tank.....

i never thought that the firemouths were such wussies... i always thought they were quite aggressive.. hmm... could the pair of firemouths go with kribs?.. the kribs are bigger than the firemouths and i guess would get aggressive once they want to breed so i doubt thats a good idea either... i have no problem leaving them the way they are i just thought if i could, id move some cichlids into my 20 gallon and put the guppies in a 10

still waitin on that new tank... gonna have to catch my parents on a good day... unfortunately that doesnt happen very often.. today my mom called me retarded cause i left my hockey stick in the car, and my dad couldnt do up his seatbelt..
.... i wonder how that makes me retarded? i know how to do up seatbelts

haha whatever..... fun times goin on here

 

[thecichlidaddict]

Any more then one pair of convicts will not work in a 20 gallon tank, and unless the tank is a 20 gallon LONG I would not recommend that either. It is very common for people to think that convicts can be kept in tiny tanks, but this is not the case. Males should reach 6" long and they become extremely aggressive when breeding.

If a 20 gallon is the largest tank you can keep then I HIGHLY suggest finding more suitable fish. Dwarf riverines are perfect. The question becomes do you just want to keep fish, or do you want to do it properly? I myself would not house a pair of convicts in anything less then a 30 gallon, 36" tank.

 

[iloveyou]

i stuck the 2 firemouths in with the 3 male and 1 female convicts... its kinda funny... i watched them for about 30 mins when i first put them in... tons of places for them to hide.... enough caves so each one can have their own if they want.... the firemouths stick together and jus swim around the tank... the 2 dominant convicts seem scared of the firemouths and dont go near them..... the 2 dominant cons jus kinda stick out their gills at each other till 1 swims away... and the small convict loves chillin in his own hideout for once..... the female just gets chased around by diff males all the time...

i was on ebay and found out one of my cards is worth $80 american... so i put a bunch on ebay and am hoping to get around $125 canadian for the cards... then my parents can pitch in some money for a big tank for all my cichlids !