I Finally Got Me Some Convicts :)

[fishlette]

there has been two little convicts sitting in a tank at work for ages. they were about 3/4 inch long when they came in. all of them have sold except for these two. The male is about 1 1/2" now and the female is about an inch. They spawned a little while ago in the tank at work which was cool cause they were so little. Anyhoo, I decided today I would get them. I have wanted a tank with a pair of convicts for a while so today I did it!!! I got them a 10 gallon Aqua One tank. Its the one with the built in light and filter. wasnt a fan of these at one point but theyre actually not too bad. (yes, i know they will need a larger tank eventually and that will be provided when needed)

anyhoo, they are settling in well. had a nice big feed of brine shrimp before and since then they dont run away every time i look at them lol

ive put in a terracotta pot and the same colour gravel that was in the tank at work. also added some rocks and a nice fake plant. the female loves it. shes been hanging out in the pot and cleaning up rocks around it already

got some pics. they were still kinda hanging out at this point so i couldnt get any good ones. will get some better ones later when i can be bothered again lol its late here

trinity

trinity and neo

and the pot they have now made their home

 

[xero3]

how cute good luck mine bred like crazy until they got killed

 

[cheesy feet]

My old convicts growth rate was incredible,bought at 2' and reached 7' inch in months.Those cons look about 3' now,i would still try and get one asap.

 

[idlefingers]

nice pot.







fish are nice, too.

 

[DiscusAngel]

nicee fish hope theyve settled in well, you hoping for babies, and are you raising the babies? or just let the cons eat them although rarley done as there god damn good parents!

 

[fishlette]

nicee fish hope theyve settled in well, you hoping for babies, and are you raising the babies? or just let the cons eat them although rarley done as there god damn good parents!

they are settling in ok but they dont light how bright the tank is when the light is on. when the light is off they come out and swim around at the front and then when you turn the light on they just hide in the corner. im going to try and get a low wattage globe.

my thought was that i could use the fry when a little older as food for the africans unless i can sell some at work or offload some to other shop. the food is a good idea as i like to provide a few feeder fish for the africans but ideally i would like to home as many as possible in pet shops. its one of the upsides to working at an lfs and knowing a lot of people at other lfs'.

i love to watch the whole parenting thing going on. theyre amazing little fish.

cheesy feet
My old convicts growth rate was incredible,bought at 2' and reached 7' inch in months.Those cons look about 3' now,i would still try and get one asap. good.gif

they look bigger in the pic than they are. the male is prob about 1 3/4" not including tail and the female is about 1 1/2".

 

[Mystix212]

I would get a tank no smaller than 25G in the future.

 

[vancouver]

Keep a close eye on them.. any nipped fins will turn into a dead fish within 24 hours in a tank that small. If you see any sort of nipped fins separate them or you will most likely end up with a dead one..

They probably wont grow at all in that tank, so realistically the sooner you get them a larger tank the better.

 

[Mystix212]

Provide lots of shade and small caves.

 

[cheesy feet]

Keep a close eye on them.. any nipped fins will turn into a dead fish within 24 hours in a tank that small. If you see any sort of nipped fins separate them or you will most likely end up with a dead one..

They probably wont grow at all in that tank, so realistically the sooner you get them a larger tank the better.

They will be ok for a month or to,it won't stunt them that quickly.

 

[fishlette]

rest easy peoples there was a bit of an accident last night and the tank stand broke and so did the tank. my own stupid fault for not putting it on a proper tank stand but i thought it would hold the weight. anyhoo the fish were fine. luckily i had bought home a 30gallon the other week as a future something tank. i wasnt going to use it yet cause at the moment we didnt really have the room but seeing as its a cube shape it and the tank stand fitted perfectly next to my computer desk after some careful rearranging

its bad that the tank broke and wet my floor but i guess they have a more long term home now i just have less room

question: do convicts like current in their tank? the only filter i had to put it the new tank was a 1200lph power head. it provides quite a strong current on the top which i know shouldnt worry them cause they dont go up there but the flow continues around the whole tank. not a hard flow but enough to sway the plants a little. should i get a less powerful filter for in there or will it be ok?

 

[vancouver]

Just make sure there are areas in which the flow is blocked... like some caves/ornaments

 

[fishlette]

Just make sure there are areas in which the flow is blocked... like some caves/ornaments

ok cool

there is a tree stump ornamnet in there that is like a cave and the terracotta pot is now sitting with its back to most of the current. and there are a couple of plants in there as well.

 

[Mystix212]

This is what I do with powerheads. Get an ornament of anything to stop water flow and place it maybe 3-6" infront of the outlet so the water circulation causing strong currents gets blocked. The rest of the water just goes in all other directions but in a less intense fashion. Works great!

 

[fishlette]

i finally got some nice pics. havent quite finished their new home yet. still needs a background. the tank is a 50x50x50 cube holding 125L.

p.s. convicts are awesome