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I have done the mixed cichlid tank before, mixed SA with African and CA.

I will tell you long term it will not work, you will lose fish. I lost an oscar.

Much easier on your fish (and you) to do a little research and select the right fish then to blindly throw them in and have to solve a nightmare later.

Susieq,
No such thing as a part african cichlid, it's african, or it's something else.. Find another fish advisor.

Last edited by DaFishMan at 22-Oct-2005 22:07

The Amazon Nut...

I am experiencing all of that. I had this unlucky 23 gal (that has now been upgraded to a 56 gal)

It had a breeding pair of angels in it, they bred, but no babies. They fought, male died after separation, prolly of old age, female came back from a near death experience.

I then put in 6 Rams(male and female mixed) and 2 female swordtails and 1 male swordtail. Nothing happened. And I mean nothing.

Stocking change: I put in Jewels, they paired up, kept laying eggs, no babies. I had 2 female convicts in the tank with them and one salvini. Added salvinis, salvinis paired up, eggs but no babies. I added a male convict, one female that wanted to breed with him died, prolly of egg-binding. No chemistry with Convict and other female, and one fine day, after 1 1/2 years there were babies in the tank. 2 weeks later, I have more babies.

The convicts have taken over 2/3rd of the tank, and wont let the salvinis and jewels live peacefully in the 1/3rd.

Moral of the story: Convicts are the rabbits of the fish world, and they are also the meanist possible fish.

I would still not do away with them, consider me insane

The college life?? I understand! Convicts are crazy breeders. It might be a good idea to get rid of the male or female.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Time to buy another tank???

Only bought this tank like less than 2 weeks ago.
Got the fish for just a bit more than 1 week.
And they are breeding.


I think I should spend more time on exam preparation.
The biggest exam of my life is in 3 days.

Sounds like you have a bit of a mess. Time to buy another tank?? MTS anyone??

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Good news, my convicts just spawned.
Bad news, I'll have to move the Blue acara.
And you know how hard it is to catch a fish, especially with all the rocks and the 4ft wood i have in there.
Anyway, at the moment there is no aggression.
But I'll see what I can do.

Oh, another bad news, my 15G is occupied by a breeding pair of angelfish, don't want to disturb them either.

Ok so here is the deal.... Don't mix African and New Worlds! They are not friends!!!


For the Convicts and the Acara thing... You have a 4' tank. Is it a 40 long, 55, 60 high, or 75 Gal. Could you give us the dimentions? If it is a 75 gal you might be able to do it depending on the Cons. How mean they happen to be or even if they decided to breed. I have had a pair for about 4 years and they spawned and had fry only one time. Very not so normal though!




55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

when the convicts breed they will beat up the Acara. i had a good sized oscar with a pair of cons and they tore him up when they had fry. but maybe with all that rock cover and the large tank it will be fine....

African chiclids will never mix with New worlds.
Africans require hard basic water (ph of about 7.5-8)
New Worlds require soft acidic water (ph of 6-7)
This and that it is, biotope wise, an abomination.

Frontosas in general get a foot long each, more than enough to merit them their own species tank. However they are also schooling fish! (actually they may be colony fish or harem fish or something similar, the point is they like friends) So you really need 6+ of them to be happy.

Hey everyone!

I got a second hand 4ft tank last week and at the moment it's running with 2 convicts, male and female at 5cm.
They look a bit bored by themselves, so today I went to the lfs and bought a male blue acara at 10cm.
I wonder if they will be alright together in my 4ft, decorated with plenty of rocks and a large drift wood (still floats)
If not, I have a 15G aside, in case of any emergency.
Consider that the blue acara is twice the size of the convict, would it be fine if I leave them together?

Cheers,
Jimmy

Oh well i heard from a few people that they were part african.. but they could have been wrong toooo
yes that information i got from a friend so its not all what i actually wrote
but yea.

It should technically work because its a bigger tank and convicts can be mean if picked on.

Convicts are mean if breeding not just if picked on. Convicts are little hellions with almost any fish that is relatively the same shape as it. 4 foot tanks, if I'm not mistaken, are 55 gallon tanks. These are not considered larger, and are actually worse to house a pair of convicts with another fish in them. A 75 gallon tank would be ideal for housing these two species in together, but even then if the convicts start to breed (which they have a nasty habbit of doing so when you don't want them to) they will tear the acara apart. I say go with a different species. How about...1 Firemouth and 1 Blue Acara? I'm pretty sure they would get along better in a 55 than 2 convicts would with the Acara.

and remember that blue acaras are south american and convicts are more african. so there will be some aggresion but i would think that they will learn how to live with each other.

???

Convicts are new world cichlids like said above...just because they are aggressive it does not make them an african cichlid.

your convicts will get bigger and stronger and so will the blue acara but i think 2 convicts to a blue acara balances out.

Convicts are agressive and have a bad reputation of taking on any fish no matter what the size. Besides, convicts will get just as large as the Blue Acara...size will not help the Acara in any way when it is only 1 inch bigger than one of the most agressive breeding fish.



[edit]Also, Frontosa are very large african cichlids...they need...I -think- a 125 gallon for a group of them as they are larger and require groups to feel safe (I think).

Last edited by Tetra Fan at 21-Oct-2005 05:23

susiq,

Convicts are New World Cichlids. Acording to Badman's website ... Central America: Guatemala, El Salvadore, Costa Rica & Panama.


55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

that sounds like a nice set up with all those cichlids
the point is your tank has a good set up having the caves.
if having a blue acara and 2 convicts with out any hiding places might not be so good

I have 4 convicts which is around 4cm and 1 frontosa 8cm and 2 blue acara 8cm and another 2 peacock 8cm which live happily in my 3ft tank. But i have a lot of rocks and cave for them to hide.

It should technically work because its a bigger tank and convicts can be mean if picked on.
so just keep an eye on them and make sure there isnt any problems.
and also you could put some caves in the tank if there is any problems because an injured fish can hide out and seek refuge for safety.
your convicts will get bigger and stronger and so will the blue acara but i think 2 convicts to a blue acara balances out.
and remember that blue acaras are south american and convicts are more african. so there will be some aggresion but i would think that they will learn how to live with each other.
by the way how is the tank set up like rock caves? plants??
details!!

Actually...I have -heard- of a breeding pair of convicts 1/4th the size of a full grown oscar back the oscar into its own little corner. I have only -heard- that however. You may want to be safe and keep and eye on them. If worse comes to worse you will have to return one or the other.