# Aggressive Cichlid for Small Tank



## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

There's a green terror for 4.99 at my lfs that's about 5 inches but I think my tank may be a little on the small side for him. So I'm looking for something with a simmilar temperament that hopefully has nice colors. The colors aren't a huge issue, but I want something mean. So far all I've noticed that would work is a pair of convicts but those don't seem quite so much aggressive as just prone to fight with tank mates. Are cons even carnivorous?

Anyhow, hopefully there's something out there that will fit my tank. Thanks for any advice I get


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## hyphen (Apr 4, 2004)

convicts eat fish and meat, yes. you should check out the anti-tankbuster thread on the predatoryfish.net forum. it's under the saved topics forum. dwarf pikes, jewel cichlids, etc.


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## User (May 31, 2004)

$4.99 is cheap, my lfs is high on green terrors.









btw my cons eat guppies and rosies, but they are around 4 inches.


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Thanks guys. I was this close to getting a firemouth but the tank had ich like you wouldn't believe so I backed off it. Yeah I realize they only posture alot but they looked beatiful.

Having read that cons will eat other fish I picked up 3 from the store, they're about an inch big now and seem to like the new tank


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## air*force*one (Mar 5, 2004)

they gro farly fast to so they will start attacing suff soon if they are breeding they are so mean try and hey them to breed when they get larger


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## User (May 31, 2004)

elTwitcho said:


> Thanks guys. I was this close to getting a firemouth but the tank had ich like you wouldn't believe so I backed off it. Yeah I realize they only posture alot but they looked beatiful.
> 
> Having read that cons will eat other fish I picked up 3 from the store, they're about an inch big now and seem to like the new tank


Cool, my lfs has little cons [about 1 inch] for $1.99, thats the best deal I can find around here - How much did you pay for yours?

I'm going to head to the store in a few hours to pick up loads of new gravel to change up my tanks, and I might go ahead a buy a few more cons - I love the little guys.


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

I paid 2.99 for mine, a bit on the expensive side but even still, it's only 3 bucks









From the looks of things I got a pair of females and a male. Two have pink bellies while the third one has very dark and pronounced stripes though that may be because the dark one is also quite small still. Either way they're super personable and should keep me entertained on those days when my reds are being anti social (most days)


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## User (May 31, 2004)

I'm thinking of buying 3 are 4 smalls one, and hopefully they will pair off.

I know theres a mating pair about 5 inches long at my lfs for $39.99, and they are mean fish, they seem to get mad even if you look at them lol. I do believe $39 is alittle high, I mean you can just buy to cheap babies and sooner are later they will become a pair.


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Eh believe it or not I'm hoping mine don't pair off. If they breed I hear alot of problems with aggression and I don't really have an extra tank to seperate any fish to. That and I don't have anything to do with the fry means I've been looking for ways to keep them from breeding but unfortunately they seem to do it no matter what you do


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## User (May 31, 2004)

When to the pet store, the cons were sold out.







They also didn't have any black gravel in, I will have to try a different store tomorrow.


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## Fargo (Jun 8, 2004)

elTwitcho said:


> Eh believe it or not I'm hoping mine don't pair off. If they breed I hear alot of problems with aggression and I don't really have an extra tank to seperate any fish to. That and I don't have anything to do with the fry means I've been looking for ways to keep them from breeding but unfortunately they seem to do it no matter what you do


 Your weaker female is soon to get a royal ass whipping. If your right about gender, I would get rid of one of your fish.

I can't believe a store would sell breeding Cons at 40 bucks. Most stores don't even give credit for returns, and they have the nerve to ask that much.


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## User (May 31, 2004)

Yes they are horribly overpriced, I told the smartass store worker I would buy them for 15 / $20 a few months back, but he didnt find that reasonable. I'm going to find me another store to go to anyway. All the workers are smartass pricks, and there's a ugly ass blonde bitch that smells like smoke that works there, and she wont leave the customers alone.

They even seem to get affended if you ask them to bag something.


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Fargo said:


> elTwitcho said:
> 
> 
> > Eh believe it or not I'm hoping mine don't pair off. If they breed I hear alot of problems with aggression and I don't really have an extra tank to seperate any fish to. That and I don't have anything to do with the fry means I've been looking for ways to keep them from breeding but unfortunately they seem to do it no matter what you do
> ...


 [email protected][email protected] You're going to jinx me bro









Naturally if I see some aggression I'm going to be donating the fish back to the lfs since I have nowhere to put it, but I'm hoping when I get some caves put in my tank everyone has room to steer clear of each other and gets along. If the fish start breeding and one has to be removed, it's no biggy


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## Fargo (Jun 8, 2004)

elTwitcho said:


> Fargo said:
> 
> 
> > elTwitcho said:
> ...


 I'm just warning you of the inevitable in a small tank. I had breeding cons in a 46gal, and they took over all three caves and abused the other 2 females relentlessly. But you may get lucky. Sometimes 2 females will bond. I kept a larger Red Zebra with breeding cons in a 30, which workerd out well.


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

No worries man, I appreciate the warning. Woke up this morning to see that the one fish I thought was a male is mostly likely a female as I'm seeing the orange spot on it's belly too now. So from the looks of things I lucked out and might have gotten three females, which I kind of like the thought of since I wanted to avoid breeding anyways because I really didn't want to deal with the fry or the accompanying hassle involved with fish going insane and killing each other to protect their brood. This is better than three males as well since there won't be quite so much territorial aggression from what I'm reading. As well, I'm going to be starting up an acrylic tank building business in the near future (end of summer) so I'll probably build them another 25 gallon tank but with a little more space and a little less height (36X12X12). This along with some creative decorating should let the fish keep out of each other's way if they need to.

Thanks again for all the advice. One question though, do convicts normally eat from the top of the aquarium? I put in baby sized cichlid pellets last night and none of them would swim up to eat them. I thought maybe they didn't like pellets so I tried flake food and by the way they went after those flakes that sunk to the bottom I know that they were hungry, yet regardless of this they wouldn't swim to the top to get the food. Is this because they're just used to sinking food and need to be weaned off it or is it that convicts don't like floating foods? (god I hope not, I've got flakes, pellets, tubifex and krill that all float).


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## Fargo (Jun 8, 2004)

they're still new to the tank and a bit gun shy. They'll go to the top eventually. For Cons I would get the bioblend color enhancing sinking pellets and Omega1 super color flake. This will bring out their colors. When they get a bit bigger you can give them the omsuper color pellets.


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Cool dude, thanks for all the advice


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## User (May 31, 2004)

I got 2 more cons, I believe one is female because I se a very light orange on her belly, but its hardy noticable. The other one is dark black and seens to be in a pissy mood, but the female is roaming the tank.


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## Fargo (Jun 8, 2004)

User said:


> I got 2 more cons, I believe one is female because I se a very light orange on her belly, but its hardy noticable. The other one is dark black and seens to be in a pissy mood, but the female is roaming the tank.


 Cool. I'm growing my latest 2 out as long as possible in my Festae tank. I want them huge. There was a picture of a giant con grew out in a 180 on pred. fish. That thing looked like a junior Midas with it's hump.


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## User (May 31, 2004)

If they grow out in a huge tank, they might push passed 6 inches, but usally in a 10 are 20g they stop around 5 are 6 inches.


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

User said:


> I got 2 more cons, I believe one is female because I se a very light orange on her belly, but its hardy noticable.


 Yeah my fish have surprisingly noticeable orange for their size and considering you never expect to get much good out of a murky tank at big als with crap floating all over it. As I'm learning mroe about their personalities I've had to adjust the tank around a bit, it's ugly as hell but a bit more fish friendly. I plan on building some caves outta rock and sillicone later on to clear up some of this eyesore. Pics are at

http://www.piranha-fury.com/forum/pfury/in...showtopic=51549


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## User (May 31, 2004)

My 2 are currently in a tank with danios, tiger barbs, and a few feeders. The pissy male just got threw sparring with the alpha tiger barb, and the little female just chased away a goldfish double her size. Dithers and food works great for getting new fish to settle in quicker .








There still alittle shy, but there're not as shy as my first set of cons.










The war has started, it will get worser in the coming days and weeks.


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## NaTuReBoYz A_TROX (Jul 28, 2004)

yeah....con's will usually eat anything thats dropped in the tank and leaves a scent... my con started eating feeders when he wasn't even an inch big


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## stayin yellow (Aug 9, 2004)

male yellow labs are preety aggressive and fully grown is quite small


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