Sam Livingston

Okay went out and got 4 convict cichlids today for my 40 gallon tank. Is there any other cichlids I can put in there with them? I know these get about 4" though right now there only 2-2.5". I obviously don't want to overstock, but I hate having unused space when I want every fish in the world in my room. I was planning on getting a couple blue ram cichlids but my fish store is treating them at the moment and plus I don't feel safe with them and convicts. The blue rams are planned to be put into one of my community tanks. So yeah the overall question is can I have any other cichlids in the tank with the 4 convicts?

04_si

ive never kept Convicts but everything ive read on here has said not much, except stuff the same size and aggressiveness.

hope that helps, and im sure someone can offer some more help

Sam Livingston

Yeah I've decided to breed them so I'm going to keep them by themselves and might eventually have to get rid of 2 once a pair begins spawning. Thanks for input, I am now welcoming any and all tips/advice on breeding these little guys.

04_si

I think they would do well in a species tank. 40 gallon might be big enough to keep a pair (i think its 20g per pair) so i guess see what happens! maybe you could split the tank into 2 sections to keep both pair! Depends on how many Convict babies you want!

Allie

You've decided to breed them, lol You mean decided to keep em. Convicts breed so easy and all the time. Be prepared for it. They get nasty and may kill any other fish convict or other if they feel like it. They fry is not easy to get rid of either. Things that breed easy generally aren't easy to get rid of their kids.
But they are a fun fish with lots of spunk.

Sam Livingston

Finding them homes will be no problem, when my platies/guppies fry got big enough to leave I'd get 20-30 messages on craigslist in about an hour for people offering their first newborn for cheap fish. Yeah too play it safe I'd rather just keep one pair, I don't want the parents to be more stressed than they need to be, and don't want them to kill other two either. So when I see 2 pair up I'll take other 2 back to fish store. Also one pair's babies will be well enough. I was planning on picking them up a couple medium flower pots today and give them some live foods hopefully that will speed up the process.

Allie

We had a lot of trouble find our homes two years ago. I think it's due to the fact most people around here in the hobby keep community tanks or African cichlid tanks. We gave all of them away to who ever wanted them.

Sam Livingston

I live around Dayton, OH so theres a bunch of people around the area and tons keep fish tanks. Whenever I had a problem I'd give them to my sister to sell in Columbus. Between Dayton and Columbus everything goes in a day.

Allie

Cool!!
No one will pay for them around here lol.

Sam Livingston

Fish in the area are way overpriced, especially Columbus! $5 for a single livebearer in Columbus, so people including me jump at a chance to buy cheap fish.

Allie

We breed Malawi mbuna for our favorite LPS's fish room. My hubby is buddies with the new manager so he'll take our fish for a good trade or money. He also wants us to breed goldfish in my mother in law's ponds. Lots of money in goldfish and koi.

Sam Livingston

Yea there is, my grandma has a pond with goldfish that breed often, but she has never sold or traded any. Do malawi's breed similarly to convicts?

Allie

Not at all.
Convicts pair off and lay eggs....they take care of their fry.
Malawi males need 2-6 females depending on which species you get. They do not take care of the fry once they release them...they will eat them.
Some are super aggressive and some are not. Malawi cichlids are mouth brooders. Some species breed easier than others.
Here's is a short article explaining.
http://cichlidforum.com/articles/mouthbrooders.php

Sam Livingston

Oh wow those are very pretty fish. Interesting breeders as well, I decided to go with convicts because of their paternal care, was very time consuming with platies and guppies removing all their tiny young so wouldn't get eaten so will be nice to get parents to take care of them without my help. How many fry usually make it to adulthood out of your malawi batches?

Allie

Malawi need long tanks most 40g+.
If the mom is left in the main tank, not too many survivors at all. All fish bigger than the fry will have a feeding frenzie. Malawi are pretty fish but very aggressive compared to other cichlids. Took me a few years to get use to their mean streaks.
Well we keep as many babies as possible. We strip (not recommend for beginners) the moms in a smaller tank. Depending on the species of fish we've seen a mom have close to have 100 babies. We've had 200 acei fry at one time with 3 moms. 33g+ makes a good grow out tanks.
We grow them out to an inch or so (a month or two). The fish room manager takes them $3-5 each depending on the species. Some are worth more than others because they don't breed as easy as say acei who we get $3 each for. They won't take yellow lab fry there tho...too common. I think they are so pretty.
There is a lot of research, trial & error in finding the right combo of species which will breed in the same tank together.
Here's a big load of info to look thru if you are interested.
http://cichlidforum.com/articles/introduction_list.php

Sam Livingston

Very cool, no I'm not looking into getting them just curious on how different fish work, since no two species are the same (no two fish are either for that matter). Yeah I'll definitely look into that forum thread later on I love learning about new fish. That's pretty good turn out for fish fry.

Allie

Yeah it is.
I guess they need lots of fry born so they can have some left to survive in the wild since they become instant snacks the first few months.

Sam Livingston

Yeah good point.