Convict Cichlid Male

From the group of convicts cichlids that were given to me along with a 55 gallon tank there is been a male of a breeding pair that keeps terrorizing my smaller fish.

I began with 11 fish about a week or two ago and only had up a small fry die during the cycling process. All of my Convicts cichlids seem very happy the colors coming in and are swimming around chasing after blood worms. the female will attack me when I'm cleaning the tank or moving things around if I get near her favorite aquarium ornament.while the mail is scared of me yet will pick on all the other smaller fish.

I've tried:

• adding rocks to create hiding places for smaller fish
• adding plants to try breakable line of sight and create hiding places for the fish to hide.
• move items around to break up territories

But it seems that nothing really works all of the little fish to be in one corner of the tank and he will come from the other side of the tank to chase them around.

Another weird habit of his that none of my other fish have done. He will go up to my bubbler bars and appear he seeks eat the bubbles before moving them to another spot in the tank. Have any of you seen this before?

I do not have an extra tank at the moment to put the smaller fish and pretty soon I'm going now to play: a few other fish is tank mates

 

Are they all Convicts?
Are there any fry? Convicts are super protective of fry.

 

If they are attacking you, they have laid the eggs or the fry have already hatched. I had a pair of 2" convicts that attacked a 6" Oscar.

What are the other fish in the tank?

 

If they are attacking you, they have laid the eggs or the fry have already hatched. I had a pair of 2" convicts that attacked a 6" Oscar.

What are the other fish in the tank?

10 fish total

1 pair of male / female convicts. But he's to busy eating bubbles to make any babies with my female and chasing the other convicts around. He will go to my bubler bars and just gulp down the bubles before going into a cave to let them go. Never seen a fish do it. I'm thinking like a dog would chomp down on water if you spray with a water hose but air bubles from a bubler.

The rest are adolescent or juvenile probably only a couple months old.

Are they all Convicts?
Are there any fry? Convicts are super protective of fry.

There was one fry from a last spawning but he died during the cycling process.

The female is the only one that will attack me. The male is scared of me. She only attacks when I get near an aquarium ornament.

I'm thinking about adding a couple and a few others to help keep my tank clean. But that will have to wait till I can get a decent canister filter as the bio load may end up killing the tank.

Overall the convict cichlids seem happy as they go crazy over blood worms.

 

1 pair of male / female convicts. But he's to busy eating bubbles to make any babies with my female and chasing the other convicts around. He will go to my bubler bars and just gulp down the bubles before going into a cave to let them go.

They move their fry/eggs like this. Looks like the male has mistaken the bubbles for eggs. Did you try adjusting the bubbler or turning it off?

 

I've had convicts for along time and have had to resort to relocating the bully and his mate to another tank. Only then to have the next in line to step up
And claim his throne. Best to be kept as a pair alone or get used to rearranging your tank a lot. Think the fish are great, just rowdy and messy at times!! Always have one that eats the bubbles and guards the airstone

 

I've had convicts for along time and have had to resort to relocating the bully and his mate to another tank. Only then to have the next in line to step up
And claim his throne. Best to be kept as a pair alone or get used to rearranging your tank a lot. Think the fish are great, just rowdy and messy at times!! Always have one that eats the bubbles and guards the airstone

The male seems to chase them around even when their not near the female. I've checked and do not see any eggs even though she's very protective of the aquarium decoration while digging a "hole" in the sub strait under it. She seems to try to swim beside him to get his attention and go back to the "nest" but his black stripes turn yellow. He seems to be the only stressed fish in my tank.

I'm going to give the pair their own tank once I start working again.


Maybe if I turn off my bubblers for a day and see what happends. I don't want to leave them off to long or bad gasses could build up.

I would like to have convict fry as this would prove my tank is thriving.

My only other concern is the spike in nitrites & nitrates and my Ammonia is still hovering a .50 PPM

 

I have to change between 50 and 100 percent a month . In a 55 gal tank I would change 10 to 12 gal a week. Convicts create more waste than most fish
And mine dig up the bottom on a regular basis. It's important to keep nitrites as close to zero and nitrates at 20 or below.
Try and read as much as you can about getting your fish tank to cycle. Did you add any starter bacteria when you set the tank up. Cycleing a tank with fish in it can be a challenge.

 

How long has that tank been up?....does not sound cycled.

 

How long has that tank been up?....does not sound cycled.

I'd say about 2-3 weeks. Its taking forever to to cycle. Nitrites & Nitrates are still spiked / off the charts. I know its not good for them but I don't have another tank to put them in.

The fish seem happy & healthy. Swimming all over the tank and their colors are in some more so then others.

There are 10-11 fish in the tank. I feed them twice a day once before class (6pm) then 6am

 

I would suggest keeping up the water changes and maybe cut to feedings to once a day. Fish really don't need as much food as you would think.

 

I would suggest keeping up the water changes and maybe cut to feedings to once a day. Fish really don't need as much food as you would think.

I was thinking about reducing food amounts. I was watching a video about a guy who's been doing saltwater aquariums for 15 years and he said that with 8 feedings a day (in small ammounts) he was able to control nitrite, nitrate, phosphate ect.. allot easier and had less problems. But when he stopped doing that he ran into some issues so he returned to frequent small feedings.

My PH is perfect for cichlids hovering at 8.2
But, my ammonia (NH3/NH4+) is still at .25
Nitrite (NO2-) is still around or above 5.0ppm
Nitrate (NO3-) is between 80-160ppm

I'm using the API Freshwater Master Test Kit

 

I've heard of other people having trouble with ammonia readings from API master kit. I to have high ammonia readings. But my other readings are good. I got a hang on the side ammonia indicator however and it shows no ammonia.
I have got to the point i'm not too concerned about it. My fish seem healthy, are active and eat great.

That is really interesting about the guy feeding fish 8 times a day. I would never have time for all that! LOL!