Convict Cichlids With Cories?

Well it is to late to get a convict since I have already added the neon tetras and a krib.

 

I have been reading about how aggressive DGs are and with the neon tetras in my tank I really don't want a massacre so I was wondering if I should get a honey gourami instead. Would this give me more stocking options?

 

Just a note: female kribs are by far the more aggressive. I can house males together (so long as no females are present) and aside from staking out some basic territory they get along fine and pay no mind to my other tank mates. Females on the other hand will be aggressive, not only towards each other but with your other tank residence. I had one female a couple years ago that was by far the worst... she would attack my nerite snails (just biting at the shell) non-stop until I moved it. Been keeping and breeding them for some time now and this is just based on my experiences with them.

I am leaning towards male from the length of the fins, he has staked out a territory but it is only a small area by the driftwood and he hasn't been very vicious at all to the cories yet. Is my stocking plan good though?

Are you able to get a pic? With a full grown (or mostly there) krib it is pretty easy to tell.

 

I will try but he is a shy fast-moving sort of fish, therefore a pain to get a picture of. Lol Edit: so far he has been a gentle giant and will even "shoal" with the cories.

 

I will try but he is a shy fast-moving sort of fish, therefore a pain to get a picture of. Lol

Haha yes they are. I've found my males tend to be far more shy than my females, so hopefully that is a good sign. I have one female who is an excellent breeder and great mother, but as if she has a clock exactly 2 weeks after the fry have hatched she will turn on the father and I always have to remove him until the fry have grown up a bit and have been moved into a grow-out tank. Then she apparently gives permission for him to come back. All my other female/male pairs coexist and will raise the fry all the way until they are a couple months old and I move them.

 

DGs aren't really that aggressive, they should be fine. But if you are really concerned about it you can go with a honey gourami instead. I don't think it would open up any more options, no.

 

Ok then I will probably get a honey then, what I meant by more stocking options is 2 honeys instead of just 1 DG. I should have phrased that better, sorry.

 

Honey Gouramis are great. Cute little guys.

 

Ok then I will probably get a honey then, what I meant by more stocking options is 2 honeys instead of just 1 DG. I should have phrased that better, sorry.

Oh, OK. Yeah, you could do that.

 

this is the best pic I could get of thee little guy, sorry about the quality.
also I just rescaped the tank, what do you all think?

 

Very hard to tell... I wanna say male. Is is possible to get a side shot? It really doesn't have to be super clear, just showing the body and fin shape from the side.

Like your tank BTW.

 

my cories terrorized my convicts, would not stop nipping and harassing them.

 

is this a good pic?

 

This is one of my males (poor guy- excuse his tail, he is the mate of the aggressive female).

is this a good pic?

The fin and longer body makes me think male... how big is it? My males are easily 3-4", while my females rarely exceed 2".

Oh I can't remember if you said but how long have you had this "guy"?

 

I got him 4 days ago at Petco, his fins were slightly torn from the other fish in the tank. He is about 3" or so.

 

Ok that should definitely be a male then. And him being low in the totem pole with the torn fins explains the somewhat muted coloration. He will make a great addition to your tank, and will color up nicely once he has adjusted a bit.

 

Yeah his color has improved slightly since I got him. Poor thing was being bullied by some sailfin mollies at the store, he is super gentle though, even with the neon tetras. I love him and now that I know his gender I can give him a name.

my cories terrorized my convicts, would not stop nipping and harassing them.

That is very strange for a cory to be so aggressive.

 

Yeah his color has improved slightly since I got him. Poor thing was being bullied by some sailfin mollies at the store, he is super gentle though, even with the neon tetras. I love him and now that I know his gender I can give him a name.

lol that definitely sounds like a male... Only the males would get bossed around by another species; a female would have more than likely dominated that tank. I watched a single female in a tank with 6 males completely dominate the tank, and she was 1/2 their size. She didn't have a mate picked out, but was just top dog.

 

yeah, I had a baby betta with him the other day, (it was just while I was getting the betta's tank ready) the betta is about 1'' long and he scared the living daylights out of my krib. The 3/4" neon tetras startle him as well so I am going to add more plants for the little wimp. Lol

 

My bad it's not April Fools yet

 

Would having a female to show off to and breed with make him less shy? or would it stress him more?

 

Would having a female to show off to and breed with make him less shy? or would it stress him more?

It wouldn't necessarily make him less shy, just much more aggressive. Unless you want to have a tank with just the krib pair I would advise against it.

I should also warn you that it is possible for one of the parents to turn aggressive towards the other one and you will have to rehome the bullied fish (or move it into another tank). While most of the time they get along fine and co-parent great, that isn't always the case. I've found in those cases it is usually the female who is more aggressive towards the male.

 

ok, I just want to make sure he is happy.

 

ok, I just want to make sure he is happy.

He will be fine on his own They don't mind the bachelor lifestyle

 

I agree, it's a male krib.

 

By the way, a DG shouldn't mess with the neons. I don't think you need to worry about it. They're really only aggressive to other gouramis and fish they perceive as a threat (and small, peaceful schooling fish are not a threat).
Honey gouramis are a great choice though!

Your male krib may not color up as well as if he had a female with him, but he'll be fine alone! Just maybe no breeding coloration

 

Would it be irresponsible to not use a heater in my tank? I have been monitoring the temp closely and are house had gone to a frigid, (for Florida) 67F in the house but my room has a space heater so the tank temp only got to 75F. this is as cold as it gets in our house, so could I just leave off the heater? right now the house is 74F and my tank is at 77F without a heater. since I am keeping "semi-tropical" fish can I just not have a heater except in emergencies like an Ich outbreak etc. what do you think? You already told me to keep the tank at 76F and it is actually above that right now w/out a heater.

 

If it stays at 74 - 77 F day and year round, then I don't see why not. But personally I would also keep a heater in there and keep it set around 72 F or so so that it won't drop too much if the room temp drops for some reason.

 

Yeah I will keep a heater on hand. But being Floridians we never let it get to cold inside lol.

 

See, I grew up in Florida too, but my parents kept the temp at 70 - 72 F inside during the winter and 72 - 74 F during the summer, so I would have needed a heater haha.

 

The house is kept at 77F on a normal day it will vary slightly but my room is always hot.

 

Well my krib is finally starting to come out and rule the tank. Here he is scaring the cories away from his food.

 

Ok, well the krib is starting to get really nasty. I noticed several tears in my cories' fins! What do I do?

 

Might need to take him out. This can happen with a krib.

Do you have lots of caves in your tank?

 

he mainly uses the driftwood as a cave. I do not have any other tank to put him in.

 

I would add more caves, and something more closed off, like clay pots. That may help give his territory smaller boundaries, and he may bother the cories less.

 

I am going to see if my LFS will take him since my cories look pretty bad.

 

I am probably rehoming my krib tomorrow, so could I change my stocking on the neons a little bit? how many neons could I keep in a 29G? with only 6 cories. I may add a honey gourami still, but I'm not sure.

 

With just neons and cories in a 29 gal, I think you'd be fine to have up to 20 neons total.

 

I just got a chocolate BN yesterday! I traded the krib that was to aggressive for my tank and my LFS took him, (even though I didn't buy him from there) and gave me this 2.5'' pleco for free! His/her name is Chummy and 'Chummy' is already making a mess of my white sand. My stocking has changed a little because of him.