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Quick question,

Just bought a breeding pair of striped convicts pretty much full grown and they are acting pretty wierd and i just want to check if it is abnormal or not. When i turn the light on it shocks them really bad they freak out!...after that when the get use to it they sit at the bottom literally and barely swim...they are eating regurally though and they seem fine...is this normal?


Peter17

20 GALLON LONG CURRENTLY EMPTY ~~~~ 10 GALLON W/ STRIPPED CONVICT

ime, the older a cichlid (or any other fish for that matter) the longer it will take to acclimate to a new tank. as long as they are eating then I wouldn't worry too much. they should start acting normally after a couple of weeks.

also, you say they are pretty much full grown. exactly how large are they? also, what size tank are they in? tank size could also have an effect on their behavior.

They are about 5 inches each. Its in a 20g long.


20 GALLON LONG CURRENTLY EMPTY ~~~~ 10 GALLON W/ STRIPPED CONVICT

Most of the time females only get to be about 2.5 to 3 inches long. Although I have seen a couple that have gotten bigger than that. Does one of them have an orange belly?

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

females can get bigger than 3" just not all the time. there is a lot of speculation that cichlids (females in particular) don't grow nearly as quickly as they would when they are actively breeding as opposed to if they weren't. as easily as convicts breed, this may be why you don't see many females bigger than 3". if you put a female or females in a tank of their own, you may see them grow more quickly than if you had them in tanks with males and they were breeding.

anyway, Peter, I think the biggest problem is going to be tank size. a pair of 5" fish, imo, should be kept in something much larger than a 20 long. you'll have trouble, imo, if they start to breed as females don't like males to be too close to the nest. I had a smaller pair of cons (male ~3" and female ~2" at most) in a 20 long and there were aggression problems when they started breeding. if nothing else, some extra height would help as the male could hover over the nesting area without getting too close. a 30 long (36" x 12" x 17" would be great for them, imo. if Wings is right though, and both of your cons are in fact males, then you'll have serious aggression problems in anything smaller than a 55, imo.

Jason,

Neat comment on breed/size of fish. It must take a lot of energy to spawn every two weeks... therefore only growing to 3 inches. I have only seen one female con that was bigger than three inches. I should have picked her up..

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

along with all the energy they spend during spawning, another thing to remember is that females especially don't eat nearly as much when they're guarding eggs/fry. my female con and female festae, while guarding eggs or fry, will only eat if I drop food right in front of them. they won't venture far away from their brood to look for food.