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Could I keep a breeding pair of convicts in a 29gal. with about 8 red eye tetra? Or could I keep a breeding pair in a 55 with livebearers and the red eye tetra? If not could I keep one convict in the 55 with the other fish?

Not a pair in any of the suggestions, as they are "Convicts" when breeding. Maybe a single one with a bunch of other fish would work, just provide lots of territory.


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Convict cichlids are in the big leagues of aggression. Proper nasty. Tetras will be a snack and most other fish you can put in with them will be beaten, shaken, fin ripped, and bitten to death.They can keep up sustained violence for hours, and thats daily. On their own their mean, in a pair they are lethal. Male convicts get pretty big too, so you might want to consider a 40 gal over a 30.

To reiterate, this really is in the top 10 of most aggressive cichlids, they will kill pretty much anything that isnt already bigger and meaner than they are in the confines of a 30. They also make other fish's lives a misery by moving all the decor, ripping up plants, and shifting the gravel.They can be territorial about space, food, the precise location of every piece of decor in the tank, basically they are so specific about what they like they start fights with ..well...just everything! Make sure if you have a pair that they are accurately sexed too, same sex pairings often end in the death of one party in a smallish tank. I know a guy who breeds them , and one pair he had were so aggressive when breeding they actually killed a maximum size common plec. They just picked it to pieces over three days while he was on holiday.

If they lay eggs, and its probable since they are avid breeders,in a 30 they will want a complete domination of space, even in a bigger tank they will want 3-4 cubic feet of water around the eggs. When the fry are born and spread out in the tank, the parents will be there to guard them, meaning that they may not be safe with other fish even in a 100gal tank. In a 30 they will be trying to attack things outside of the tank , let alone actually in it! Should they get fry, just put your hand near one of the fry and see what happens!



As for keeping one in a 55 with other fish, id say it depends on what fish you have in there. But its probably a no if these are just small fish. A convict without a partner may still do nesting preparation, and that means it will still rearrange everything, and occassionally not allow fish into areas of even large tanks. In a 30 it might still decide to kill all the other fish in the tank , just on the offchance of a mate turning up.

Oddly enough even in captivity this behaviour sometimes pays off. There comes a day when you realise that you might as well stop trying to keep other species with the convicts and give them what they want- a mate. At least that way you get to enjoy some courtship and breeding. Its fish training humans again

Nicely stated git.

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There is always a bigger fish...

u can ceep cons in a 29G fine but not with them tetras cichlids only or other agressive fish