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I have been told by many that the mixing of African Chiclids( peacocks, electric yellows, princess) and southern Americans
such as convicts and others is a bad idea, and they will not live with one another. Has anyone had experiences where they have lived together without any problems , like myself.

people ask me this all the time at work. my most common response is the difference in water requirements. although, when i first started keeping fish i didn't know any better and was excited that i had a 55 gal. and i kept silver dollars, africans, south americans, and live bearers together without any problem. i wouldn't dream of doing it now though. but you know... even if i wanted to... i'd probably just end up with a tank full of convict babies after the parents killed everything else in the tank.

.mitch.

it is very bad juju.

Very different water requirements. Often different diet requirements. Many SA outgrow the Africans. I wholeheartedly discourage it. I would not mix lake malawi with the tangs either. I have years of experience keeping SA. Malawi, And tang cichlids, as well as kribs which are an African river cichlid.

yeah ive kept them together with no problems,when i very first started the hobby many moons agobut they need different water parameters,and because both of these cant not be kept,you really should pick 1 or the other,africans or americans,even if you did keep them together with no problems,as soon as your sa,ca cichlids got some size,your africans would probly get eaten,but i would not recomend keeping them together.

I am using Rift lake conditioner. The only reason it's happened is because i used to have south american set-up , but was in hospital for a while and lost most of the fish, xcept the convict, so decided on a change to africans. The convict is about 8 yrs old , about 12 cm long. I wasnt sure if it would survive the new conditions , but has so far. I am considering setting up and second tank, and moving it into a new home , with some other sa. cichlids. Thanks for the advice.

If it were me, Choppa, I would move the convict into a 20 or 29 gal tank and get him a girlfriend and let them have the run of the place. At 8yrs, he deserves to have a good life

.mitch.

Although I'm not into mixing lakes, I believe a convict is the one new world cichlid that could thrive with Mbuna. They are agressive enough and the higher PH wont affect them, if you even mess with water parameters. Looking at your stock though, the convict might be too agressive 4 ur mix but if it's working, leave it.

By all means marry; if you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.
Socrates-
I happen to have become a philosopher

as wise said above the con will take a wide varity in water parameters,and still thrive,these guys are 1 hardy fish and they can hold there own against all sortsof other aggresive fish,and i would also get him a girl and there own tank to have the run ofis he a big robust fish or what,being 8 yeras old,he must be pretty tuff too,any chace of a picture of him

Thanks for the ideas fella's. I do have a 23 gal tanks set up just with young plants like java's ... and others,to grow for restocking of my 4 ft tank. Now im thinking about adding a heater , and putting the convict in it , and finding it a mate.

HOKESE Hes a pretty stong fella , been through 3 moves of house , and a couple of bouts of water problems that wiped out other i had . ... have a look under the profiles for convicts on this site , i have a pic of him on there for all to see .... let me know what ya think. Cheers

When I had my convicts my 3" male killed an oscar that was 3x his size. But then again he was getting ready to mate with his girlfriend, so... he was like the incredible hulk of the tank anyways.

.mitch.

yeah they are 1 hardy fish the cons i had b4 just got to nasty,so i grabed another pair and they are much less aggresive,its not every day you see a BIG CON,most people get rid off em long b4 they reach a good size due to how nasty they can be,and ill go now and have a look at your big fella,also its good to here that you are guna give him his own tank and get him a girl....despite the bad rep the cons have for being nasty,i rekon they are cool,and in your case where you are giving them there own tank,cause they are so hardy ,they will never give you any troubles,the pair i mentioned above where that aggressive when they spawned,the male would lip lock with my jd,while the female con pecked at the jds eye,between the 2 cons that jd nearly lost his eye thats why i got rid of them..but anyway good luck

i just cheched the pic out,man no wonder he is a strong fella,hes big too,man its been a while since i seen one that big,well done,cool fish.i bet he dont take no bulldust from your other fish...