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just finished my 27 gallon tank setup for my cichlds with one jewelle (2 inches) and the two convicts (one 1 inche and the other 1 and a half inche) what else would be good in the tank i would like something with color but not to aggresive

i suppose some blue acaras would be nice in your tamk but careful with the convicts though mine was the smallest in the tank and killed 7 of my chiclids in 2 days.

Blue Acaras get too big for a 27 gallon. I would add two more jewels and thats it b/c all of them will want some territory, and make sure that the convicts are'nt opposite sex.

why shouldn't the convicts be opposite sex's and how do you tell the sex's apart

Convicts are very protective when breeding, they're great parents and will get quite agressive. Female cons I've kept have always had a bit of orange on them.



Theresa_M attached this image:


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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

the smaller of the two i have has yellow on the base of the fins just like yours but i haven't seen any orange yet. what does the yellow mean ?

amico, if I were you I'd get rid of the jewel and keep the convicts. if you wind up with a pair they'll likely kill the jewel(s) when they get bigger. I had a convict pair (male 3" and female was 2" that took up half of a 75 gallon tank as their territory. any fish that got near the halfway point of the tank got chased off by the male.

or, you could get rid of the cons, and add a few more jewels. once a pair forms you could sell the others.

dithers would work in either of these setups, at least for a while. so long as the dithers were fast they could at least somewhat get away from the convicts. what are the dimensions of your 27 gallon by the way?

as for the smaller con you have with yellow in the fins...I'd say there's a good chance that means the fish is a female. females can have an array of colors in their fins. I have some with yellow, others with blue, some with orange and others with a mix of these colors. females have very colorful finnage, while the fins of males are usually the same color as the body.

jason_r_s

hi the jewelle is twice the size male convit or just about and the female just a little smaller than the male, they seem to take care of themselves good(i really wanna keep all of them) but i will keep a eye on them.

amico, just be aware that the jewel will grow to 4-5", the male con to around 6" and the female to around 4.5-5". at that size I don't see all three getting along, especially if the cons are breeding.