Black Convict

[JOHNN]

I am new to the cichlid world and was wondering how many black convicts i can safely house in a 30gal tank. I'm thinking of the rule of 1gallon of water per adult inch of fish. Every where i research states a different max size for the fish. I surely don't want to overstock the tank or have to move them to a bigger tank in the future.

Thanks for the help

[fishbooger]

You only want convicts and nothing else? Not a firemouth or auratus (spelling?) I'd try out four of 'em. I don't believe they grow any larger than 5-6". I'm not sure how aggressive they are toward each other though or how territorial. Someone with more knowledge will chime in soon tho. Be patient and good luck!

[oscarbartoni]

If you get convicts and you get a mated pair (which is usually any mature male and female) they will take over the whole tank and leave you with a large family of babies to try and find or what to do with the 2 to 4 hundred little convicts and not only that they will spawn about every ten days to two weeks so you will need more tanks just to keep up with the convict fancily. If you want cichlids and do not wish to get a larger tank then go with dwarf cichlids like the rams or the Apistogrammas. These fish could coexist with most other small tropical f9ishes.

[JOHNN]

I purchased two black convicts about 1inch in length. I believe one is female and the other male. The famale has a visiable pink belly with lighter strips. The male (or so i believe to be) has no pink belly and much darker stripes. The female is slightly larger and seems to dominate the tank. She is the quickest to realize the food is on top of the water and eats it all before the male know's what's going on. I can't believe how agile they are in water compared to the big gold fish i used to have.

I did hear that convicts are the "rabbits of fish" in number of times they spawn, ahaha.