New Tank, overcrowded FW 9/22/05
Hi,
<And Hi to you too, Adam J with you.>
I made kind of a mistake by buying 3 blue Gourami, a pair of black convicts, a green terror, and a Pleco. I made the mistake by stuffing them in a tiny ten-gallon tank.
<Uh-Oh.>
In about a day, I will be getting a tank around 46-55 gallons.
<Good move.>
Can you tell me which fish to put in the new aquarium first? And then which ones to put in after that?
<Well unfortunately even with the tank upgrade you wont be able to keep all of the fish you have purchased.  The cichlids are in a completely different class of aggression in comparison to your Gouramis. Eventually they would become lunch or be harassed into eventual death.  The Pleco may be able to avoid the aggression; it really depends on his size in comparison to your cichlids.  In short you are going to have to choose either the Gouramis or the cichlids for this set-up to work long term. Also even with the new tank size it is likely the Pleco will still outgrow it, the fish sold as “common Pleco.” (Hypostomus punctatus, and a few others) all get to about 12” in length, some even bigger.>
Also if you don't mind, I have another question for you. I recently got 2 convict cichlids, after close examination I found that one of them was much smaller and had an orange spot on its belly. The other was bigger and had much more color. I researched it and found out one was a female and one was a male. Sometimes they follow each other in the tank, and when the female gets picked on the male darts to her rescue. Also sometimes the male chases the female's tail and the female chases the male's tail, forming a circle. But in times, they seem to ignore each other. What's happening?
<This sounds like “pre-mating”, Convict Cichlids will breed in captive systems.  However while this is amazing and fun to watch I see it as a future problem for you. When the Convicts do decide to breed they will become very aggressive in the protection of their young (even the father and mother may fight). They will harass any other fish in the aquarium with them. If you want to breed them without putting any of your other livestock at risk you’ll either have to remove the other fish or move the convicts to another aquarium.>
Thanks
<Anytime, Adam J>

Setting Up Convict Cichlids  12/30/06
Thanks again! I hate to keep bothering you guys, but I just had a few more questions. You guys are the best source I've found yet! Keep up the good work. :)
  I read the pages. I have had the twenty gallon set up for a few days now, and so I bought two convicts at a local trustworthy pet shop. I am almost 100% sure that I bought one male, and one female. The females have an orange-ish belly, right?
< The female may have an orange belly. Males usually don't.>
That's what I've read...And these seemed to be pairing off and swimming around the tank together more than the others. I have them in a ten gallon quarantine tank right now, since I don't have all the plants installed and the piece of Driftwood hasn't finished soaking. They seem to be doing just fine so far. A bit of the female chasing the male, but not much. They have ample hiding places in the ten, and I'll probably move them into the 20 gallon along with them. Are frozen bloodworms okay for them to eat?
< They are part of a varied diet. Offer a quality flake food and some pelleted food as well.>
Not every day of course, but maybe once or twice a week... Or not at all if it's not okay for them. I don't have any experience with anything besides African Cichlids, and the ones I've kept are/were all vegetarians. Thanks again! Zhara Zorgon
< These cichlids are very easy to spawn as well as interesting to watch too.-Chuck>