CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

Hello.

If you don't like long posts or intros, skip to the final paragraph, I'll make it easy for you.

I have been a hobbyist for about 10 years now and this is the first forum I have joined for it.
I have an unusual situation for me.
I have had Black Convicts for around 6 years. I started with 4 little bitty guys in a 12 gal. tank in the baby's room. (easy way to tell how long I have had convicts because my daughter is now 6) I was a very unlucky convict mother because I ended up with all females. I fell in love with them and when they grew I bought them their very own 44 gal. Those 4 grew up and fought and interacted and played for 4 years and through 4 moves. Then my tank crashed after a move and overnight I had one little lady left. I scoured the local pet stores (after getting the tank stabilized and ready again) and found a male around her size. They hit it off well and were nice enough to share their tank for a year with the baby severums I got from a friend.
Well the severums were little brats and I only have two left due to their aggressive tendencies towards each other. (I had to find new homes for the other guys or they would have been killed)
But unfortunately my last beautiful little girl died from what I don't know. (Is 6 old for a convict?) And now I had a male and the two severums which I haven't bothered to find out their sexes. They get along with everyone so I let them be.
My husband decided we needed some color in the tank and went and bought two midas fish even knowing we would have to eventually upgrade them into their own tank eventually. Well.... One of those went into one of the caves and refused to come out to the point of starving to death and so that beautiful couple is broken up too. I was starting to think this was the tank of broken hearts! So many easy breeders and no babies!
So I decided to jump out on a limb and pick up some little 1 1/2 in convicts from the fish store. I figured give them a chance with the giants. They are tough fish. (I did have a tank ready if they were being beaten up at all but they rule over the giants and the male convict gets pissed when anyone messes with them; he rules the tank after all)

Here is my question now that the tanks background is established. Everyone has a perfectly good reason for being mixed in here and it works wonderfully!

I have just rearranged the tank to add a flower pot just for the little guys. The funny thing is that the 4 in male convict and one of the maybe slightly over 1in female convicts have moved in together!
He is always nice to her. Never beating her up and keeping all the other 3-4 in fish from her. She even stands up successfully to the 4 in midas because he knows that the 3 in convict rules this tank and thats his girl!

I am amazed. I hoped that someday I might finally have a breeding pair of fish to watch in this tank but this pair seems so unlikely! Will it work out for her, or is she in for too much for having such a large mate in comparison to her?Any advice would be good.

The other three 1 - 1 1/2 in convicts hang out with the 3 in severums without being chased much. Is that normal?

Will it work out for her, or is she in for too much for having such a large mate in comparison to her?Any advice would be good.

The size difference in the pair won't matter much - unless the male gets over protective of fry later on.


Watch the midas - midas will try to crossbreed with convicts.
Also from 4 to 6" the midas will likely change  attitudes a lot.

Yes. From the start I knew I would need to find a new home for the midas. I have dubbed him Sampson and will get my 40 gal. back from my ex husband to put him in for now.

Update on the unlikely pair.

The pair have eggs in their flower pot but they look whiteish. I expected to have a few unsucessful attempts by one so young but it is good to know they are really a couple now!

Another update. Dang large male killed himself competing for food and ate himself to death. Went to lfs and bought a pretty little male and he liked one of my girls. We had about 30 babies and between 4-6 are still living in the tank with all the other fish after we went on vacation. (don't think the pet sitter came by enough) Moving them to a small 1.5 gal to take to work because people want to adopt my little guys. I'm going to wait until they are bigger to give away but people wanted to watch them grow.