South American Cichlids • LFS Trade

[JMUFTW]

I have raised about 30 convict wrigglers to full sized adults in a 50G tank... As two have paired up and had some babies of their own, I called up the my local fish store to do a trade of some adults for credit or fish.

They had space for 6 so I went through the ordeal of taking EVERYTHING out of the tank to catch a few of the smaller fish to trade. I get to the store, and they said that they would do a 1-1 fish trade! I look up and see some beautiful 1" Blue Rams... and I couldn't help myself. And the fact that I was getting an absurdly awesome deal considering this is the first time I've seen Rams in my town in the past year.

That being said, they seem to be doing pretty well with the cons as they are staying in the middle height range away from the bottom. Is this just an atypical situation or just a disaster waiting to happen? It seems as though there are enough fish in the tank (overstocked...) that any aggression is being dispersed through the group. The new parents do not even bother to chase them as they do not seem to pose any threat.

Any thoughts or previous experiences would be great!

[Narwhal72]

You were able to get a 1-1 trade of convicts for rams? That's an amazingly good deal considering convicts are so readily available that they are near worthless and rams are way more valuable.

That being said they would not be good tank mates with convicts. You are better keeping them in a softer water tank with a higher temperature and with tank mates that won't be as aggressive come breeding time.

Andy

[JMUFTW]

I was just as surprised as you to get a 1-1 trade, but I wasn't going to talk them out of it! Thanks for the opinion!