[New Boy]

I'm the proud owner of 4 small marble convicts in a 2 metre tank with 4 small severums. 4 medium blood parrots (please no grief), 10 rainbowfish (mixture of red and lake kutubu) and two bristlenoses. 3 of the four convicts have orange on the belly - so I presumed I had three females. However, one of the ones that has an orange belly is quite territorial over a cave and is constantly flaring its gills so could it possibly be a male?

Also are cons best kept in pairs or can a male alternate between two or three females? will the odd female out get picked on?

What size tank do you need for two breeding pairs of cons to happily co-exist? What about three pairs? Could a marble pair, white pair and striped pair have sufficient territory in a 2 metre tank and if so could any other fish live in that tank without constantly being harassed? I'm assuming other cichlids would be a no but not sure about bristlenoses or rainbows..

thanks for any advice

 

[remarkosmoc]

Its pretty rare for males to have red bellies. Are you sure she isn't guarding a batch of eggs?

Two pair do fine in a 55, or even a 30 if they are alone. With other inhabitants, a larger tank is required as the cons like to keep everyone at a distance.

 

[stuckinthemiddle]

can you post some pics of the marble cons?

 

[New Boy]

Actually would three pairs even happen or would one male mate with all three females leaving two males as sub dominant and hiding?

Can single sex convict tanks work? male or female?

 

[RedDevilLover]

Well I, and this is just my personal opinion, like to give the convicts are leave 3 feet per pair. I can see a single pair in a 29 gal tank, 2 pairs in a 55 or a 75 or 3 pairs in a 125 or a 150. Convicts pair up so if you were to put a pair in a 29 gal I would assume the left out convicts will be picked on by the pair. Goodluck though

 

[remarkosmoc]

Well I, and this is just my personal opinion, like to give the convicts are leave 3 feet per pair. I can see a single pair in a 29 gal tank, 2 pairs in a 55 or a 75 or 3 pairs in a 125 or a 150. Convicts pair up so if you were to put a pair in a 29 gal I would assume the left out convicts will be picked on by the pair. Goodluck though

um.....

2 pair in 55=2' per pair
3 pair in 125=2' per pair

:roll: