[Charden]

Ok so I am starting up a new 75gal tank and was wondering if these fish would mesh well together. I am thinking of going 4 Convicts, 2 Jack Dempsey's, 2 Electric Blue Jack Dempsey's, and maybe a Green Terror. Will these guys co-exist? I will be doing fake plants and lace rock for caves and such. I will have a flower pot towards the back of the tank for the Convicts. Any other suggestions on fish I could go with?

When I set up my 75 I will be taking the gravel from my established 20 gallon to put as the bottom layer. I also purchased 80lbs of CaribSea Instant Aquarium Peace River Gravelfor the main substrate.

I will be using 2 x Emperor 400's for Filtration, an Aqueon Pro 250 heater (will one work?), and a Coralife Aqualight T5HO Daul fixture. I will be using a black background also. I would appreciate any help.

 

[JoelRHale]

A 4' tanks is perfect size for one pair of JD's. Anything past that would be trial and error.

Convicts are a comparitively slower fish than can easily get picked on. Actually, I have a 4" pink convict female recovering in a hospital tank right now all thanks to my Green Texas.

One heater will work, you might have to keep the temperature set slightly higher than what you actually want it to be, but it will be okay. I'm not sure about your filtration, it sounds like enough, but I'd feel better if it was just one HoB and a canister. It will be perfectly fine when they are small though.

Instead of that many cichlids, why not 4 JD's (2 regular and 2 EB) and a bunch of dithers to fill out your tank as they grow? Then as the JD's mature decide which pair to keep and rehome the others.

 

[Charden]

Well I already have the 4 convicts in a 20L waiting on my 75 to get here. I really like the looks of the Green Terror but I hear they are pretty rough on other fish.

 

[JoelRHale]

I'm not saying you can't successfully keep convicts with JD's or Green Terrors, there are always exceptions to the rules.

But I am saying that about 2 hours ago I had to pull a convict out of my 75 gallon because it's not enough tank to share with a Green Texas, which is a very similar fish to JD's or Green Terrors in size, speed and aggression.

Why not make a really awesome convict based tank since you already have them? I'm not sure what you can stock with them as you can see by my genius stocking :? But that could be cool. Maybe a couple breeding pairs (black and pick?) some larger schooling fish and maybe a medium size predator to eat any unwanted fry if you don't want them?

 

[Charden]

I'm not saying you can't successfully keep convicts with JD's or Green Terrors, there are always exceptions to the rules.

But I am saying that about 2 hours ago I had to pull a convict out of my 75 gallon because it's not enough tank to share with a Green Texas, which is a very similar fish to JD's or Green Terrors in size, speed and aggression.

Why not make a really awesome convict based tank since you already have them? I'm not sure what you can stock with them as you can see by my genius stocking :? But that could be cool. Maybe a couple breeding pairs (black and pick?) some larger schooling fish and maybe a medium size predator to eat any unwanted fry if you don't want them?

That really dont sound like a bad idea. Any idea of some good schooling fish? And what kind of predator would you suggest?

 

[JoelRHale]

For schooling fish, I'd say any tetra or barb that was too big to be eaten by your predator or convicts. So maybe green tiger barbs or a large tetra like bleeding hearts or black phantoms.

For predator, I have a Colombian shark (the one that's a catfish) and it is very peaceful and nonaggressive towards fish it can't eat. I had a school of neon tetras as dithers and once the columbian reached about 3.5-4" the school slowly disappeared. But I've never seen him nip at other fish. A few bumble bee catfish could work well.

I didn't mean to come off too harsh before, it's just kind of heartbreaking watching one fish getting bullied close to death. I'd just hate to see it happen to you too.

 

[Charden]

I do like a lot of action in my tanks. I have a 55gal mixed Mbuna tank that is never boring. I am really liking the look of the Green Terrors so I may try to rehome the Convicts to a friend of mine.