Top Swimmers w/ Convicts?

[Rychean]

Are there any fish that can be with convicts that like swimming near the surface? My understanding is convicts like the lower half of the tank (kind of my experience so far), so I don't want the top half to go to waste. This is in a 30G (36x12x18).
Thanks!

 

[josh7]

Is it a breeding pair or just a single convict

 

[Rychean]

Well, it's a male and female (that's my best guess, considering the long fin on one and the orange belly on the other). I'm hoping they will mate, but after about 2 months in my 10G (I know, I know...hence the upgrade), they've just been playing chase - no egg-laying. So I don't know if they will mate in the bigger tank or not. Again, I am hoping so...

(ps - any ideas if the bigger tank will increase the odds of mating...all else being equal?)

 

[josh7]

They will and you need a 20 long and I wouldn't do any tankmates with a convict pair

 

[Rychean]

Good to know, Josh. Thanks. I did the massive after-cycling water change, so hopefully this weekend I will move them to the two to their new home and cross my fingers. If they do mate, I'll have no need for tankmates, and I'll be quite happy.

 

[5x5]

Good to know, Josh. Thanks. I did the massive after-cycling water change, so hopefully this weekend I will move them to the two to their new home and cross my fingers. If they do mate, I'll have no need for tankmates, and I'll be quite happy.

Just curious, what is your plan for the resulting fry? If you haven't already, you may want to check and see if a lfs will take them.

Convicts are almost impossible to sell privately and all the lfs around me won't take them.

 

[Rychean]

I had an LFS say they might take them (depending on their own stock), or let my wife have a tank of them for her kindergarten class.
However, I'm thinking these two or either not male and female (the one with the extra long dorsal fin also shows red in the belly now) or they are just not interested in each other. I figure if there was a chance they would mate, I would have at least seen eggs sometime.
Hence my mental consideration of tankmates. If they indeed aren't going to be a pair, I wanted to consider a JD or 1-2 apistogramma.

 

[Freakgecko91]

Convicts are too rough for apistos(which rarely leave the bottom 2 inches f the tank) and a JD is much too large for a tank of that size