Moving breeding convicts to a 50 gallon with a firemouth?

[CalebZachary]

Is this possible? I have a 50 gallon and am cycling it. I have a pair of breeding convicts (Male is about 3 1/2 Inches, female is 2 1/2) And a firemouth I believe is Male about 3 Inches. If I moved them all to the 50 gallon, and provided adequate hiding spots, would they be okay? Would the FM eat the fry/eggs? Would it be better to add another FM into the mix or some dither? Just looking for opinions.

 

[Phillyb32]

I have a breading pair about the same size as yours, they are with an almost 6 inch Oscar, 4.5 inch jack Dempsey, a silver cat fish, a far and 2 turtles. And they have no problem raising fry. They own their section of the tank.
Skip the breeder box. I sucked out all the fry, took about 45 minutes with a turkey Baster, and as soon as I finished the jack Dempsey sicken them out in about 3 minutes. I missed about 15, now there are about 12, and they are getting bigger. Bottom live convicts are beasts. They will be fine almost no matter what you do to them.

 

[CalebZachary]

So when the fry hatched you sucked them all out?

 

[Phillyb32]

Most of them.

 

[CalebZachary]

I've heard breeding cons are reallllly mean. My firemouth is a bully too.

 

[Phillyb32]

I don't know that I would say mean. But they are tough, and they don't take s from anyone

 

[Freakgecko91]

I doubt your meeki would survive their onslaught...I've actually had my hand bitten by spawning convicts for getting too close

 

[CalebZachary]

Yikes. Thanks for the post. Was just a thought. I'll leave them be in their tank for now. lol.

 

[erikmoseley]

I doubt your meeki would survive their onslaught...I've actually had my hand bitten by spawning convicts for getting too close

+1. They're mean sob's when they pair up. Not many fish could last.

 

[Fishy Smell]

Breeding convicts need to be alone. They don't need a huge tank initially though unless they're close to full size. You could eventually keep your female in a large community tank with robust fish though, they're usually only mildly aggressive with no male around.

 

[CalebZachary]

Yeah, they're in a 25 gallon right now.