Rescued Convict Cichlids

[igotaducky]

Hello!

In my last apartment, my roommate had a ten gallon fish tank just crammed full of fish. He hardly took care of it, so I could never even see what type or how many fish were in there as it was so dirty. He moved out with no intention to continue caring for them, and so they have become mine. I was able to upgrade their tank to a 35 gallon, however there are 16 fish in total. There are 2 bonded pairs, who are responsible for the rest of the fish in the tank.

I've had these fish for 3 months now, and after a lot of research (and lurking around here! and on cichlid-forum.com) I have posted ads to help re-home most of the herd. I have homes lined up for 14 of the 16 fish.

My 35 gallon is 3 ft long, 12.5 inches deep. I am about to switch the blue gravel it came with to a more natural river rock. I have driftwood soaking to add to the tank in a few months and a few fake plants the fish seem to love. I was thinking of stocking a bristlenose pleco and maybe either a school of cherry or Tiger barbs. Does anybody have any suggestions as to what might work well in a tank like this? I'm looking to add color to go along with the personality the Convicts already have!

 

[librarygirl]

Which fish are you keeping? I think that will dictate what you can keep with them. You might want to post this on the Cichlid forum here, you'll get better responses from the Cichlid experts on that forum: Cichlid Discussion - Aquarium Advice - Aquarium Forum Community

 

[igotaducky]

Thanks! I totally forgot I posted about this because later that day most of the fish were re-homed!

I still have the smallest male, about 1.5" and a female who was hiding when the other fish were picked up and got left behind. I have her in another tank right now because not only do I not want them to breed, but she was beating up on the little guy! I will still be trying to find a better home for her because she is only in the 10 gal now.

I think I will be going with a bristlenose pleco and a school of buenos aires tetra. I've read that they can make good tank mates for convicts, especially when the convict won't be breeding, because they're quick and pretty tough. I'm still open to any and all suggestions though!