a few questions

[3Corsameal]

hi all

have changed my tank to just a few fish now.

Mainly convict cichlids and a cat fish

i have found two little snails in there recently, where do they come from???????

are they helpful/harmful????

 

[ferret]

What size tank? How many convicts?

The snails aren't really harmful, and somewhat helpful.

 

[TankGirl]

The snails usually come in with plants, which you may or may not have, or they could have gotten scooped in the net when the fish were caught at the LFS and found their way into your tank. They may get eaten by your fish. If you are careful about not overfeeding the snails will hopefully not overtake the tank.

 

[3Corsameal]

i have a 12.5 uk gallon tank and 8 convicts, they are only about half inch long at the mo, ( a friend of mine has a few tanks and his convicts gave birth to hundreds. so i pinched a few.

he has got my cory catfish and angelfish in one of his tanks now. so i have got a lot less fish now. well only the convicts and a catfish (which will be removed when the convicts grow)

so far i have removed 2 snails, and can't see any more.

how quickly can snails spread/reproduce?

 

[ferret]

You're not going to have to worry about snails for long. Soon you're going to have to worry about thousands of convicts and fighting.

Convicts are suggested to having 1 male and 1 female pair in no less than 20-25 gallons each as adults. You need a 55 gallon for 2 pairs, usually. They will be EXTREMELY aggressive as they mature and prepare to breed. You have 8 now, worse case scenario is that you have 4 pairs, each breeds, so now you've got roughly 1200 fry and a war zone as the 4 pairs attempt to kill each other to protect their fry.

 

[tkos]

I have seen a pair of convicts take over a 55 gallon easy. My friend had to put a divider in it so the other fish could come out from behind a rock.

You were right to move those angels from a 12 gallon tank as they need at least a 20. But 8 convicts in a 12 won't last long. They will probably have stunted growth and die pretty quickly when they start to grow, assuming they don't kill each other first. I doubt the convicts will even get a chance to breed.

 

[3Corsameal]

maybe i should get just one goldfish and be happy with that.

the parents of the convicts were in a 18 gallon tank and there were about 7 of them in there. They still bred but got separated from the fry just as they hatched.
not sure how many of them were parents but now they are all in a large (5ftx2ftx2ft) tank, sharing it with an oscar and a few others (not sure on names of the others) they are all large cichlids tho.

i'd be happy with 2 convicts in my tank, i just want to make sure i get a breeding pair.
maybe i will have to buy/make a new tank soon, space is limited in my room tho. wouldn't get much bigger than what i've already got.

most of the fry will be fed to the oscar.

 

[ferret]

Seperating them from their fry was probably the only thing keeping a disaster of aggression down in that 18 gallon. Personally, I disagree with seperating fry from cichlid parents, particularily South American cichlids. They're great parents, and unless there's some major danger (Another predator in the tank, such as an Oscar), there should be no reason to move them.

Convicts are great fish, don't get me wrong. Just try to get it down to a pair. You can give the fry to friends or feed them to larger fish (OSCARS ). That's what I do. They have 200-300 fry per batch, and have a batch about every 3-4 weeks.

 

[ferret]

One other note.. Those in the 18 must still be rather young. This fish reaches 5-6 inches as an adult male, so having so many in an 18 probably has stunted their developement, as someone else noted.

 

[tkos]

Make sure to do many water changes, maybe even twice a week. With that many fish in a smaller tank, particularly cichlids, the water quality can go down hill fast. Good water quality will go a long way to helping these fry grow.