how many convicts in a small tank?

[less than adam]

I have a small tank (29 gal). I just put in 5 convicts. The guy at the pet store said they'd be fine until they started breeding. Then the might start fighting. From what I've been reading here people only recomend keeping 1 pair in a tank no matter what the size? Currently they are only about an inch long so it'll be a while I think before they make babies but I'm getting worried about it already. Also, there are two smallish rainbow sharks in the tank already (about 3 inches). What should I do? I'd like to keep as many as possible.

[Rudy]

As long as the tank is 30 inches plus I think you could keep 2 pairs and a 3-4 clown loaches. ( I don't know anything about rainbow sharks) Just make 2 destinctly different rock piles at each end. Cons are actually pretty social until they pair up so even if you had one pair the other two could live hapily at the other side of the tank with no issues.

They are also pretty forgiving of bottom dwellers so as long as noone is trying to get in their rock piles, you should be o.k. Rocks and clay pots with the bottoms bored out of them work really well.

It does depend on the individual fish as well some are way more aggressive then others.

By the way welcome to the forum!!

[surfdude660]

I would recommend one pair per tank to be safe, andif you want the fry to survive, i would recommend just keeping the pair. Its really cool watching them mate, but with more than one pair it would be all fighting. I dont like watching my fish fight!!! :D

[Corona]

I dont know a whole lot about convicts but i noticed you have 2 rainbow sharks wich is a big nono becouse they are very aggressive to there own kind and other bottom dwellers, you should only keep 1 rainbow shark per tank or 6 or more per tank. And i think in a 29 G 1 pair of convicts would be ideal. Watch the rainbow shark with the convicts also, the shark may try and get aggressive with the convicts over territory and im sure the convicts would come out on top seem the sharks dont have a very big mouth to bite with..

[Rex Karr]

Yes, welcome, LTA.

In my opinion 2 pairs of convicts should work out like Rudy said, but there may be fighting, like surfdude said. Personally I love it when my fish fight. They show there best colors and look awsome with their fins and operculum spread out. Problems occur when the show turns violent, and the fish actually attack each other on the body.

You may have better success with a pair of Convicts and a pair of another small American species.

A friend of mine has just bought a 29g and wants cichlids. After setting him straight, from the LFS terrible advice of Oscars and Afrian Cichlids, he's decided to try a single specimen of 3-4 different Americans. We'll most likely try to find a nice Archocentrus sp. Cryptoheros sp., and Thorichthys species at the ACA 2003.

[Rudy]

How about a pair of cons and a pair of Sajica (jade eyes).

[Corona]

How about 1 jack dempsey and lets say 20 danios :P

[chc]

IME, it would make sense to spend some time on the decor of your tank if you are going to attempt more than one pair of convicts. Each end of the tank should, as suggested before, have a cleary identifiable breeding site (flowerpot, etc.). I would also make sure to set things up in a way that there is a sight barrier between the territories (perhaps one of those large plastic plants, called Giant I think, that cover part of the surface). Also, since a 29 is fairly tall, I'd utilize that height by adding floating plants for cover, and I'd make sure that rocks or pots reached the surface so subdominant fish could find cover near the surface (that's the safest place at breeding time in most cases).