tankmates for my convicts?

[okley7007]

well i have a 55 gl tank with 2 cons. male and female.and i was thinking of adding some life to the tank. so what are some good tankmates for these guys? and how many? there are many hiding spots in the tank for cover .i will post a pic in the morning. the pic will show in detail what i have to work with. also my babie con up date. 2 months old. well thanks for the help.

[reefcrazy420]

maybe a pair of firemouths or a single JD?

[okley7007]

how do you sex fire mouths?

[reefcrazy420]

im no expert but i THINk it has to do with the redness and the coloring. the male will have brighter colors. maybe some of the others who know more can chime in

[Jason_S]

I would add some type of catfish, a bristlenose pleco or 2 and some swordtails. the male con can chase the swordtails away from the spawning site and both cons can snack on swordtail fry.

Jason

[rsabatini]

I agree with reefcrazy,fire mouths will go over well as far as compatability but be careful they can also interbreed(probibly would be a cool looking fish to)I disagree about the demp though,they get much bigger than both cons and meeki's ,full grown dempsey will reach 10" easy cons and meeki's stay around 5" and my experiances with a mature jack there very intolerant of tankmates expecially ones they could overpower easily(smaller fish)some more suggestions-blue acara,port acara,keyhole cichlid,rainbow cichlid,blood parrots. noncichlids-redtail and bala sharks,silver dollars,loaches,pleco's,tinfoil barb,I've even kept cons with gourami's before,moonlight,blue,gold and dwarf.hope this helps,good luck what ever you choose.

[wheelie]

I would definitely not put keyholes in with cons, especially since the cons are already established in the tank. I actually have a 55 with 5 keyholess and some other non-cichlids, and I put in a black con tat was about half the size of the keyholes and he terrorized them. I removed him 4 weeks ago, but the keyholes are still pretty battered...

[oscar_pack]

my dad had the same question about a month ago, and i recomended he put some fire mouths in, and it worked out pretty good. granted they are about the same size.