Tropical Fish Forums

[sarahsargent22]

Hi all not sure if I put this here but here goes. I have just got two new convict cichlids was hopeing some one could tell me do I have a male and a female?
http://i1121.photobucket.com/albums/l513/sarahsargent22/P1020146.jpg

[Marcos Avila]

Based on the dorsal and anal fins, I'd say you did get a couple. The larger one up front is the male, the one with the longer thread on each of those two fins...
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Success with a fish/tank is measured in YEARS, not months or weeks...

[richrichrich]

To me, it must be a pair, since they look like they are swimming together, without killing each other.......All I can say, having two separate adult pairs, is that if it was two males or two females, the friendliness would last about a minute. Perhaps if they get to preparing for laying eggs, you will see the (usually smaller) female turn on some color on her sides, mostly orange and blue. My males stay generally drab gray/black, even throughout breeding. After raising several small broods now, I can say these fish breed like rabbits. They are nearly impossible to stop from breeding, every month or two. What I can't explain with one pair, is that every time they lay eggs, everything is fine for the first few weeks. Then all of a sudden, out of the blue, the male decides the female is "unworthy" of raising the young, and begins to beat her up, ripping off some scales, and damaging her fins. If I don't get her out of the tank, and isolate her for recovery, I think he would eventually kill her. After a month or so of recovery, I am able to reintroduce her to the male's tank, with the babies at about a quarter inch big. At first he attacks her, but finally accepts her by the next day, and everything is fine thereafter. The other pair don't exhibit this behavior, and raise their young together, happily........They are fun fish, with "personalities", but quite mean when it comes to breeding time. I actually had one pair in with some young african cichlids, in a 55 galllon tank for a while. They successfully raised a small herd of young, defending their "half" of the tank, by keeping all the mbuna "pinned" to the opposite side upper corners for a few weeks. Eventually the africans slowly picked off the convict young, by distracting the parents now and then. So, that situation didn't work over time.........I know guys, "Never mix CA and Africans cichlids together"........Anyway, I like my convicts, but I just wish they wouldn't lay eggs so often. Trying to sell or even give the raised young away to a pet shop here in Florida is a chore, since they sell the fish for $ 1.99 everywhere.........Good luck.