uh oh?

tweaks · 07-04-2007, 01:15 AM

i bought a texas cichlid thats a juvi and a female pair for my firemouth and 2 albino convicts i was told the convicts would b the mean ones but it turns out the texas is kicking but and mainly just to the convicts would it be because they are males? and the firemouth is a female and this is becuase i only have them in a 10 since im up north visiting my mother and just set up a 10 till i go home does sex have anything to do with who they will attack and i have noticed the convicts arent getting any damage just seems like the texas is just hitting them will the texas grow out of this meanness or will he continue to be mean i am aware he will need a buigger tank the minimum tank requirement is a 55 but we are planniung on making a 200+ tank for the wall so that isnt an issue but none the less what id like to know more than anything Is this just a phase juvies go through? and once i get him home will he respect my eartheaters domain since he is the domenent fish and will kill him with one bite

Tommy Gun · 07-04-2007, 11:07 AM

Hello again Tweaks!

I am willing to bet that you having more males than females is part of your problem here, and would probably continue to be an issue to some extent even in a 200 gallon tank...but one of your largest problems right now is most likely having these fish in a tank without having enough room. Even supposedly non-aggressive fish can sometimes become incredibly 'mean' when there is just not enough 'personal space' available for them.

While I haven't kept any Texas Cichlids or Firemouths myself, I would assume that the general 'rule' of trying to keep an appropriate ratio of males to females still applies here. For most of the cichlids I have kept, the ratio I needed was one male to three or four females (or more) but some cichlids, like yours I believe, just need a chance to 'pair off' in a ratio of one male to one female.

So, that said, I think that you will always run into troubles when keeping these sorts of fish in a small tank because there is just not enough room to territorialize...and the ratio of one sex to another does matter in the case of many cichlids.

tweaks · 07-04-2007, 01:32 PM

yess i figured that might be the problem but the two convicts like eachither theyre males i was told and when i get them in my 30Gal at home theres a male firemouth for my female here and i believe my eartheater is a female at home too and not sure of my thick skin or oscar but hopefully that will all evenout when i get home i checked on them the new ones this morning and they seem to not be fighting so much so thats good but we will see i have to clean the water this morning because the gravel we used was dirty just grabbed it from the shelf down stairs and didnt end up washing it so i have to do a tank clean today so ill keep ya posted on how they all do i really like these albino convicts theyre so nice