55 Gallon Stock Help

[D21right]

In a 55 Gallon would 3 Cons, non-breeding at the moment, A Blood Parrot and a Sydontis Catfish be ok?? Because if it will I was wondering if I could add some schooling fish to the mix as well like maybe some giant Danios or Some Platy's or Molly's. I have 1 Male Con and 2 Females and a few babies from when the Male bred with another female I used to have. So my main question is could I add other fish and if so how many. I wanted to add 2 Firemouths but I was thinking it probably would not work to have a breeding pair of Cons eventually and also a breeding pair of Firemouths also with some schooling fish in the tank. Any input will be helpful. Thanks in Advance.

[Lady Hobbs]

I think you'd have done better with one mated pair of Convicts and afraid the solo one will be taking a beating. Cons are very aggressive and especially at spawning time. Firemouths are nice fish but also will be a target to the Cons, I think. Perhaps the giant danio's will be ok but not sure about platies or mollies, either. I suspect they would be fine but others will verify this.

Female blood parrots can also spawn with a male con so that adds even more excitement into this mix. You might be better without that one male to settle everyting down. It's not mandatory to have just mates unless you plan to have lots of babies.

[D21right]

I like watching them breed and the Male was my 1st Con ever so I kind of have a soft spot for him (Biggie) he runs the tank. I feed the babies to the Africans I have so I don't really worry to much about getting rid of the babies. I am just looking for something else that I can put into the tank while still keeping most of my same stock from my previous tank.

[toddnbecka]

A 55 should be long enough for the odd female to get far enough away from the pair and their fry. Convicts don't claim as much territory as firemouths, a pair of those would claim the whole tank. You'd still be better off moving out the odd female convict if you're going to put another cichlid in the tank. They're the most notorious species for crossbreeding, and hybrid issues aside a 55 would quickly become very crowded with 2 breeding pairs if they spawned anywhere close to the same time.
I have 2 regularly spawning pairs of cutteri in a 90 gallon tank, along with 7 other SA cichlids and 6 P. typus catfish to control the fry. One other cichlid and a Synodontis catfish aren't likely to be able to keep up with even 1 pair of convicts. Unless the pair eat some/most of their fry you'll quickly become overrun with them.

[D21right]

I will be feeding the fry to my GF's Oranda on occasion so the number of fry isn't a problem, The Cons are not breeding as of right now so when my Male picks a female then I have to worry about what to do with the other Female. My BP will help with fry also but I'm mainly looking for what else I could add to the tank that is a cichlid and also another species of non cichlids that are schooling fish.

[toddnbecka]

What other species of similar-size cichlids are available to you? I'll have a spare neet or two after my 4 new little ones grow out and pair off, (assuming they aren't killed by the new pair) they're more than a match for convicts.
I like Colombian tetras for schooling fish, or you could add a group of tiger barbs for color.

[D21right]

The Selection at PetSmart and PetCo around my area makes me think I shouldnt add any fish just because what they have is never what I want, but my LFS has some nice decent Cichlids like Texas Cichlids, FMs, and Dempsey's. I was thinking of adding Tiger Barbs but the ones at my LFS are really small and my Male con is 3 inches and would tear through one if he ever caught it.

[toddnbecka]

I hardly ever but anything from my lfs any more. They won't special order anything, and even w/shipping it's less expensive to shop online. Where in VA are you? The monthly CCA meetings are also a great place to find different stock.

[D21right]

My LFS is pretty good its just they always get their fish either really small or really big, I live in Winchester, VA, your probably have never heard of it, but what part of Maryland are you from?? And what are the CCA Meetings, I have never heard of them??

[toddnbecka]

I lived in Winchester for a couple years, worked at Z&M Sheet Metal then Avtex in Front Royal until they closed, about 20 years ago now. I'm in Cumberland, not all that far from Winchester. The CCA is the Capital Cichlid Association, semi-local (for me) fish club in Silver Spring, MD.
Is there still only 1 worthwhile pet shop in Winchester?

[D21right]

That's wild, such a small world, but yea still only one good Fish store unfortunately. But on occasion they get the job done. I wish it had more variety sometimes. But I've never been to Silver Springs or heard of the CCA what do they do there??

[toddnbecka]

The CCA has monthly meetings, speaker comes in and gives an hour-long (usually a little longer) talk on various cichlid-related subjects. Ad Konings has been there a couple times, Spencer Jack was in last summer, Leif Demason too. Also have good food, activities for small children to keep them occupied, and a monthly mini-auction of whatever fish, plants, and/or assorted stuff from tanks and hardware to driftwood and decorations folks bring along. Rocks sell pretty well from what I've seen, I may round up a box for the next meeting.
Some fish sell for ridiculously low prices, some a bit more, just depends on how many folks are interested/bid on them. Always better than lfs prices though, and of course there are plenty of folks buying and selling outside of the auction. If you want to check out the forum here's a link: [Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

[D21right]

Thank you and if I decide to go I will PM you and maybe we could meet up there if you wouldn't mind me being a tag along on my 1st meeting.

[toddnbecka]

No problem, it's well worth the drive IMO, particularly if you have tankspace open. Join the forum and check it out a bit, not everyone (just most) are cichlid fanatics there. Since they moved the meetings from the police barracks to the high school there's plenty of room. Parking was a big issue before, particularly since the CCA's membership has grown so much over the last few years.