help me please...

**J-Rod** · 02-22-2011, 01:28 PM

m convicts turned out to not be all females as a thougt. so 2 of them have laid eggs. my plans are to let the fry hatch and then remove the pair so that my 3rd convict and my oscar can use the fry as fish food.

**CassieLEO** · 02-22-2011, 01:40 PM

Convicts do make good feeders, as no one wants convicts these days... Then I would get rid of the male convict. Live food is good, but you will have waaaay more than you can deal with after a few short months...

**Lady Hobbs** · 02-22-2011, 01:44 PM

Agree. But then I think from the very beginning we said 3 Convicts with that Oscar would probably not work well.

**CassieLEO** · 02-22-2011, 01:50 PM

They will tear the Oscar apart, especially three of them... We did have this talk already...

**skullduggery1** · 02-22-2011, 02:30 PM

Not to mention oscars are not the fastest predators on the block.It might never catch a convict meal,and then you would have a colony of convicts.My convicts would even out smart,all of the fish they were in with.

**CassieLEO** · 02-22-2011, 02:32 PM

When mine had babies, they would attack me everytime I tried to clean out the tank, they are vicious. They had all my fish in one corner of the 55 gallon and if one would move out of there they would attack it. I had to get rid of them because they were just too vicious for me. My friend has them in their own 55 gallon but he removes the eggs whenever they lay them. My oscar likes to chase the two balas but he isnt stealth about it at all. The convicts would kill a oscar...

**skullduggery1** · 02-22-2011, 02:41 PM

Originally Posted by CassieLEO

. My oscar likes to chase the two balas but he isnt stealth about it at all. The convicts would kill a oscar...

Well a single con would work with an oscar if the oscar was two to three times the size of the convict.Oscars are big eating /pooping machines.And other fish(cyprinids)might not be able to ever cut in the lunch line to eat.Oscars eat and eat and.......until they are layimg on there sides...no store in there right frame of mind,would not carry this cichlid,The appeal is there.In the pet trade they are in the bread and butter fish category.

**CassieLEO** · 02-22-2011, 03:03 PM

A single one yes, three of them, 2 of them being egg laying females?? I think the Oscar would have his butt handed to him repeatedly until he was so stressed and sick he will die. A baby Oscar would not be able to handle the breeding convicts ever... His Oscar is still a baby thats in there. As for the eating until they are laying on their sides?? I dont let my Oscar eat like that. I am neurotic about mine, you can tell by the million posts I post about her.

**Lab_Rat** · 02-22-2011, 05:20 PM

You'd be best off to destroy the eggs before they hatch (easier than doing it once they hatch psychologically). Then I would rehome the pair of cons, and keep the O with a lone con.