# Tankmates for Jewel pair



## csbingham75 (May 23, 2015)

Hey guys just wanted some opinions for tankmates for my jewel pair. Tank is standard 75 gal and the jewels are currently 3.5" 
The tank has a female Nic that's 4-5" and a male con that's 3.5" along with 6 giant danios zipping around the top. The jewels are preparing to spawn and have chose a territory oddly close to the Nic's cave.. Lots of gill flaring and sparring (my Nic is very fiesty loves to flare at everyone) and the convict hangs at the other side of the tank. I'm wondering long term will my Nic and con be able to handle the aggression of the jewel pair as everyone grows? I don't want my fish to be all beat up. Also if the female Nic won't be able to handle it, could I remove her and get a female for my male convict or would that just cause way too much tension between them and the jewels? I love that Nic she certainly holds her own now just fine but in time I don't know.. Thoughts?


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## BC in SK (Aug 11, 2012)

csbingham75 said:


> I'm wondering long term will my Nic and con be able to handle the aggression of the jewel pair as everyone grows?


That is difficult to say with any certainty; really can't predict the future. Based on my experiences breeding jewels over and over in the community tank, every decade since the '70's, I think it more likely they wouldn't cause too much problems. Breeding cichlids are usually more aggressive with fry, then they are with eggs. If they prove to be too aggressive, fry can be siphoned out ASAP to relieve pressure in the tank. A line of plastic plants can be dropped in the tank to sort of segregate the pair with fry, or even a real divider. But I have never had to go to any special efforts due to breeding jewels.


csbingham75 said:


> Also if the female Nic won't be able to handle it, could I remove her and get a female for my male convict or would that just cause way too much tension between them and the jewels?


IME and IMO, long term, to also have a pair of convicts in the tank is likely to cause too much problems. Pairs of substrate spawners can end up being very competitive over space. Maybe a status quo for a little while, but often one pair will eventually push to dominate. My last 2 large pairs of jewels, I ended up removing from my 6 ft. 180 gal. after convict pairs eventually defeated them. They ceased to own territory, and although they weren't really getting picked on too much, I removed them because they really weren't doing well enough, IMO.


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