# 24 hours of cichlids > 6+ months of community



## Stiletto (May 17, 2009)

Well it has been about two months since I decided to tear down my tank and start over. And between building a background and then slowly building up stock levels it seemed to take forever to get to this point. But finally my tank is fully stocked! I picked up my cichlids yesterday. A jack and 2 convicts. I swear one day of watching cichlids has been more intersting than any other tank I have. And its not just the cihlids themselves. For example, since adding the cichlids my tiger barbs have been schooling better than ever before.









Inhabitants are 7 tiger barbs (technically 6 but the rosy barb thinks she is a tiger barb and acts like and schools with them), 2 swordtails (survivors from my first two set ups), 2 pictus cats, 2 convicts, and a jack dempsey.

And here is a close up of my jack. Anyone hazard a guess at sex? At first I thought for sure it was male but after some research it seems to have some female traits. So I just really cant say.









The jack was alone in a tank of red devils at the LFS. He/she was hiding behind the heater and seemed happy to get in the bag and come home with me. It did a quick 180 in my tank. It quickly learned its the biggest fish in the tank and asserts itself as such. It ignores the other fish tho except for the convicts. It hates the convicts and chases them as soon as it sees them.

The convicts I would like for them to pair up. I _think_ I have a male and female. They certainly arent showing each other any love tho. The larger one that I think is male chases away the smaller one when he sees her. They arent cooperating with pictures tho. Ill try again tomorow.


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## sjwrx (Apr 15, 2009)

Nice Tank. The jack looks male to me. You can tell apart female and male convicts easily. Females will have a an orange color on its belly while the male wont. The color shows up fairly young so you can sex cons quite fast.


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## chrispyweld (Dec 20, 2005)

Nice back ground, were did you get it?


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

chrispyweld said:


> Nice back ground, were did you get it?


Read the OP's first


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## tdauss (Jun 15, 2009)

very nice setup... I love the background, great work!


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## clgkag (Mar 22, 2008)

That background does rock. Great job. :thumb:


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## Nathan43 (Jul 9, 2007)

Wow, how do you do a bg like that?


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## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

Great work on the background... it looks amazing...

Your Dempsey is definitely a female... This can be determined by the amount of and type of Blue coloration at the bottom of the gill plate. The gill plate is the flap that covers the gill opening 

Sjwrx explained how to sex Convicts rather well (females get orange bellies, males do not). It's often hard to sex Cichlids based on behavior. Two fish of the same sex usually don't get along well and the tougher chases off the weaker to claim it's territory... and when two Cichlids are the opposite sex the male will nip and chase the female to prove his worthiness and show his interest. It pretty much looks the same until the male proves himself, the female accepts and they start actually nesting and spawning...

I have to say it again... beautiful background...


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## chrispyweld (Dec 20, 2005)

Nathan43 said:


> Wow, how do you do a bg like that?


  That's what I meant to ask.


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

chrispyweld said:


> Nathan43 said:
> 
> 
> > Wow, how do you do a bg like that?
> ...


Alright, well get it straight from now on... mistakes will not be tolorated :lol:


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## Stiletto (May 17, 2009)

Toby_H said:


> Your Dempsey is definitely a female... This can be determined by the amount of and type of Blue coloration at the bottom of the gill plate. The gill plate is the flap that covers the gill opening


Awesome thats good to hear. I think a female will work out better for me in the long term.

The male convict has started to be somewhat defiant towards the JD. He made a niche for himself behind some PVC tubes that the JD cant get him at. So he is trying to claim this area for himself. Unlike the jack, he doesnt like company and chases away _any_ fish that comes near.

























Thanks for the compliments on my background! I have a DIY post that explains how I made it.
http://cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=194903&postdays=0&postorder=asc&&start=0


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## Riceburner (Sep 3, 2008)

here's my male and female...









...she's got the nice colour


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## gage (Feb 7, 2007)

my male dempsey had that amount of blue on the gill when he was this size, I'd say wait it out a bit and re post.


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## Stiletto (May 17, 2009)

I am pretty sure now that I have a male and female con. But I have a big question about mate selection. I am concerned that the male con is going to try to mate with the dempsey. He sems to show the dempsey a lot of attention. I am not really familiar enough with cichlid behaviors to know what is going on. So will fish always prefer their own species or will they prefer the bigger stronger mate? Should I do anything to influence the cons to hook up? Should I maybe add another male con?


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## MonteSS (Dec 8, 2008)

Great backround.

You better watch what you wish for. When you do get a mated pair of Cons (and you will) hundreds of babies will be everywhere. Behind the BG too I would imagine.

As far as pairing goes, I would add another female or two to give the male more of a choice. This is the best way to get a better bonded pair and not a "forced" pair.

GL...Bill


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