# Confused about Convict Behavior.....



## princesstrish617 (Sep 17, 2008)

So I was at my LFS and decided to get two convicts. The guy at petco said one was a female and one was a male but after getting home I did notice that the supposid male had a very faint orange coloring on him(her) under the belly. Now the identified female that I have is very very dark in color with very bright orange scales nothing like the male/female who is much lighter with fainter orange coloring.

So I was conviced that I had two females and went to a closer pet store near my house and picked up a male who I investigated for a good 20 minutes making sure no orange showed. Well my question is why is the smaller less colored female chasing my newly introduced male away??? The bigger more colorful one isnt showing any aggresion at at. Below is a picture of the two females maybe one is a a male after all???

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff2/ ... onvict.jpg


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## MetalHead06351 (Oct 3, 2007)

Those are 2 females. Convicts usually pair up so you might just have one too many girls in with him. They are also central american so you might get more help in that section.


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

looks like two females... my guess is that the male is still the newbie, so the bottom spot on the totem pole. 
Before long, he'll outgrow those two and start pushing them around.


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## princesstrish617 (Sep 17, 2008)

Thanks Guys -

I thought they were South American....You learn something new everyday - I just rearranged the tank because my paradise fish is being a big bully....thought the convicts could hold thier own but I guess not =(


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

a paradise fish took on convicts and lived?


LOL

Give them time and that'll change too.


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## princesstrish617 (Sep 17, 2008)

yes its ridiculouse. He will not give them a second to do anything he is constantly chasing them and then the firemouth is also bullying but not as bad as the paradise.

Everyone was fine until the convicts were introduced


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## xalow (May 10, 2007)

What other fish do you have in the tank besides the ones all ready mentioned? A breeding pair of convicts can cause a lot of trouble. There is a hilarious video linked to on this site somewhere, where two convicts are in a 125 gallon tank and are keeping a lot of fish that are several times larger than them to one side of the tank.

I had a female that would bully around the male convict and she was slightly bigger. That was a few months ago, now he is bigger and in charge.


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## Joels fish (Nov 17, 2007)

Paradise fish can be pretty mean. I had one years ago that would bully everything in the tank. He harassed Firemouths , an Oscar, Severums, A jewel cichlid, beat the snot out of a pleco, it didn't bother him one bit that most of the fish in that tank were way bigger than him he just gave them all trouble. Had to eventually give him a new home.


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## princesstrish617 (Sep 17, 2008)

xalow said:


> What other fish do you have in the tank besides the ones all ready mentioned? A breeding pair of convicts can cause a lot of trouble. There is a hilarious video linked to on this site somewhere, where two convicts are in a 125 gallon tank and are keeping a lot of fish that are several times larger than them to one side of the tank.
> 
> I had a female that would bully around the male convict and she was slightly bigger. That was a few months ago, now he is bigger and in charge.


Theres an ascar about 3 inches, a pictus catfish 3inch, peacock eel, juvinile firemouth, paradise fish, and a pleco.

bad mix?

its a 55 gallon long


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## MetalHead06351 (Oct 3, 2007)

yes, too many fish. You should get rid of the oscar and the eel, they get too big for a 55 gallon


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## Nathan43 (Jul 9, 2007)

xalow said:


> What other fish do you have in the tank besides the ones all ready mentioned? A breeding pair of convicts can cause a lot of trouble. There is a hilarious video linked to on this site somewhere, where two convicts are in a 125 gallon tank and are keeping a lot of fish that are several times larger than them to one side of the tank.
> 
> I had a female that would bully around the male convict and she was slightly bigger. That was a few months ago, now he is bigger and in charge.


Here you go, too funny.


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