# I have noticed that alot of ppl hate cons y is this.



## Phantom_Cichlid (Jul 3, 2006)

first let me say sorry if this is in the wrong section and secondly why is everyone hates convicts they are such gorgeous fish when fed and taken care of properly and they can be but are not always that good of a community fish but rarely make it there i mean i dont want to sound stupid or wierd but when i fed a one of my cons to my bros oscar i started to tear up i felt so bad for him and as some of you know i plan to try to become as good of a convict speacialst that i can be but its hard to do when i read how yall hate them n that there only good as feeders but your wrong i love my cons more then i love my family at times and that sad but i just wanted to voice my opinion and if any of you mods want to delete this then go right ahead i just hope i did not upset any one.


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## Gourami Swami (Jul 4, 2006)

I love cons! I think they are great as a pet, but since they breed soo much its okay to cull some of them as feeders. My lfs actually sells convict fry as "growth feeders" 

But really, cons are very nice pets when kept properly.


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## Osiris (Jan 18, 2005)

I don't think it's so much as hate as it is they just don't care for them. It's to each their own, their own preference, Choice.


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

Most of your experienced fishkeepers (5+ years) have had cons, bred them, and have moved on to more challenging fish. Convicts were my first egg layers I bred. It wasn't hard. Then I moved on to white clouds and cories. And so on and so on. They are not bad fish and I know of noone who hates them. They are very common and getting rid of fry can be really hard.


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## HybridS130 (Aug 27, 2006)

BAH! I started off the cichlid bug with a bunch of baby convicts and jack dempseys they grew up fine with eachother but, oh ho ho ho ha ha. The Convicts started pairing off and one day I came home from work and all the fish were at the top of the tank and the water looked dirty. Then I realized that the water wasn't dirty, it was full of free swimming fry and the parents were brutally guarding their young. 

It's almost impossible to keep convicts with any other fish because they insist on breeding and when they do they become incredibly aggressive, often having marital arguments. 

So unless you make sure to keep the sexes seperated you'll end up having to give them their own tank or everyone else will suffer.

Edit: I think what I was saying might've given the impression that I don't like these fish. To clarify, I love convicts so much in fact I love everything about them even their aggression because it shows just how great of parents they make. They were my first challenging fish and I learned so much from them, unfortunately I had to give them up when I moved last year. If I ever had a spare tank to dedicate to them I would get some more but, I'd have to plan ahead for the LFS to take a lot of babies off my hands.


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## aaa (Jan 19, 2005)

convicts are awesome, but it is just that they are too easy to breed and not that much variety, people move on and forget about them unlike guppies and mollies, which have lots of color and finnage combination. to me they are interesting fish, but i just want to breed something harder.


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## Moses (Aug 21, 2006)

I have a 55gal tank with 2 breeding convicts in there and thats it. I think they are real little characters. I originally had 1 male and 3 females in there but the smallest female got chased around too much so I removed her and then the next smallest female got chased so I removed her. Now I have a male that about 8cm and the female is about 5cm.

They come up to the top of the tank whenever I walk past and when I feed them they eat out of my hand. I've only had them for 2 weeks so I can't wait until they get bigger and get even more used to me to see how they act.

On a side note I will be using the fry to feed my Kigoma Frontosa colony.

At what size do they start to breed?


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## Phantom_Cichlid (Jul 3, 2006)

they should be starting but the might still be a little small and u might want to try the male again with each female so he can decid who he wants to breed with


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Convicts are the first cichlid many people get. They put them in a community tank. After they pair up and murder someone's favorite fish, they are hated forever. They are great fish and easy to breed, but most experienced cichlid keepers don't want them because we know we can't get give away the babies.


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## Guest (Oct 10, 2006)

I find it amazing that your entire post is in one sentence.

And like everyone has already said, its not that people hate convicts...they're just not very desirable due to the fact that they are very commmon and can be found in just about any pet store, they are very easy to breed and don't offer much of a challenge, and they are prolific breeders, so you end up with a lot of fry and no place to put them.
But, they are very beautiful fish and still make excellent pets.


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## dudemac (Jun 25, 2006)

I am a big fan of them too. I used to have one till my texas chiclid got to the size he is now and then decided he did not want to share the tank.


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## flamingo (Nov 5, 2005)

LMAO scuba, I agree with every part of that!

I never kept them, why? Because I just don't like how they look, they wouldn't fit in with my current stock, and the fact that there are billions of them in every pet store. For me, breeding them for food wouldn't even be useful..i'd have to raise them until they're almost fully grown to get a good feeder out of them!

I don't hate them...I just don't like them. Same with guppies, I don't despise them...just they're way to down there, and everyone you know has 40 pairs of them.


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## Gourami Swami (Jul 4, 2006)

flamingo said:


> LMAO scuba, I agree with every part of that!
> For me, breeding them for food wouldn't even be useful..i'd have to raise them until they're almost fully grown to get a good feeder out of them!


really? what are you feeding that needs 4-5 inch feeders? Full grown cans can push 6 and even 7 inches


And also, I think the fact they are sooo common makes them less desireable, like everyone else has said. i'l probly get one for my big tank tha if any of th fish get killed it will be him. and if not, I have a cool little striped cichlid. win-win situation


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## flamingo (Nov 5, 2005)

lmao bass, needlenose fish, bichirs, cichlids, puffers, you name it .


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## Georgia Peach (Sep 23, 2005)

Scuba Kid said:


> I find it amazing that your entire post is in one sentence.


tell me about it! LOL 

I love convicts - they were my first cichlid - like stated above, they breed like wildfires spread and are very hard to get rid of sometimes. I think thats why alot of people dont keep them..


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