does anything eat convict cichlids?

Question

I have a 90T gallon tank with convicts in it, It started as 3 females and apparently the fish store lied because now I am going on thirty. the fish store now tells me they can not be sure on gender and they will not take any fish back. I can not get rid of any through classifieds.

I have tried about everything to get rid of them without killing them(they are too cute). Is there anything in the freshwater that would eat them or atleast the fry? the parents are so protective that they will bite me if I put my hand by them in the tank.

Thanks.
Ryan

Answer 1

Hey, I feel your pain. Convicts will breed and breed and breed. If you could sell them, I would be a millionaire :) Yes, most larger fish will eat the fry, but you would have to remove the parent fish. What I did was disposed of the eggs before they hatched. I don't feel as bad that way. I have since put my females in one tank and the males in another......no more babies, unless I want them.

Answer 2

Convicts are very prolific. I'm not surprised the multiplied so fast. Its hard to sell them, because they are so readily available. Males tend to be larger than females, and sometimes will grow a nuchal hump (bump on their forehead). Females tend to be smaller in general, and have a distinct orange, red, or pink coloration on their side and or bellies.

As far as getting rid of the convicts, well you are definitely in a bind there. If you have another tank, you can feed the fry to just about anything, and they will eat them. Otherwise just syphon the fry out of the tank, and flush them if you don't want them to keep multiplying. As far as the other fish that are already grown, I don't know what to tell you short of culling them. You can put them in small bags with water in them, and freeze them. That is probably the most humane way to put down a fish. I have a 29g tank with a convict pair, and i feed the fry to some giant danios in a 55g. If I didn't cull them, they would be out of control. Oh, and by the way, it doesn't hurt that bad when they bite. :) Good luck.