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Originally posted by Danmoquin.
Guys I wrote this article back in June and it was published in the PVAS monthly newsletter. It tells my story of convict-keeping and breeding. Please, give me some feedback.
Two years ago when I started the hobby I purchased a juvenile striped Archocentrus Nigrofasciatum . When I got it I had no idea of the proper care, diet, or tank conditions it required. At the time of purchase it was probably about a third of an inch (SL). I put it in a 10 gallon tank with 2 Xiphophorus Maculatus, which disappeared after about a month. I fed it Wardley flake food and did 10% water changes once a month. (Luckily I chose a hardy fish!)
I have now learned that Convict Cichlids are Central American and are found from Guatemala to Costa Rica and Honduras to Panama. They like a pH of 6.5-7.5 and temperatures of 72-80 degrees but, will tolerate 60-86 degree temperatures. Convicts are also hardy enough to cycle a tank.
I kept him (he turned out to be a male) for about a year and a half, and cycled seven different tanks with him! I also noticed that in the four smaller tanks that he was placed in that he would build a nest by pushing the gravel away from the corner of the tank. I could not figure out why since there was no female in the tank but, this strange behavior continued. So one day less than a month ago I went to James Tropical Fish and purchased a beautiful 2″ female. She had beautiful red spots on her stomach, blue tinted fins, and 7 or 8 full black vertical stripes. My male was at that time close to 3 1/2″ and also had full stripes and blue tinted fins.
I placed the female in a 20 gallon long aquarium with the male who had been in there for about two months. Inside of the tank there were a few plastic plants, Java Moss, and one peice of slate tipped sideways againt the left wall. Well, three days after I got the female she laid her eggs on the slate. She laid between 100 and 150 eggs and fanned them for four days until there were wigglers. She even picked off the dead white eggs. The male showed no interest in the eggs or the wigglers until three days later when the fry were free swimming. After this, the female began to drift away but, the male travelled everywhere with the fry.
I left the fry with the parents and now have about 75 that are three weeks old. I’ve never fed brine shrimp or microworms to the fry, just crushed up flakes. I feed the parents frozen mysis shrimp, frozen blood worms, krill, earthworms, banana, garlic, and Sera Vipan flake food. I also do 50-75% water changes on them weekly. And I do know that Convict Cichlids have been arround forever and are easily available but, the ones that you see in the store now are pale and discolored. So if you take the time and keep up with those water changes, you really can raise a prize winning fish.
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(Cichlasoma nigrofasciatum)
Origin: Central America
Temp: 70 – 82°F (20 – 28°C)
pH: 7-7.5
Temperament: very aggressive when spawning, not a community fish
Adult Size: 4”-5”
Tank Size: 20 Gallons
Feeding: Omnivorous, eats everything. Fry will nibble at algae.
Breeding: Super easy to breed when they start they don’t stop. The convict is a great cichlid for a your first fish to breed.
Care Information: Easy to care for. Convicts like to dig and will do it often exspicially when breeding. They prefer to have a cave to stay in, but they are not shy. They also like to redecorate the tank.
Breeding Information: The males are bigger with noticeably longer fins. The females have orange bellies and are smaller then the males. Just put a male and female together and wait. They will lay the eggs on a flat surface on a rock or in a cave. The eggs will hatch in 3-4 days. The parents will take care of the fry for a while, but after 1 or 2 weeks will start to eat the fry. So the fry should be removed after a week.
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Scientific name – Cichlasoma (Nandopsis) Salvini
Common name(s) – Salvini, Salvin’s Guapote, Tricolour Guapote, Yellowbelly Guapote.
Distribution – throughout Mexico, Belize, and surrounding area, different variants occur in set locations.
Max Size – Males 10 inches+, females <7 inches.
Preferred temperature – 78-84 degrees Farenheight (some variants have been found in water as warm as 90 degrees).
ph – approx. 7-7.5
Temperment – Highly aggressive
Feeding Habits – Omnivorous with strong piscovorous tendencies.
Min. Tank size for single specimen (no tankmates) – 40g
Min. Tank size for breeding pair (no tankmates) – 65g+
Reccomended tank size for single specimen with tankmates – 75g+
Reccomended tank size for breeding pair with tankmates – 100g+
Sexing – Females have a solid black blotch on the spiny rayed dorsal fin, and depending on locale, possibly a black opercular blotch as well. Males get much larger and lack the dorsal blotch, and the opercular blotch on males is typically red with a blue halo.
Read The Rest of Salvini Cichlid Care
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Finally, the cycling process of the cichlid aquarium demystified and broken down into plain english for the beginner starting a cichlid aquarium.
1. cichlid goes in tank
2. cichlid eats some food, lets some rot at the bottom
3. cichlid urinates and defecates
4. uneaten food and urine and feces form toxic ammonia
5. toxic ammonia burns cichlids gills, eyes, fins, skin, etc
6. ammonia devouring bacteria that occur naturally all around us colonize in the tank and begin feeding on the ammonia, and multiplying
7. ammonia eating bacteria also has to relieve itself, and its waste is what we call nitrItes. Nitrites are toxic to fish as well, not quite as bad as ammonia burning though.
8. other naturally occuring bacteria arrive and devour the nitrItes and multiply
9. nitrIte eating bacteria also has to relieve itself, and its waste is what we call nitrAtes.
10. nothing in freshwater consumes nitrAtes, with the exception of a LARGE amount of water plants. you do a water change to lower nitrates.
Now, none of this information is scientific, but it’s straight forward and is on the general right track. if the tank already had these bacteria in them, we wouldn’t have to subject the fish to the potentially deadly consequences of going to the bathroom.
Lets pose a few questions now:
Q: What can I do to cycle my cichlid aquarium?
A: You can buy cheap aquarium fish from the store and throw them in your water. this is the most commonly used method (besides those of you who throw your expensive fish in the same water, but of course you’ll have no need to do this anymore when armed with the above knowledge! ) and this method works. you can also add capfuls of regular unscented (make sure there is nothing else in it) household ammonia found at your grocery store, or a wal-mart, for example. The absolute best way to cycle your tank is to use filter media and/ or gravel from an existing cycled aquarium and add it to yours. The bacteria are already present.
Q: How do i know if the cycle is working?
A: you initially need three test kits (besides a ph test kit). These kits are labeled as Ammonia, NitrIte, and NitrAte test kits. after a few days of adding ammonia to your tank daily, check your ammonia. check it every day or every other day. you should notice the level rising for a while, but then one day, it will lower. as it lowers it should keep lowering. Check for NitrItes. follow the same steps with this as you did with the ammonia kit. when it lowers, check for NitrAtes. the presence of nitrAtes means your well on your way! when ammonia and nitrItes are at 0 and you’re detecting nitrAtes, do a water change and add your fish (not too many fish at once, you’ll push the cycle past it’s limit if your ammonia dosing was too low).
Q: My aquarium is already cycled, but i’m detecting ammonia, what happend?
A: overfeeding beyond the tanks current “bio-bacteria” load, or something dying in the tank will cause a surge. do a water change, cut back on feeding, find and remove whatever is decaying in your tank.
Q: but i have tough aquarium fish, i heard they can handle the cycle? is this true?
A: sure some aquarium fish can handle it. it’s like smoking. you poison yourself and you might be okay, or it may cause you to get cancer etc., which is a reduction in your health, well being, and life span. any tough cichlid that is used to cycle the tank, if they live can almost assuredly be found to have damaged gills or eyesight, due to the burning that is caused by concentrations of their own wastes. risk it if you want to, that $400 dollar fish might live a few years longer though, if you excercise patience.
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