Female convict getting bullied in CA tank

[Bhak1]

Hello all, I'm new here and just thought I would start by introducing myself and providing some background. I just started my first cichlid tank with 3 young CA cichlids. I grew up with tropical community tanks and worked at a pet store for several years while I was in college and have been hoping to some day start this tank for the last 8 years or so. I spent a lot of time over the last two months researching and talking to staff at a few LFSs to figure out how to go about it. Well it's finally up and running, a 55 gallon that as of yesterday is home to a JD (about 2"), a FM (just over 2") and a female convict (about 2").

Talking to the guys at the LFS about the fish I was considering they felt the FM and JD would have few problems if young and about the same size but were concerned that a convict would terrorize the tank. One guy even said to wait to grow out the JD and FM before considering a convict but everyone there agreed a female would be less problematic than a male. Both these guys and my research said that the convict would be most aggressive, then the jack and finally the firemouth. Well so far I'm seeing nearly the opposite...

In the first 4 hours in the tank the JD hid behind plants, the female convict was cautiously exploring the tank and the FM staked out a large log and aggressively chased anyone that got near. Then the JD had a total personality change and seems to have decided to become the alpha of the tank. The FM relinquished control pretty quickly and while he still likes his log, when the jack comes through he gets out of the way. Over all, those two get along alright. However both of them, though especially the jack, have taken to merciless bullying of the convict at the very sight of her. For her part, she has shown non of the typical convict aggression. She's curious and probably the friendliest fish in the tank with my wife and I and has a sort of ditsy personality; we've actually taken to calling her Ellen as she reminds us a lot of Dory in the way she harmlessly explores the tank at all times. She actually generally ignores the FM and seems to get that he's all bark no bite, but I'm beginning to fear that the jack is stressing her out too much, her colors are pale and she doesn't really show stripes. I know it's only been about a day, but is this something to worry about? Would I have been better off with a tougher male convict that would have stood up for himself?

 

[tlindsey]

Welcome to MFK

You could try rearranging things in the aquarium add more plants, driftwood, ornaments to break line of sight or add another Cichlid to spread the aggression. The JD and FM are clearly the dominant ones. Btw did you add them at the same time? The Cichilds will claim territories if you don't already know that.

 

[Gourami Swami]

I have never found 3 to be a good number of CA cichlids in a tank; the dominant one bullies the second in charge, who bullies the lowest, and the top also picks on lowest, so the lowest on the order gets beat up. A tougher male convict would probably have shifted the dynamic, but that may or may not have been better (male cons, as you have been told, are real badasses). CA cichlid communities are difficult to pull off in smaller tanks like a 55, and usually don't work without some tweaking and changing of stock. My recommendation would normally be to add more fish around the size of the female convict- but the size of the tank limits that, as it will be overstocked eventually if you do that. If the JD doesn't bother the firemouth much, I would remove the convict and keep just those two, with some swordtail dithers or something along those lines.

 

[Bhak1]

Welcome to MFK

You could try rearranging things in the aquarium add plants, driftwood, ornaments to break line of sight or add another Cichlid to spread the aggression. The JD and FM are clearly the dominant ones. Btw did you add them at the same time? The Cichilds will claim territories if you don't already know that.

Yeah, the adding some more plants and caves/rocks/wood has been my one idea, as I'm aware that it may be a territory issue in part. I just wasn't sure if the advice I'd received from LFS about getting a female convict was super wise and if anyone else had any experience with this; especially considering that the FM and JD don't seem to mind close proximity to one another but have a hissy fit as soon as they see the convict. As it stands there are two large artificial pieces of drift wood on opposite sides of the tank and a small rock cave a built in the middle with plants scattered about. Here's a pic

The FM favors the big piece on the right. The smaller piece on the left is hollow and the convict initially claimed it, the caves inside are way too small for an adult jack or fm but should be perfect for a convict. Unfortunately the jack seems to have decided that he wants it all. Again, he'll generally tolerate the FM with him under the big piece on the right as the FM seems to accept him as the boss, but as soon as he sees the poor convict anywhere he'll try to chase her away. For the most part she seems content to wander about but considering her colors and the jack's attempts to nip her I'm worried. Do you think maybe building a bigger cave in the middle or sticking some more plants around there as a visual barrier could help?

 

[tlindsey]

Yeah, the adding some more plants and caves/rocks/wood has been my one idea, as I'm aware that it may be a territory issue in part. I just wasn't sure if the advice I'd received from LFS about getting a female convict was super wise and if anyone else had any experience with this; especially considering that the FM and JD don't seem to mind close proximity to one another but have a hissy fit as soon as they see the convict. As it stands there are two large artificial pieces of drift wood on opposite sides of the tank and a small rock cave a built in the middle with plants scattered about. Here's a picView attachment 1264462

The FM favors the big piece on the right. The smaller piece on the left is hollow and the convict initially claimed it, the caves inside are way too small for an adult jack or fm but should be perfect for a convict. Unfortunately the jack seems to have decided that he wants it all. Again, he'll generally tolerate the FM with him under the big piece on the right as the FM seems to accept him as the boss, but as soon as he sees the poor convict anywhere he'll try to chase her away. For the most part she seems content to wander about but considering her colors and the jack's attempts to nip her I'm worried. Do you think maybe building a bigger cave in the middle or sticking some more plants around there as a visual barrier could help?

You could add more plants and see if that helps. Hope it works out.

 

[Gourami Swami]

Honestly, I don't think the décor is going to matter. If it was a bare tank, I would say yeah, add some caves, but your tank is pretty well decorated. They probably are not going to stop chasing the convict around unless she is removed, or there are other cichlids added that they equally want to chase around. I think the better option for your setup would be to remove the convict. Once you remove the convict, it's possible the jack will turn his attention to the FM, or maybe he will just chill out. Only way to find out for sure is to try it. But I do think that the only way to make it better for the convict would be to remove her, or add other similarly sized cichlids.
I would give it a few days before doing anything though, a day isn't enough time to gauge how their relatioships are gonna play out. I'd give it a week or two (unless the convict is getting relentlessly chased and can't escape- then I would remove immediately)

 

[Bhak1]

Just about at 24 hours in the tank and currently things seem to be calming down. The jack still sort of charges her a bit when she gets close to him but much less than this morning and last night. I haven't seen any attempts at chasing across the tank or actual nipping in several hours. For her part the convict is lively and curious and doesn't seem stressed at all other than maybe her colors. She strangely has to creep on the other two and follow them around everywhere until they chase her off. It's odd but I'd almost say it's like a "tag along little sister" that wants to follow her two moody teenage brother around and see what they're doing all the time.

She came from a very heavily stocked convict tank at the LFS with about 30 cons ranging from 1cm to 3 in; from what I understand many of whom are babies that customers have donated. Could she just be used to a more social environment than the other two? I also have been wondering if maybe one parent was one of the more docile/less colorful varieties of convicts... although she nearly lacks all stripes her belly has a nice reddish orange tint and her fins have a lot of green/blue.