Convict Cichlids

Species/genus: Cichlasoma nigrofasciatum

 
Origin:   Central America
 
Temp:  68 - 82°F (20 - 28°C)
 
pH and dH:    Not really important
 
Temperament:   very aggressive when spawning, not a community fish
 
Adult Size:   Up to 6 inches    (15 cm) normally smaller

 
Minimum Tank Size:  10 Gallons
 
Feeding:   Omnivorous, eats everything
 
Breeding:   Prolific, a very easy species to induce to spawn, an excellent first Cichlid for beginners to spawn. Convicts might be the easiest egglayer to spawn with the possible exception of the White Cloud Minnow
 
Comments:
 
An aggressive fish that likes to rearrange the tank decoration to suit itself. Not a community tank candidate as they will eat any small fish they can catch (with the exception of their own fry). Very good parents, they will spawn continuously. There is an albino variety that seems to be somewhat more docile.

I kept a convict in a 10-gallon tank for over a year, but I found out quickly that you can only keep one connie in there. I put a male and female in the tank together and, as promised, within a month or so I had fry swimming around the rocks by a flower pot I'd set up for them. But then the male randomly killed the female and all the fry. The male lived for another year or so, but I never put anything else in the tank with him.