[/55gallondrama]...for now

[Big Vine]

Yikes! Thanks for sharing that experience.
Sorry it wasn't a very good experience though.

My 1st attempt with sals was with 3 males and 1 female.
The largest male---larger than all of the other fish---paired with the female and they had free-swimming fry.

The other sals were chased-off, but there was never any damage.
Then, all of a sudden, the pair 'divorced' and the female was ousted. No damage to the fish followed (other than the fact that the fry were all eaten).

I'm thinking our experiences in starting with so many males and only 1 female is probably in large part to blame here. Largest male had no choice in who to pair with. Had he had a better selection of potential mates, one could argue that the pair may have gotten along a lot better...resulting in a stronger pair-bond and, ultimately, a lasting (and living) salvini pair.

Guess we'll find out soon enough.
BV

 

[FreshwaterJeff]

Man, good luck. I love the new av, btw

 

[Big Vine]

Thanks, Jeff...it's a bit 'cuter' than I would like, but these convicts are really growing on me. Oddly enough, I'm most attached to the male in the 55 gallon tank with the salvini. It's a recipe for disaster though, because the salvini are almost certain (so I'm told) to eventually destroy him. I'm very tempted to get him a mate and give them priority over the salvini...yes...even after all this fuss. Maybe I'll take a vacation off of the forum until I can decide to stop changing my mind on things. I kinda feel like I'm wasting bandwidth here.

Another thing I just thought of...I'll be taking about a 2-week trip back to Canada in a week or so, which is terrible timing re: sorting out the salvini as a pair starts to form and the other fish need to be separated, etc.

Before I had multiple tank syndrome.
Now it appears that I have multiple-fish syndrome; a condition, ironically enough, which would be in turn alleviated by multiple tank syndrome. Heh...go figure.
BV

 

[Fishoil]

I put so many males in because I wanted that female to be part of any pair. She had a lot of potential. In fact, she ended up w/ a great looking male, so I was excited about the prospects. When things happened, they happened too quick. Just be sure you have a tank divider on hand to separate them if need be. I have seen that often dividers are used to keep a successful pair of agro cichlids like Devils, etc. Let them still see each other, but she can take a breather if she needs to.

 

[Big Vine]

Things just got a whole lot simpler.
Ditched all 5 salvinis, kept the lone male convict, and just added 2 similar-sized female convicts in for him to choose from as potential mates. They're about the same size as the male; perhaps even just a tad larger. Convicts should be more manageable, IMO.

IF I ever post about salvini again without having gotten a bigger tank than a 55 gal., please ban me from this forum.

I put so many males in because I wanted that female to be part of any pair.

Oh, okay...that makes perfect sense. I'm so used to doing things the opposite way---having a nice male to keep and trying to find a mate for him.

BV

 

[Katie217]

ROFL BV!
I think I remember saying somewhere...either on here or on Cichlid-Forum that I clearly remember you saying "Salvini get too large for a 55gallon aquarium"
Guess it took you two tries to come to your sences eh?
Glad to hear you got convicts, I dont currently own any, but I'm considering setting up my 20gal for a pair again.

 

[Big Vine]

The decision has been sitting well with me---especially after getting the two female cons in there and seeing how happy the male was to get some company of his own kind in there with him.

The three of them get along great, and I get the feeling that the trio will be able to remain in there long-term. So much more sociable than the salvinis too, not to mention a heck of a lot cuter.

I'll start a separate thread tomorrow and post some pics of them.

Glad to hear you got convicts, I dont currently own any, but I'm considering setting up my 20gal for a pair again.

That'd be cool if you did that---seems like several of us on the forum are getting into convicts as of late. Join us, then we can all place bets on whose grows the fastest or on which one gets biggest or something, lol. Or better yet---do a convict pic of the month thread.

BV

 

[IDunnoWhy]

I'm going to stop reading this thread now....it makes me dizzy

 

[Katie217]

That'd be cool if you did that---seems like several of us on the forum are getting into convicts as of late. Join us, then we can all place bets on whose grows the fastest or on which one gets biggest or something, lol. Or better yet---do a convict pic of the month thread.

BV

Haha that'd be cool. Keep an eye out for a thread if and when I get convicts again

 

[Cichlid-Man]

I'm going to stop reading this thread now....it makes me dizzy

lol i feel the same way.

BV, how does your LFS feel about selling you fish and having you bring them back a thousand times? LOL. Just thought i'd ask....my LFS would probably be like "no.."

 

[Big Vine]

how does your LFS feel about selling you fish and having you bring them back a thousand times?....my LFS would probably be like "no.."

Easy, Matt...I just take em' to different LFS's.

BV

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Ah, smart haha