BRANDX said:
Now, I have done some research and found out I have America' Most Wanted list as tankmates.
Very glad that you know this already.
Most cichlid you'll find in the local stores are fine for people begining in the hobby. The only catch is that research has to be done just to make sure that you can provide them with the proper home and tank mates. They aren't like most community fish in that you can get a bunch of different ones and toss them into a tank and everything will be alright in the end. And agian, most of the cichlid's commonly found will do ok in most water as long as it isn't in one of the extreme's (either a really high pH and very hard water or a very low pH).
Out of the fish you already have, the convicts are the only ones that may be ok in the tank long term, and even then its not a great situation.
The firemouth will most likley continue it's dominace over the rest of the fish. This can and will cause undue stress of the others and will open the door for them to become sick.
The JD will quickly out grow that tank. A JD by itself isn't good to keep in a 10 gallon much less with other fish.
If you have a male and female convict and the breed then it's likley that they will kill, or try to kill every other fish in the tank protecting the eggs and fry.
For a 10 gallon tank there isn't a lot of new world cichlids that you can keep in it unless they are the dwarf species, and none of these that you have are dwarves.
However all is not lost for cichlids in a 10 gallon tank, but it would require you to take back all of these fish or find a new home for them. From the new world, rams and apistos would be a great option for a 10 gallon tank. There are also some great options of small cichlids from Africa as well. Several species of 'shell dweller' from Lake Tanganyika can do rather well in a 10 gallon, as well some riverine species of fish like Kribs. I think kribs are very good for people just getting into the hobby because they have some great color and are able to breed quite easily without much interaction from the owner. Kribs will work in a 10 gallon, but in such a small space you would find that most likely you will not be able to keep many if any other fish with them, and a 20 gallon or larger would really be better.
But unfortuneatly, your current fish aren't going to be able to live in that tank very long togeather.
EDIT- I would say you may have a as little as a few weeks to a month or so before things really start going bad in the tank. And this is just from a standpoint of aggression, not taking into account any water quality issues that you are going to run into. Besure to not miss any water changes and that's going to help with the water quality.
Metro areas are great because a lot of the time there are fish clubs around there. I know that the few around here there are always someone darn near giving away tanks 20-55 gallons a lot of the time. So I would check out any local places and see what you can come up with, and with summer comming up yard sales will be popping up and these are also great places to find used tanks dirt cheap.
