Convict Cichlid Question

Hey there,
I have a ten gallon tank with two baby convicts in it. Now, these two
fish are black convicts and are not more than an inch long. I have had
no problems except having to relocate my neon tetras and other than that
they seem to be getting along fine. However, more recently I have
noticed that one of them seems to be rather bloated, if you will. The
other is fine and swimming around happily being a baby cichlid, but the
bloated one seems somewhat listless at times and not as active as he
used to be. I haven't really seen him eat that much so I don't think
he's over eating either. Any suggestions?

10 gal
temp: 78deg
pH - 7.0
Ammonia - 0.0
Nitrite - .3


Thanks,
Matt

"Matthew Lovell" wrote in message
s.com...
Hey there,
I have a ten gallon tank with two baby convicts in it. Now, these two
fish are black convicts and are not more than an inch long. I have had
no problems except having to relocate my neon tetras and other than that
they seem to be getting along fine. However, more recently I have
noticed that one of them seems to be rather bloated, if you will. The
other is fine and swimming around happily being a baby cichlid, but the
bloated one seems somewhat listless at times and not as active as he
used to be. I haven't really seen him eat that much so I don't think
he's over eating either. Any suggestions?

10 gal
temp: 78deg
pH - 7.0
Ammonia - 0.0
Nitrite - .3


Thanks,
Matt


Frank may ring in on this one as his advice is usually right on the money
but it could be constipation in which case you can isolate the fish or
simply treat the 10 g tank with 2 tsp of Epsom salts. If you can see that
his scales are sticking out something like a pine cone then it is likely too
late to do anything for it and I would put it down.

Rick

"Rick" wrote in message ...
"Matthew Lovell" wrote in message
s.com...
Hey there,
I have a ten gallon tank with two baby convicts in it. Now, these two
fish are black convicts and are not more than an inch long. I have had
no problems except having to relocate my neon tetras and other than that
they seem to be getting along fine. However, more recently I have
noticed that one of them seems to be rather bloated, if you will. The
other is fine and swimming around happily being a baby cichlid, but the
bloated one seems somewhat listless at times and not as active as he
used to be. I haven't really seen him eat that much so I don't think
he's over eating either. Any suggestions?

10 gal
temp: 78deg
pH - 7.0
Ammonia - 0.0
Nitrite - .3


Thanks,
Matt


Frank may ring in on this one as his advice is usually right on the money
but it could be constipation in which case you can isolate the fish or
simply treat the 10 g tank with 2 tsp of Epsom salts. If you can see that
his scales are sticking out something like a pine cone then it is likely too
late to do anything for it and I would put it down.

Rick

Convicts, in my experince are susceptible to swim bladder
disease.Another poss-
ibility is the fish is female and reaching sexual maturity,and has a
belly full of eggs.Convicts dont take long to reach this point.If so,
her abdomen area well be a shiny reddish color.

Look up common cichlid diseases and troubleshoot from there.

p.s. your nitrite level should always remain at 0 ppm. (you may want
to look into this as part of your problem)

good luck,
Hutch