New World Cichlid Care Sheets

This thread will provide care sheets for most of the New World Cichlids. Any suggestions to improve these are sheets are welcome, and I hope that members will benefit from the information provided here.

Blood Parrot Cichlid:
Family: Cichlid
Size: 8-9''
Fish Origin: N/A
Water: Prefer a pH of 7.6
Temp: 24-30 C
Feeding: Regular flake food, blood worm, brine shrimp, small invertebrates
Sexing: Cannot tell
Breeding: Egg-Laying
Aquarium size: 55 Gallon+.

Blood parrots are a hybrid fish, we still don't know by what exactly but it has traits from the midas cichlid and the severum.
They cannot close their mouths and have a bent spine as their some what deformed.
They have great personality and many people do love them.
They tend to be quite aggressive but cannot inflict any damage but may stress a fish to death.
Most male blood parrots are infertile but there are a few that are fertile.
They can be housed with other large cichlids, providing that the tank size is right, these fish will eat smaller fish such as neons.
Do not keep these fish with aggressive cichlids such as umbees and jags.

Convict Cichlid:
Family: Cichlidae
Size: 6'' (Females usually smaller)
Fish Origin: Central America
Water: pH 6.0-8.0
Temp: 24-36 C
Feeding: They are omnivorous, flakes, pellets, wafers, bloodworm, shrimp and most live foods
Sexing: Males have longer flowing anal fins, while the females anal fins are more rounded, females also have an orange belly, males do not.
Breeding: Egg-Laying
Aquarium size: 20 Per Pair

The convict cichlid is very overlooked in today society, they are very hardy and full of personality.
They are notorious diggers and plant up rooters, make sure to have hardy plants if you keep convicts.
Convict are generally well behaved in large aquariums.
They can be housed with other large cichlids such as oscars, jack dempseys.
They can and will stand up for themselves, they do not tolerate any crap.
They pair very easily and breed readily, all you have to do is put a pair together and they'll do the work.
(For more info on breeding, please refer to our convict cichlid breeding guide).
They are not fish for the average community tanks, they will utterly decimate your stock.
If these fishes were any bigger, they would be the king of cichlids.
These fish have been known to take out oscars, dempseys and even the ultimate african cichlid 'The Buttikoferi'.
Convicts are a nice addition to any cichlid tank.



Daddy Convict ^