[noirade]

I have two convict cichlid in a bowfront 15 gallon tank.

Any ideas as to what the perfect set up should be?

I'm not familiar with how to keep cichlids...

 

[Fishman21]

They like some rock-work to hide amongst and spawn but are generally out in the open for most of the time. Great little fish for introduction to cichlid keeping

 

[Rockman]

Here's a care sheet that's got some pretty good detail. Rock, wood, etc are all good decor options. They're very forgiving of water chemistry and will do alright in most conditions; but somewhere in the area of moderately hard and slightly alkaline (think low to mid 7's) is probably ideal.

I will warn you though that a 15 gallon is going to be too small pretty quickly. They're not super small fish (somewhere in the 3 to 6 inch range) and, being cichlids, are fairly aggressive (meaning you can have big issues if you try to crowd them).

 

[noirade]

Its just two fish though.1 male, 1 female.

 

[Rockman]

Its just two fish though.1 male, 1 female.

A few points.

1) Cichlids are often difficult to sex reliably. There are some general indicators (body shape, fin shape, minor colour differences); but it's not 100%

2) A male plus a female does not a pair make. There are no guarantees that they'll like each other.

3) The caresheet I linked to suggests something half again as long as a standard 15 gallon for a pair (although it does mention you could go a little bit smaller for a breeding pair). When you throw it into AqAdvisor it tosses back bunch of warnings. Both of these jibe pretty well with my gut feeling of this probably not being a good idea.

4) As a general rule of thumb, you *really* don't want to crowd most cichlid species (excluding East Africans). They're a bit fighty at the best of times.

All in all, lots of opportunities for Murphy's law here. If it were me I'd be a lot more comfortable with a 40 gallon breeder.

 

[agresfish]

If you are planning on breeding them, lots of hiding spots. Rocks, caves and clay pots.

Convicts are pretty easy to sex, females get red/orange/pink spot on there belly where males do not. If the tank is set up they are also one of the easiest fish to breed.