Topic: biggest cons ive ever seen

[azn4114]

i was at my lfs today and i seen the biggest cons ive ever seen.there were no female(i guess because of there coloring)but these cons were atleast18cm long, some 20cm.i know this sounds weird but ill try to get some pics(even though they cant relly prove the size)but u can see there cons and i guess u will have to take my word for it.also i would like to express the concern i have for fish at the lfs,there is around 13 of these cons in a tiny lfs tank(u can imagine)and i hate seeing dead fish in there tanks,makes me want to not go to there shops to give them business but i guess there all the same.

[Ezekial]

also i would like to express the concern i have for fish at the lfs,there is around 13 of these cons in a tiny lfs tank(u can imagine)and i hate seeing dead fish in there tanks,makes me want to not go to there shops to give them business but i guess there all the same.

Tanks that are too small and overcrowding at a lfs?   Actually sounds fairly normal though some are better than others. 

i was at my lfs today and i seen the biggest cons ive ever seen.there were no female(i guess because of there coloring)but these cons were atleast18cm long, some 20cm.

20cm is about 8" right.  That sounds about right for a mature, adult male convict though i'll admit i've personally never seen one bigger than 3-4". 

[Maddy mad man]

I thought cons got to about 6 inches so they do sound big.

This might sound slightly off but when i started keeping fish many moons ago I actually mistook Fronts for convicts - might that be the case?

[Adam]

dead fish in LFS's is a part of the business you can go into the best LFS on the planet and there will be dead fish at some point.  Shipping is stressful and some vendors ship sick or sickly fish which the owners have no control over other then not ordering from them.  The LFS I worked for was a pretty decent one, we did regular maintenance, most of our tanks were not grossly over stocked however every LFS over stocks their tanks compared to the idea for long term care.  And we would go through the store probably 5 times a day to do a "dead run" where we removed dead fish from tanks.  Its a part of having a LFS sadly. 

However sometimes in an attempt to stay profitable in a very competative and difficult business you have to do what you have to do, and better vendors charge more, thus you have to charge more, and then you cant compete with WalMart or Petsmart....

You really cant blame the LFS completely, they are a business like any business.  They have to make money to stay in business.

[Gerry]

I agree with Adam on this, I know a guy who runs a pet store and is a great fish keeper himself and yet when I paid a visit to the shop he had a dead fish in a tank which he removed as soon as we saw it.
But I have also been in some lfs that have dead fish which have obviously been dead for days, avoid those ones at all costs

[Dan]

The biggest Con Ive ever seen was a stripped Male about 6 in. Most of the time, around here, they only sell them at 2 or 3 in. in our LFS.

[benz_020]

growth just seems to slow around 5",
7" is normal for an old male.
it is just rare that a fish has been able to go that long, without being killed.

6-7in males in this, larger now.

[klbrz]

his is a pic of 1 of my big cons. I have found if you grow them without females they will get larger.                   

[JC]

Sorry but if you saw an 8 inch con (20 centimeter) I'd say the chances are much likelier that what you saw was a young barred midas and not a con 

[fnesr]

I have seen massive cons, I remember discussing this years ago on here and the consensis didn't beleive me at the time about one a mate of mine had (pre digicam days) but his was huge, and bred from my own convicts so I know it was not hybridized. You can get freak convict males reaching easily 8". I'd still be skeptical on a group of them seen together though, the odds of all males even growing at a fully similar rate is low let alone all males growing freakishly large.

[OmAr 69]

So if I take my female out of the 40 and put him on the 55 with my 2 O. And let the 2 males alone on the 40 they will get bigger?

[klbrz]

I do not agree with your plans to put more fish in a 55gal that already has 2 oscars but I have found that convicts will grow much larger with big humps if they do not mate.

[OmAr 69]

I do not agree with your plans to put more fish in a 55gal that already has 2 Oscars but I have found that convicts will grow much larger with big humps if they do not mate.

 Don't Worry about the O they still baby know and 1 of them is going to a tank that my best friend is gonna set up in 2 or 3 month. So I think she will not be a problem since they get to 4 and is less waster than a pleco.