Hi everyone, my name is Mandy and my husband and I have had our aquarium for the past 7 years with (65 gallon half hexagon shape) 4 convicts, a jack dempsey, an oscar (purchased a month ago) and a blood parrot. My largest and oldest convict (it's probably 6 1/2 yrs old) has been laying on its side in a cave for the past few days. It is able to get up and swim short distances, but when it does I noticed that it is really having to work to get oxygen on one side of its body. I just did the gravel cleaning and took out 40% of the water. The tank is still very dirty, but I didn't want to upset the fish overly much. I have recently had to take over the complete upkeep of the tank because our son has shown a HUGE interest in the tank and he wanted to do something with these fish. Generally, our fish are very healthy and happy and require no work. I did start buying live food (feeder fish and live shrimp) for them to eat. I bought the food at chain pet stores. I guess what my question is, is how long do convicts live? This fish is approx. 8 inches long. How often should I feed the fish (my husband says 2x a week, 3x max but my son wants to feed them 2x a day) and finally should I just take all the fish out of the tank and do a thorough clean out or just keep doing the gravel cleaner each week?
Oh, I did check the ammonia level today for the first time ever and it did register as between .25 and .50. I also added some of the stress coat and the med. for injured fish. I only put in enough for a 55 gallon tank...again, this is the first time we have had a sick fish (we started with cichlids 8 years ago) and i didn't want to upset the whole tank for one unwell fish. I got rid of my smaller tank and so I can't quarantine this poor fishy.
Mandy

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