Archocentrus nigrofasciatus, popularly known as the Convict Cichlid, is a medium-sized cichlid from Central America: Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. The Convict Cichlid was labelled as 'Beginner Cichlid' because this fish can be kept from soft to hard water, low and high pH and a wide range of temperature. The Convict Cichlids can be kept from soft-acidic of Amazonian aquarium setup to hard-alkaline water of Lake Malawi. It also became popular because of its parental behavior, a spectacular sight to see and very rewarding to first-time aquarists.

The Convict is very easy to keep and breed, highly recommended for beginners. One problem beginner aquarists may encounter is the aggression when breeding. Convicts are one of the most aggressive when a pair starts breeding. They can even overpower larger cichlid up to 2 times their size or possibly kill smaller tankmates when protecting a brood (although it is insane to put together 2 fishes if you know that the small one is just a bite-size snack for a large one).

Determining the sex of Convicts is rather easy. The male, aside from growing larger than female, has develops longer dorsal and anal fins, which may extends beyond the caudal fin (tail). The female, on the other hand, develops pinkish coloration at the base of the dorsal and caudal fins. A ripe female also develops orange coloration at the belly. The Convicts is one of the few cichlids where the female is brightly colored than the male. Other noticeable differences are the male has larger head and develops larger nuchal hump, where the female may also develops but smaller.

Convicts will breed in home aquarium, with no special requirements needed. They are cave breeders and they usually look for an enclosed structure such as properly arrange rocks and bog woods or inverted flowerpots. Convicts easily pairs off and become lifetime partners. The male will usually do the cleaning of their new territory. This cleaning will be done in about a week. The male then attracts the female by spreading his fins wide open and he will try to entice her to the cave. After the female submitted she also check if the place is clean a series of dry runs follows.

Convicts, like any other cichlids, are egg-layers. The female will carefully lay her eggs usually at the upper wall of the cave, closely followed by the male to fertilize them. Convicts can lay about 100-300 small eggs. After the eggs are laid, the female fan the eggs with constant flipping of fins to ensure oxygen flows to the eggs. The male then patrols the area against possible predators. At this point, the aggressiveness level of the pair is very high. When threatened, the male and female, hand in hand, can easily overpower large predator.

The eggs will usually hatch between 48-72 hours. The wrigglers will consume their yoke sacs for a week. Both the mother and father will dig pits in which the fry will be transferred. Both parents will retrieve stray fry. While the male still guards the territory, the female still take care of the brood. After a week the fry are now free-swimming. At this stage, they need to take in food such as newly hatched brine shrimps and finely crushed flakes. The mother will search for food by stirring the gravel using her belly. That’s one reason why gravel must be smooth (no sharp edges) to prevent injuries.

New pairs will most likely loss first few batches of fry probably because of inexperience. This may lead to a fight between the pair, usually the male is the aggressor. When this happens, it is best to transfer the male to another tank. After a week, the male can be re-introduce to the tank and the pair will usually start to breed again.