Convict feeders?

Question
Hey Ron, my name is Dylan and I keep many aggressive fish from red bellied piranhas to tiger shovel nose, to pretty much every aggressive cichlid. The other day was at a fish store getting rosie reds and she suggested breeding and feeding my fish convicts....I know these fish are quite easy to breed but, is feeding my fish convicts as feeders healthy? Any information you could give will be much appreciated. Thank you for your time.

Answer
Hi Dylan,
 You have to be very careful using a cichlid as a feeder fish.  The problem is that cichlids have spines in their dorsal fin and those spines can really damage any fish that tries to eat them unless the predator is MUCH larger than the convict.   Plus, it will actually cost you a lot of money to do this if you figure in the total time, equipment, etc.   

-- Ron C.
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>