breeding or fighting?

[ehub88]

I have a tank of various African Cichlids and recently i added a bunch of new rock structures to their tank. i have two Pseudotropheus demasoni that never used to bother each other but now they are chasing each other around the tank and going in circles wiggling their tails at each other. When i bought them i tried to get 2 females but it was hard to sex them when they were younger. Are they trying to breed or fight each other?

 

[charliebankston]

Hard to tell with those African cichlids. Their behavior is similar for both ime. The easiest way to tell is by sexing them. Mbuna are extremely territorial, so when you added the rock, they may be fighting over territory.

 

[charliebankston]

The demisoni is highly aggressive normally. Even by mbuna standards

 

[ehub88]

Do you have any tips for sexing them? One of them is smaller than the other witch i know can be a way to tell gender. But i’m not positive if it’s difference in age or gender. I have had them for about 6 months but still hard to say if i bought one when it was slightly younger then the other.

 

[charliebankston]

No, I don't sorry. I have alot of African cichlids, but no demis. I know the female is smaller, but from what I've just read that's the only physical difference since the coloration is the same. Sorry again

 

[charliebankston]

If one quits eating, she may be carrying eggs.

 

[charliebankston]

I had some yellow tail acei breed in my tank (I thought they were both male) and I didn't even know it until I saw a baby hiding under the sponge filter. The rest of the brood prob got scarfed up as a snack

 

[ehub88]

Alright well I guess i’ll just have to see what happens. Thank you for you help! Hopefully they will do what your yellow tails acei’s did

 

[charliebankston]

Yeah, for sure. And np, sorry I couldn't help with a more definitive answer