Jewel fish Fighting or both males?

[Pam is here]

I have 2 jewel cichlids. They are about 5" long. They seem to hang out together often. They are the plain jewels. But at times they both turn red almost looking like they are bloody and they will grab into each others lips and don't let go for about 3-5 minutes. I'm not sure what's going on. Is it a mating behavour or are they both of the same sex? This just started the last week or so. It's very confusing. Any info from jewel owners would be helpful. Thanks

 

[Andrew McFadden]

It's called lip locking that most Cichlids do. It could get bad enough that your going to need to re home one of them. What size tank do you have them in?

 

[Pam is here]

Its a 55 g. If most cichlids do this, why rehome one? Edit, I'm sure one is a female for sure because she dropped an egg. Could it be the other 2 are males? The female don't lip lock with the other 2 that's doing the lip lock thing.

 

[Andrew McFadden]

It's normal for aggression with Cichlids. It's sounds as the two males are fighting over the female and more than likely they won't stop till ones dead. I'd rehome one or try to get more females to add with them and hope they stop.

 

[Pam is here]

Ok, thanks so much for the info

 

[Lady_Alia]

Jewels mate for life. You can't just throw more females in the tank and fix the problem.
They aren't like an mbuna, mbuna are harem breeders.


Which ever male tends to defend the female is the one you keep.