German rams possibly pairing?

[sriracha]

I've been doing some frequent water changes lately in my new community tank, and my two German rams ( one golden one blue/black spots ) have been acting strangely since I've started the water changes. I am new to fish keeping, and I've only had the rams for about 2 weeks, so I have no experience with cichlid behavior. The two rams have been buddies since I introduced them both into the tank, but now they chase each other, do a little dance and kinda bite at each other. They're not super aggressive toward each other, but it almost seems like they're a little more aggressive towards the other fish. My tank does has plenty of space and hideaways for them. I haven't sexed either one, its hard to tell because they're still shy. Maybe someone could advise me on how to tell if these two are pairing up or fighting??

 

[Tieberion]

Would be glad to help, just post pics of the fish from the side view so we can determine the Sex, also the Cichlid Forum is a great place to post/read about care

 

[bshenanagins]

It's sounds like you have two males, which is an issue. The chasing and "dancing" is more than likely an attempt to gain dominance. The problem is one will eventually cave and die. We need pictures of both to conclude this but based on your description that's what I'm assuming. Do they circle each other and "kiss?" This is no mating dance lol it's a battle of dominance!

 

[sriracha]

I've been doing research, and I'm pretty sure my GBR is a female because she has blue in her big black spot. I'm still not sure about the gold one he's still shy and I can't get a pic that's very clear. They did this little dance back when I had to do a few water changes, but now they mostly follow eachother around. Just Recently the GBR got a mouth injury ( I posted another thread about it ) and the gold ram is still following her, but not being aggressive at all.Maybe they are both females or too young to breed?

 

[cmbtengnr43]

Be cautious the mouth injury could b caused from two males locking jaws and tugging to see who's stronger and they want always do this when our around I had a set of firemouths that only seemed to be fighting at night ans during the day they did what your describing