Mbratcher13
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2014
- Messages
- 40
Hello all! Thanks for reading in advance! Any advice greatly appreciated!
I have 2 males cichlids (one slightly larger than the other) and a female. Have had them all for about 3 weeks now. My larger male was the king of the tank until recently. When I introduced the female, it seemed almost instant that they paired up, swam together, did the "dance", and even picked a cave that he protected.
For the last couple days my smaller male has constantly been around the cave with the female inside and my large male is badly beaten up and has taken to constant hiding in another cave.
Questions: is it normal for a female to switch from one male to another? Could they have spawned if the small male is willing enough to fight the large male? (The small guy doesn't have a mark on him!) and the female hasn't come out of the cave in about a day and half as far as I can tell, maybe once or twice for a "stroll" around the tank. Could I possibly gently tip up their cave for a peak inside?
Just very curious/concerned. My female also looks very swollen and her tube protruding from what I've read. But she was even like that in the fish store I got her from.
I moved the beaten up male to a different tank for observation.
Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice
I have 2 males cichlids (one slightly larger than the other) and a female. Have had them all for about 3 weeks now. My larger male was the king of the tank until recently. When I introduced the female, it seemed almost instant that they paired up, swam together, did the "dance", and even picked a cave that he protected.
For the last couple days my smaller male has constantly been around the cave with the female inside and my large male is badly beaten up and has taken to constant hiding in another cave.
Questions: is it normal for a female to switch from one male to another? Could they have spawned if the small male is willing enough to fight the large male? (The small guy doesn't have a mark on him!) and the female hasn't come out of the cave in about a day and half as far as I can tell, maybe once or twice for a "stroll" around the tank. Could I possibly gently tip up their cave for a peak inside?
Just very curious/concerned. My female also looks very swollen and her tube protruding from what I've read. But she was even like that in the fish store I got her from.
I moved the beaten up male to a different tank for observation.
Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice