Help!!

[Viperchaos]

i aquired two juvinile firemouths yesterday, and the larger one is bullying the smaller one.

They spend the 90% that i see them hiding behind the grass or in there cave.
Theyre on their own in a 20litre or 5 gallon tank.

Unsure of sexes as we spent forever trying to sex them at the shop :/ i know at least one is a male..

Any suggestions anyone?

 

[LyndaB]

Are you planning on moving them to a MUCH larger tank? They get to about 6 inches. They're also really aggressive and will probably kill each other in very short order in the 10 gallon.

Any time you have new fish, you need to give them time to acclimate to their new environment. What they're doing is normal.

 

[Viperchaos]

oh i know about acclimitation . And i have many large tanks this is just a breeding tank, thanks for the info.
Actually worked it out they were both males.
So they were being territorial so ive seperated them.
The light i had on was too intense i switched to a moonlight and He finaly came outta hiding and enjoyed the lovely mexican lake bed i made it
Ive kept an firemouth in a 20 litre that grew to 5 inches.
Although i moved her to a 100 and she didnt grow anymore (probably because she was in the 20 for a year)
She never behaved differantly in either.

Only recently moved on from Discus and Oscars so not used to aggressive cichlids .