Convict Pair Fighting

[kevy]

I always thought it was the male that would get volent towards the female but not in my case. These fish are pretty young, 3 1/2 inches. They had once batch of fry but didn't do to well with them. I don't think I got food down to them well enough. They had about a dozen fry from there first brood when the female laid more eggs. They were on a side of a rock for a couple days then they disappeared, I'm assuming she just moved them because both parents began protecting a different spot.

So up to there everything seemed normal. Their second brood became free swiming, and ever since then the female has been chasing off the male. He is hiding in the corners of the tank and gets beaten when he comes out of his corner. The female is a normal convict and the male is albino.

So my question is if this or normal or not. If not should I do anything about it? I heard convicts need some dither fish so they could protect the babies by working together. I had a couple zebra danios in there and all but one got killed. Should I add more?

 

[smb]

This happens from time to time. The addition of dither fish usually helps but not all the time. Did they fight when the dithers were in there? If not, add them. If it didn't matter then just leave the male in there unless it gets too bad. As long as he has a free place to go, even if it is in the corners, it should be ok. I guess you can try taking the male out if you want but that might possibly mess up the bond.

 

[Eelzor]

I had exactly the same thing with my 2 convicts. If they are both male, they are just working out the ranking order in the tank, if its a male and female, the male may be trying to breed with the female and the female may be rejecting it. Either way sometimes it can end up alright, sometimes you may have to take one of the fish out if it gets too raunchy.