Fire mouths

[Rick147]

I have 2 firemouths.
I was sure they were male/female.
They recently started what I thought was romancing, rubbing against east other, spinning around etc.

They were starting to get aggressive toward other fish so I moved them to my other tank alone

Since then the which I thought was male has started chasing the female non stop. Really harassing her.

But then they start flirting again?

Do I have a pair of gay males, good mates or an abusive male/female pair?

There’s a pic of each one. I just cleaned the tank so it’s hazy

 

[Guyb93]

From what I can make out from the photo I would suggest you have a young pair with an eager male
The female might just not be old enough to spawn or might just have no interest in the male .. could you get a video of the fish interacting ?

 

[AmyKieran]

Could we have more photos of the fish? Including fill vision of their fins. This is a pretty easy way to sex firemouth cichlids

 

[GaryE]

An indicator would be digging and sand sifting, but that is a very large gravel substrate, so nest building is pretty well out.

 

[Rick147]

The female is acting a little strange now. Just curled up against the filter outlet. Downward angle

 

[Guyb93]

Are those a air bubbles or something else , air bubble like that in the tank can indicate the tank isn’t full established

 

[GaryE]

I would remove her. That's defeat.

In nature, if a pair doesn't work out, they swim away. In a tank, we back them into corners and fish get killed. She may need some growing time or time to develop eggs, or they may never be good together. But that behaviour says they need to be apart for some time. It could also mean two males, one of whom is in delayed development to stay alive.