R They Fighting?

[stue0]

Hi all i have 2 jewel cichlids in my 350l which have been in same tank for at least the last 4 to 5 months, tonight while i was doing water change i noticed they were behaving very odly? They seened to be mirroring each others moves then they'd get in to wat i'd call a lip lock this lasted about 5 mins then they'd break an start mirroring each other again, an then lock lips again? When i started putting fresh water in they seemed to seperate,. but every now an again they start again an then seperate. wat r they doing??
They are a male an femalle, an am aware that if the male wants to mate an female dosn't he's likly to kill female, (think thats right?).
Please any advice, do i need to seperate or

 

[ox5477]

Hi all i have 2 jewel cichlids in my 350l which have been in same tank for at least the last 4 to 5 months, tonight while i was doing water change i noticed they were behaving very odly? They seened to be mirroring each others moves then they'd get in to wat i'd call a lip lock this lasted about 5 mins then they'd break an start mirroring each other again, an then lock lips again? When i started putting fresh water in they seemed to seperate,. but every now an again they start again an then seperate. wat r they doing??
They are a male an femalle, an am aware that if the male wants to mate an female dosn't he's likly to kill female, (think thats right?).
Please any advice, do i need to seperate or

Lip locking in a contest of dominance. If you changed any of the tank decorations around you may have broken any previous boundaries and the two jewels are prob fighting to set-up the new tank boundary for their territory.

If the tank is big enough, then I wouldn't worry about one killing the other, just that the one may force the other into a small corner and chase it whenever it comes out of the corner (obv not the best quality of life).

If you don't have one, buy a tank divider (a seemingly must tool for any person owning a tank containing multiple cichlids) and if they continue to do this after a day or so, then put the divider in and seperate them. Maybe he does want to mate and she isn't receptive. If thats the case then he might calm down after a week or two after his 'horniness' goes away and they may be fine for awhile again. It's very hard to say as no one can say exactly how your individual fish will act from now on.

I would get the divider and put in the tank if need be, or even if you have a seperate tank, seperate out one into the other tank. As myself and other TFF members have come to learn, a general assumption about fish does not apply to all fish as each fish has it's own personality and temperment. You just have to learn your fish's mind and figure out how they will react to other cichlids. Sometimes this changes overnight for seemingly no reason (as it seems yours have) and things just go downhill. This should always be a possibility in the mind of any cichlid owner and they should always be ready with a tank divider or extra tank to solve hostility that may arise.

Good Luck! Keep this topic updated and we can try and help more

 

[juanveldez]

Jewels are actually africans, and yes IMO any fish keeper that has multiple cichlids should have a divider either home made such as mine, or a store bought one, but one should be handy. in the past in my experience though once seperated, you aren't likely to be able to remove the divider again, as the fish will go right back to what they were doing.

 

[Ferris]

A divider is pretty much a must for Cichlid keepers as Juanvaldez says, i have an oversized breeding tank that hangs on the inside of the main tank(s) so i can seperate any combatant fish that way.

Only problem is, if my Oscar and JD ever fall out, i'm not sure they'd fit in it anymore.

 

[stue0]

many thanks for your replys, sorry for putting it in wrong section! they seemed to have settled down today, as ox5477 said about moving tank decorations, think i must have caused them to start as i was cleaning under some rocks, which i moved to other side of tank while doing this. but unfortanatly the female has come out the worst i think, the male is swimming round the whole of the middle of the tank and the female seems to be hiding behind a big rock, an it hasn't moved all day! think i shall be moving her in to another tank asap, as thats not much life for her??? many thanks an more help appriciated!!