Convict pair. Courting or Fighting?

[Weasel6]

Added a female for my lonely male convict. He was curious at first but now he is chasing her. Isn't biting or nipping on her but just chases. She'll hide behind the filter pickup tube and he'll leave her alone for a bit and then its back to chasing. Put him in a breeding basket/net for awhile then let him out. He went to the cave where she was at and they both hung out in there together for awhile then it was back to chasing. He doesn't hurt her, just chases and aggravates her.
They are my first convicts. Is he just messing with her and courting or is he trying to hurt her and run her off? I put him back in the basket where he's gonna sit tonight and we'll try again tomorrow.

[Tightdog1]

first off how big are the convicts?

well seems like the male is trying to court the female. my brother has a pair of cons in his tank and they chase each other around sometimes but not as much as yours do. maybe they need a bigger tank a 10g is pretty small for 2 convicts.

[latazyo]

I have breeding 2-2.5" cons in a ten gal

they now live in a 75...anyways...are her colors REALLY pretty..if so, they're gonna score...if not, then he might just be showing her who's boss in his tank for the first few days, but in the end I'm sure he'll be more interested in scoring than hurting her

[Weasel6]

They are both young and about 1 1/2" - 2". Shes a tad smaller than he. He's dark and she's light colored with a spot of red on her flanks. She knows when he's in "timeout" because she'll sniff around the edges of the basket. The 10 gal. is only temporary until I can gte me a 30 up and running. A buddy was gonna give me one but that deal fell through.

[Molino]

My Convicts are doing exactly the same thing now. Like you said the male is chasing the female, but is not hurting her. They just finished laying eggs which they ate :mad: . In the case of mine I think the male wants to mate again, but the female is not ready.

The interesting thing is the colouration of the male. He has gotten so dark his stripes are hardly visible.

[latazyo]

I think if she's got the red belly she's ready to go....and they will definitely breed in the 10g if they are ready...