Loving or fighting?

haydenm315

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Feb 14, 2005
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I just added a convict to the mix 3 days ago. I also have a red jewel and blue acara in the tank who seem to get along fine. They all live in a 40 gallon breeder with many safe havens. Upon introduction, both fish did a lot of chasing, cornering, and some nipping of the convict. It's a little tore up, but not too bad. The Acara received similar treatement from the jewel when I added it a couple months ago.

The jewel seems particularly interested in this new fish and became more colorful. It looked to be showing off it's fins and stuff to the convict. Yesterday I caught the convict and jewel liplocked. Is this friendly or unfriendly behavior. I'm thinking friendly but am not sure.

I don't know the sexes of the fish. The jewel has the most blunt facial profile of all my fish. There were eggs in the tank a week ago, but no fry. Both the jewel and acara were watching the eggs, though the jewel seemed to be more steadfast. I think the convict is a female, due to some slight orange/red on the belly. It's very slight right now, so I don't know. The face is not blunt which I believe is a sexing characteristic of many cichlids, rather it's kinda pointed.

Can any of these fish produce fry?
 
haydenm315 said:
The jewel seems particularly interested in this new fish and became more colorful. It looked to be showing off it's fins and stuff to the convict. Yesterday I caught the convict and jewel liplocked. Is this friendly or unfriendly behavior. I'm thinking friendly but am not sure.
QUOTE]
liplocking is not a form of friendly behavior it is very unfriendly behavior. I dont know too much about jewels but i think that the bright coloring is a show of dominance just like the showing off of its fins
 
Well.. I have seen my convict pair liplock before they paired. so liplocking is not always unfriendly... it seems like a test for strength... however i dont know in ur case if its friendly or unfriendly.... I would keep watching..
 
oh like i said i dont know too much about convicts but with my dempseys that is how they fought for leadership.
 
well.. seems that the jewel and convict are more friendly now, however the blue acara has taken a liking to chasing the convict around and attempting to inflict damage. Maybe it tried to pair with the jewel and now the jewel likes the convict. I think the acara is jealous now. I dont' know why. It's not like they can do anything with eachother. Not too much damage on the convict but there is some evidence of fin nipping. The convict seems to get dark.. like a grey with black stripes when excited.

I'm hoping the tank is big enough for them to come to an agreement. I have more than 3 ample hiding spots. Usually they hang out in different spots so maybe they've already got their constitution and bill of rights settled.
 
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