Aggressive ram

[skeletalmachine]

My girlfriend recently got two blue/yellow cross rams for her densly planted 20 gal long tank. One male (1 inch) and one female (1 1/4 inch). The male has been very aggressive towards the female, especially at feeding. It has gotten to the point that the female has recieved some bad cuts on her head and may have some damage to her eye. Is there something that can be done to ease this aggression other than removing one of the fish?

[VoodooChild]

Well, the best way to curb it is to add decorations to break the fish's view, but since it's already heavily planted, I'd look into a tank divider. You could add another female, but once a pair forms you'll have to get rid of a female. Target fish probably won't work, but what do you have in there?

[skeletalmachine]

The tank is terraced and heavily planted, with many good hiding spots completely separated by bogwood or thick plant groupings. the tank holds 6 neon tetras, 3 japonica shrimp, 4 ghost shrimp?, 1 small adonis pleco and a 3" flying fox. At first I thought the flying fox was responsible for the attacks as I saw it chasing the rams around but my girlfriend claims this is not the case (would the flying fox be the more likely culprit?). The male is definitely chasing the female around, especially away from food.

This all seem strange to me as it contradicts all that I've read about Rams being very peaceful community friendly fish.

[Firsttanks]

Is it possible that your female isn't sexually mature yet, and your male is having a hard time taking NO for an answer?

[skeletalmachine]

Heh.. that could be. But I doubt it. The female is larger than the male for one. I'm starting to think that the Flying Fox is responsible. I did some reading and found they can be quite territorial.