Acei acting odd?

Wondering if someone could give me some advice on this:

I have an established 55g malawi tank that has been running for about a year. I have 2 Acei's in the tank, I'm unsure on the sex of them. The larger I felt was the male as his coloration was consistently darker and he would constantly pursue (not aggresively) the other lighter one which I felt was female.

I noticed today that my lighter (female?) was resting at the bottom of the tank but was also vibrating her tail/body. I've never seen that type of behavior from her. My water params are all 100% fine and all other 13 of my fish are doing fine and healthy.

Does this behavior have any connection to breeding at all or is this a sign of sickness?

Thanks in advance,
Joe

mike dunagan;2649533; said:

shaking? If shaking yes, if breathing heavily and swollen body, not mouth, Bloat.

Click to expand...

Def shaking, no heavy breathing or bloating. She's sitting in the back corner on the sand vibrating. Does this mean this is a female and she is wanting to mate or is she laying?

Thanks,
Joe

Hmm, the plot thickens. The behavior I posted was this morning. I came home from work today, and was really pissed. The acei that was acting odd had most of it's fins & tail shredded pretty badly. I've never had that type of aggression in my tank and have no idea what's going on. There is normal "chasing" but all others have perfect fins and are acting fine. It's still coming up to eat but then went to rest back down on the sand again.

Is it possible the fish was targeted because it's going through some type of breeding process. I'm confused as all hell & kinda pissed. I don't want to lose this fish and I have no hospital tank. It can't be fin rot because it was fine a few days ago, def looks like it was attacked.