Hey all,
So I have a tank I've been growing out some Geophagus in. They live with some rather small senegal bichirs I tossed in and a Synodontis petricola. They all get along really well, except the biggest Geophagus has decided to build a nest and freak out at every other geophagus. I bought four, all at the same size (little babies) and the big one is almost certainly a male. Two others have grown slower and then one barely grew at all. I was hoping to just end with a male and female, but I don't know how to tell which is which! The big male is nipping the hell out of the fins of all the other geophagus. Is this a sign that I got dicked over and have 4 males? Last time I tried this I got all males as well. Do they nip the females too?
It's a smaller tank, only 45 gallons and it's definitely time to move some of these larger cichlids out. I just don't know which to move out. I honestly wouldn't give a crap if all 4 stay in there, but the nipping is getting a bit extreme as the big male has taken 2/3 of the tank for himself. If I have to, I'll just maybe keep the big male and have the catfish, bichirs and just him.
Any experience/advice in dealing with this? I had hoped as they grew up that one pair would naturally form but that doesn't seem to be the case. Another option is to remove the grumpy male and see if two of the others pair up.
Thanks!!
Edit: okay I am testing this out. I removed the big ol male and put him in a bucket with a cave. I'll give it a few days and see if any of the others pair up (how long does this take? As far as I know, they make a cave and bam that's that). If not, they are big enough that they should be pairing up and can be determined to all be male.
So I have a tank I've been growing out some Geophagus in. They live with some rather small senegal bichirs I tossed in and a Synodontis petricola. They all get along really well, except the biggest Geophagus has decided to build a nest and freak out at every other geophagus. I bought four, all at the same size (little babies) and the big one is almost certainly a male. Two others have grown slower and then one barely grew at all. I was hoping to just end with a male and female, but I don't know how to tell which is which! The big male is nipping the hell out of the fins of all the other geophagus. Is this a sign that I got dicked over and have 4 males? Last time I tried this I got all males as well. Do they nip the females too?
It's a smaller tank, only 45 gallons and it's definitely time to move some of these larger cichlids out. I just don't know which to move out. I honestly wouldn't give a crap if all 4 stay in there, but the nipping is getting a bit extreme as the big male has taken 2/3 of the tank for himself. If I have to, I'll just maybe keep the big male and have the catfish, bichirs and just him.
Any experience/advice in dealing with this? I had hoped as they grew up that one pair would naturally form but that doesn't seem to be the case. Another option is to remove the grumpy male and see if two of the others pair up.
Thanks!!
Edit: okay I am testing this out. I removed the big ol male and put him in a bucket with a cave. I'll give it a few days and see if any of the others pair up (how long does this take? As far as I know, they make a cave and bam that's that). If not, they are big enough that they should be pairing up and can be determined to all be male.