Just added a new Firemouth to my tank and my GT is acting odd

[ss720]

A fish to distract an aggressive fish. An example would be something along the lines of silver dollars or larger tetras or barbs

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Wouldn't constant chasing stress the dither fish, and potentially cause disease?

Or is this prevented by having several dither fish to spread out the attention of the aggressive fish?

Sorry for the questions, I'm just curious, even though I have no aggressive fish.



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[Crazy mike]

Most recommended Dithers can handle it and you usually get multiple to spread out the aggression

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[Jayfish7]

dithers are usually schooling fish.. so the aggression is not so targeted

hmmm.. i need to get some dithers! just for a huge fan of the silver dollar

 

[tiger15]

Does your GT shake his head like this.

I kept a single male GT in a community tank and he would court any large moving object including a male Vieja, or my hand when I waved in front of the glass. GT, more than other cichlids I am aware of, often court the wrong target if no girl is available.

[video=youtube;QhBsw2q4UJw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QhBsw2q4UJw[/video]

 

[swifty]

Does your GT shake his head like this.

I kept a single male GT in a community tank and he would court any large moving object including a male Vieja, or my hand when I waved in front of the glass. GT, more than other cichlids I am aware of, often court the wrong target if no girl is available.

[video=youtube;QhBsw2q4UJw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QhBsw2q4UJw[/video]

Interesting, do female cichlids do this too? I seen my female convict do this the other day near my male firemouth.

 

[Jayfish7]

thats exactly what he is doing.. or was doing (i removed the FM)... he was getting to aggressive , almost instantly (when i added the FM).. he was fighting with any fish that came near him.. i thought my FM was a male anyways???.. not worth the risk.

do they (the GT) get over the "courtship" or does it just continue till something happens? (assuming i put the FM back).. thx!

 

[tiger15]

Interesting, do female cichlids do this too? I seen my female convict do this the other day near my male firemouth.

Female cichlids do it all the time, even more so than males. Many female cichlides would lay eggs without male, and often court the wrong target. I had a Nic female that court a male Haplochromis moori, totally incompartible as one is a CA and egg layer, and the other is an African and mouthbrooder.

thats exactly what he is doing.. or was doing (i removed the FM)... he was getting to aggressive , almost instantly (when i added the FM).. he was fighting with any fish that came near him.. i thought my FM was a male anyways???.. not worth the risk.

do they (the GT) get over the "courtship" or does it just continue till something happens? (assuming i put the FM back).. thx!

In my cases, the male GT and female Nic never got over the courtship, but calmed down after a while. There would be episodes of excitement and periods of calm. You have a big tank to spread the aggression. So watch carefully for a few days and it will likely mellow down when there is no response from the wrong targe.. When it comes to courting the wrong target, gender doesn't matter. My male GT was courting my male Vieja. If your FM is a female, there may even be chance of success in cross breeding. There was one case of a GT successfully cross bred with a convict, and many cases of FM successfully cross bred with convict.