Went against my better judgement.

[MonsterFishCreeper]

I made my first impulse fish buy ever and I'm unsure if I made a mistake. I have a single male GT alone in a 55 (not permanent tank) that's about 5 3/4 - 6" that I got from rapps. He's a stunning specimen. I was at the LFS a little while ago and they had a nice looking 3 1/2 female GT and I decided to give it a go. He is very keenly interested in everything she's doing during the first 45 mins but there has definitely been some chasing and pushing around by the bigger fish. Would this be normal to expect a solo fish to do some pushing and shoving when someone new comes into his territory? She's definitely smaller but I watched her for a good long time and im almost positive she is a she. What do you guys think?

 

[MonsterFishCreeper]

On a side not the fiancé agreed to let me get the 125 sooner then later now so I'll be shopping for that in a few weeks and the GT will have a life long home incase he turns into an 8+" monster. I may fill up a 20L tonight incase she looks beat up in the morning.

 

[The True Guapote]

I think you answered your own question-it is completely expected for a territorial cichlid to investigate and assert itself over a new tank addition. Regardless of same species or different, same sex or not. It'll take monitoring on your part to determine if the female is getting beaten up too bad or just being made known whose tank it is.

 

[MonsterFishCreeper]

I think you answered your own question-it is completely expected for a territorial cichlid to investigate and assert itself over a new tank addition. Regardless of same species or different, same sex or not. It'll take monitoring on your part to determine if the female is getting beaten up too bad or just being made known whose tank it is.

Yeah I ended up moving her before she got torn up I didn't want to put her through that until shes big enough to withstand some shoving. I saw him do a full speed attack clear across the tank mouth open and narrowly missed her smashing into the side of the tank. It was clear that if he hit her that hard she could be killed at her size. Next time I introduce them I'm going to do it with a divider so he can get used to her presence. I swear his nuchal got bigger overnight lol he must feel like a tough guy after evicting another fish.

 

[MonsterFishCreeper]

Anyone else think my female in the above picture definitely looks like a female?

 

[The True Guapote]

Hard to say without venting. A divider would definitely go a long way towards cohabitation and breeding purposes.

 

[the animal guy]

Anyone else think my female in the above picture definitely looks like a female?

me. but not 100% sure