So a few months ago I got this little lady in an assorted S/C American cichlid tank as a completely random pick and had no clue what it was. It turned out it was a low grade female FH and a few weeks ago... it looked just like a common, low grade, female FH.
Anyway, I ended up putting her in the same tank as my male with a divider in hopes they would one day couple up. After about a month of trying... it didn't work. While she was in there and comfortable in her side of the tank the bars started coming out and I assumed it was "breeding bars?" Kind of like the mask on a female texas during their time. Well, like I mentioned earlier... it didn't work out so I ended up putting her in a 75 grow-out tank with my overly aggressive midevil and parrot fish (along with some african cichlid dithers.)
The bars went away (as expected) but lately I noticed they have come back and now she looks like a convict x FH. At the moment she's can go toe-to-toe with the midevil and her and the parrot didn't get along from the very beginning.
What do you think? Is the change in appearance "breeding bars?" Any chance she and the midevil might eventually pair up? They seem to be getting cozy but every so often they'll go toe-to-toe (lip-to-lip.) Pics are below;
Anyway, I ended up putting her in the same tank as my male with a divider in hopes they would one day couple up. After about a month of trying... it didn't work. While she was in there and comfortable in her side of the tank the bars started coming out and I assumed it was "breeding bars?" Kind of like the mask on a female texas during their time. Well, like I mentioned earlier... it didn't work out so I ended up putting her in a 75 grow-out tank with my overly aggressive midevil and parrot fish (along with some african cichlid dithers.)
The bars went away (as expected) but lately I noticed they have come back and now she looks like a convict x FH. At the moment she's can go toe-to-toe with the midevil and her and the parrot didn't get along from the very beginning.
What do you think? Is the change in appearance "breeding bars?" Any chance she and the midevil might eventually pair up? They seem to be getting cozy but every so often they'll go toe-to-toe (lip-to-lip.) Pics are below;
