"Cichlasoma" salvini

[cookiemonster]

I picked out a male and a female (both 1.5" long) from a large batch at an LFS and put them in a 30g. Is there any real likelihood of them pairing up? They're liplocking like crazy right now - they've been at it for half an hour. They're so tiny, I figured they'd be fine in a 30g.

Also, they're uber skittish and shy.

So, is there any real likelihood of them bonding and becoming a pair, since they're already fighting so much? BTW, females have a black blotch in the dorsal fin and males don't, right?

It seems like you might have two males or two females. I doubt that your salvinis are actually sexable at only 1.5 inches.

 

[js77]

I put two males with 1 female and shortly had a pair. The male and female were about equal size and they fought constantly until the male was able to dominate her. Only then did she play nice (nice for a sal that is). Granted you have different genders, you might get a pair once the male gets bigger and is able to win the fight.

 

[HerCrenVie]

The one "female" died. So I bought two others that looked like females (both have black blotches in their dorsals) and the current "male" doesn't seem very aggressive towards them; in fact, it looks as if he prefers one of the females (he chases the other one more). However, I am confused about sexing them. I remember reading that female Salvini have a black spot on the operculum. None of my three fish has it - not even the two "females". The "male" has neither the black dorsal blotch nor the black operculum spot, so I'm pretty sure he is a he. I'll try to get pictures but they're very shy. Oh yeah, they're actually closer to 2.5".