So it appears the male has changed females (ignores the pictured female) and has chosen the subdominant female as his girl, because she is white (with stripes showing), not torn up, and from the other room (because when I enter the room they go into feeding mode and show no natural behavior haha) I can see her going into the small cichlid stone I added and him standing guard outside (still colored up) and chasing away others... Good signs

Video update of the pair, really entertaining to watch them defend their spot... Mind you this is a different female from the original one pictured at the beginning of the thread... This is the subdominant female.
Apparently the dominant female was too feisty
[YT]od6l5JNFYCQ[/YT]