is this odd?!?!

[Jumping Arowana]

i have two f1 jack Dempsey the large one is my male, and the smaller one is the female. they been in the same tank for 3 weeks and their has been no chasing, bullying, or lip locking. the only thing i have noticed is that my male is shaking and moving gravel more often. the female is constantly following him around. are they ready for breeding or is she to small? should i add a mirror? i don't want to kill my female. these are the best pics i could get she is very shy lol

 

[Ajtennis]

Yep, the female is on the small side. It is possible that they might breed but they probably won't. Also what size tank are they in?


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[Jumping Arowana]

they are in my 125 with a divider for my juvi clown knifes. but the jacks have the majority of the tank. but will the female be ok if they mate? i know the mating ritual can be very rough. and when the male tests the female (lip locking and stuff like that) is that before they are about to mate? or the decision to become a mating pair?

 

[duanes]

With many cichlids a disparity in pair size is normal, females can be less then half the size of the male (or visa versa), and if they are compatible it will work, just watch closely after spawning, sometimes it is advisable to remove the male.

As you can see, this little girl didn't take any guff.

 

[love The Jack Dempseys]

Jacks are weird when they breed from my experience, they don't always show usual aggression signs but your male digging does show that he's ready or he wants to. Good luck

 

[Andrewtfw]

Mine never showed aggression when breeding. About two weeks after the fry were free swimming, my male wanted to breed again. The female was not interested. In this situation, much chasing and biting on the body occurred.

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[tetraholic]

nice jack dempsey ...

please update pic if already spawning

 

[WarrendaFish]

In my experience I would say the female is too small compared to her counterpart. And the lip-locking can occur before and after they breed. I would be very careful with such size difference. He could easily kill the female, although females can be very tough. I think there is too much difference in size.


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[1976kab@live.com]

If there is a spawn and there is little to no aggression the spawn will be quite small. Larger female equals lots of eggs! Plus if she is too small she might be too young to know how to raise the babies. If she starts to be a treat to his fry and starts eating them he could become aggressive and kill her.