My oscars are fighting, should I be worried?

[Carmen1979]

Sorry I'm posting this in two different forum sb/c I'm worried and want to get an answer as soon as I can. I have two Oscars in a 120 gallon (along with a few other small fish). They are both about 5 inches, one is albino and the other is a tiger. Normally the albino is more shy and hides more, and if there's any aggression it comes from the tiger but it's usually very short lived. For the last 15 minutes or so they've been fighting (or doing a pre mating ritual, I have no way to know) but the albino seems to be the aggressor. They're doing a lot of lip locking and the tiger is getting a dark spot above his mouth that presumably is from that. They keep basically swimming in small circles and lip locking. I know that some fighting is normal with Oscars but this has been going on a long time. Should I be worried yet? I was going to head to bed but now I'm worried about them. I'd appreciate any advice I can separate them (I dont' have another tank ready to go but I have a divider I could put in).

 

[tlindsey]

justarn
ehh
duanes

 

[ehh]

Theyre too small to be getting ready for sexy time.

Cichlids fight and especially like to fight with the same species. If you find one of them living in a corner or at the surface of the water, you should probably split them up.

 

[Carmen1979]

Well as soon as I posted that they quit fighting! I will keep an eye on them..hopefully the aggression
won't continue.

 

[DBLN8]

At 5" its a dominance thing, they may figure it out and decide who's in charge and who's not or they could just decide they don't like each other and fight all the time. As ehh said keep an eye on them and be prepared to separate if it goes south.
As far as the breeding goes, Oscars tend to not become sexually active until 18 months or so (give or take a few)