oops,need advice

[pimptite]

i have a tank with an 8" jag and 8" midas and until today a 10" false red terror.
i traded in the terror today because he was on the verge of killing the jag, but now that i look tonight apparently the midas (who i thought was a male) have
some eggs in her tree stump.
i feel awful that i took off with her fish hubby and was wondering if they are the type who pair for life or if they could care less.i can get the terror back and get a new tank for the jag, or would i do just as well letting the midas be a single mother?
btw i guess i should of seen the signs but there has never been any aggression
between the jag and midas at any point in 5 months so i'm not too worried about him bugging her to breed.

 

[Jason_S]

no cichlids form life long pair bonds. they form pair bonds and will breed with each other so long as the conditions are right for them to do so. there is no guaruntee if you got the false terror back and reintroduced him that he and the midas would pair up again. they may, but they may not. the female may try to kill him as a new intruder close to her nest.

I'd leave the midas as a single mother and see what happens. keep a close eye though...even though there has been no aggression between the midas and jag before, the midas wasn't guarding a clutch of fry before. her aggression level will increase a lot once she's watching out for her fry.

 

[mainy999]

The midas is definitely going to be a little more aggressive toward the Jag, cause she is guarding a clutch. If the tank is big enough, it shouldnt really be a problem. As Jason_S said, there is no gurantee the terror and the midas would pair off again.

 

[pimptite]

cool.
thanks a lot,i was just feeling a little guilty.
i've got a divider and a couple of tanks in the basement i could clean up and refill
if she gets too mean with the jag but they pretty well have territories at opposite ends of the tank.

any guesses on what the offspring might look like if the eggs hatch? i only see a few white ones which i think are the bad ones.

 

[ewurm]

Divorce happens all the time. At least the male didn't lose half of his possessions!

 

[yourmylunch]

some cichlids do form life long pairs

texas cichlids
and
acara tipe cichlids not sure of wich species

ive heard his stated here many times

 

[Jason_S]

some cichlids do form life long pairs

texas cichlids
and
acara tipe cichlids not sure of wich species

ive heard his stated here many times

they may breed for the duration of their lives, but that's not the same as a life long pair bond. they will only continue to breed if the conditions are favorable for them to do so. altering their tank in any way, add or remove tankmates, move them to another tank, drastically change water parameters etc, can destroy the pair bond. if you have a breeding pair of texas cichlids, and add a new male who is larger than the original there is always the chance the female could ditch her current male and pair up with the new, larger one. they don't form any type of emotional attachment that guaruntees they will breed together for life.