This is my first egg-layer spawn, and when I came back from my LFS today (ironic, almost) I noticed that my male is guarding a corner of a rock, and his female partner was hiding by my heater, with most of her coloring lost, her lips damaged (as were the males lips, and his fins slightly torn), and the male won't let the female close to his corner, which upon further inspection houses eggs. I removed the female in fear of her dying, and I was wondering if this was normal and if it was right of me to remove the female? The one other female in the tank, which was unpaired, is still perfectly fine, and doesn't get chased as much as the paired female, although she does get chased away. Normal? I feel like a total noob asking questions about Cons of all fish, spawning. But I'm just curious to know what's best and normal for all my fish, regardless of how dime-a-dozen they are.