red jewel cichlids

[mundegus]

hi. i bought a breeding pair of jewel cichlids from a lfs last night whod told me theyd bred 3 times in the last 6 weeks. so i picked them up and introduced them to my tank last night. they seemed fine and although i was a bit worried that theyd gone and taken up refuge at seperate ends of my 4ft tank they seemed happy to swim by each other.

this morning they were displaying of what i can only describe as mouthing, fairly aggressively biting each other on the mouth, it has stopped for now and im just wondering could i have broken the breeding bond, or is it possible the male is ready to breed as he has flared up this morning and the female is not ready? thanks...

i've managed to calm them down at the moment and theyre sitting next to each other with no sign of aggression as they were when they seemed happy last night, maybe new tank jitters?

i have noted this behaviour befor on youtube between a convict and dempsy, seemed to be fighting. just seems wierd between an established breeding pair!

i also only have an ornamental log in the tank, will they breed on this or should i try to get a large flat stone i thought this may be a possiblity the femal is reluctant to breed yet.
i hope i havent broken the bond and stopped them breeding but yeah any replys would be great.

the male is still flared red and dark colouration but the female is still dull which makes me think he was ready but she wasnt sort of thing.

 

[mundegus]

they seem to be ok now, swimming back and forth against each other here and there as if corresing each other with their bodies, will continue to monitor them on my day off ..

 

[SAP627]

i think u should try like marbble or slate or something like that

 

[mundegus]

yep no worries and if all fails theyll just do what i saw them do last week when i first spotted them, theyd just laid on the gravel, and fertilised the eggs.

 

[Titania]

Sounds like things are going OK. I think they'll be back at it soon. They will probably take to the ornamental log fine. Mine use the outsides of clay pots.

 

[mundegus]

yeh, just had me worried when they had the mouth biting episode, they just kept going at it, i had to intervene with the net. just happened to be watching when it happened. i had to intervene like 3 time. well no more fights, just body rubbing and swimming together so thats a good sign. really glade they havent taken to trying and eating my other cichlids lol cause theyr fully grown jewels and all my others are like jouveniles lol.
wierd thing is i found my ghost knife almost like cleaning them last night haha, got home from my date and hes sitting there foraging up and down the males body, was a bit worried theyd try to eat him but theres been a few perfect instances where ive seen they could have and they havent even flinched tank is looking good now haha.