Rotkeils Breeding or establishing Dominance?

[jandb]

Hello, I recently got several adolescent rotkeils from Jeff Rapps. They were delivered around 3" and I bet in the month or two I've had them they've grown about an inch. These two lip lock quite a bit. Should I put them in a tank alone to breed or is this some sort of fighting to establish a pecking order. How can they be sexed?

 

[neutrino]

I've had quite a few rotkeils. Like a lot of other severums, males develop scribbled facial markings, females not, or very limited. At least that's my experience. Can't tell on my screen whether, or which of, yours have that, so I can't give a strong opinion on gender or whether you have a pair flirting or just two individuals who don't like each other.

It might be hard to tell the difference if you didn't know the gender. A prospective pair will appear to "fight" when what they're actually doing is flirting and testing each other for fitness as potential mates. This can go on for a while, sometimes means a spawn is approaching, but not always.