So... I have a situation which I know the solution to, but was wondering if anyone has seen this behavior before.


The details:

29g tank, 3 convict cichlids. 2 females, one male.

Last month, while in a 10g tank, one female and the male paired up, laid eggs, fry hatched, fry died due to poor water quality.

Moved fish to 29g - Male pairs up with the -other- female. Eggs laid. The next day, the male decides to pair up and nest with the first female. They have now been together for about a week.

First bunch of fry hatch. On day 4 the fry are swimming free, and the (single) mother is defending them.

NOW, The other female just laid eggs. Before just now, arriving home and discovering the new eggs, the male and second female were working together to make a nest, defending the nest against the first mother who was defending the freshly hatched fry...

But now the female who just laid eggs is acting very aggressively towards the male. The male is now exiled to a hiding place in the leaves of some amazon swords planted in the tank. The first mother, who is still defending her fry, is also acting very aggressively towards the male.


I know the answer here is to remove the male and the second female from the tank (which I will do tomorrow, returning them both to the LFS), and let the first mother raise her fry without competition. But has anyone seen this behavior, where a female immediately turns on her mate as soon as the eggs are laid? I would expect the original female to reject and attack the male after he paired with the other female, but to have a female suddenly attack the father of her future fry seems unusual...

I have had my three do almost the same thing. I have one male and one female and he is with whoever is laying.. but as i upgraded my tank size he seems to have paired off with one female and they have successfully laid and hatched together. I am hoping he stays with her and leaves the other alone. I am thinking about finding her a home.. idk for sure... also when they first started laying the females would not even let him fertilize.. they they did but kicked him out soon after. this is the first time she has let him stay and be the guard daddy for her. There behavior is pretty interesting

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20 Gal tall tank with a pair ofconvicts and a whole mess of fry. on.e live plant (anubis i think) and several bulbs just planted/ 10 gal with the other female convict. also has several planted bulbs.

Sounds like good material for a soap opera.....