venustus cichlid aggression?/breeding?

[Slinkky]

i have 4 venustus cichlid's 3 are about 4"+ one is about 5" (male)
so that i know of one it male because of the blue face and i think the other 3 are female. Anyways i got the male one and put him into the tank over 2 weeks ago, everything was fine till the past 2 days...
He is getting super aggressive towards the females chasing them and niping at their tails (a bit of fin damage) now all the Other 3 do is hide behind the filter's intake and outake in the corner of the tank. the male does not attack or chase the other fish i have in the tank (2 pleco's and a jewel cichlid) tanks size is 70g

any idea why there is so much aggression to its own kind? i got the male from Local pet store hopeing to someday breed with the other 3 i already had in the tank.

[Ktowncichlids]

Its all apart of breeding,
chasing/flashing/dancing fin nipping is all normal, Maybe the females don't want to breed with him and its causing him to go even more into breeding more. Just keep a close eye on them if he starts to atack everything then you may want to consider swapping him out,

Also a quick fix could be re aranging the tank So that the males "cave" or breeding spot of choice is on the opposite side of the tank where the other fish hang out.


If he atacks fish that comes in his "area" thats normal as well especially during breeding, Usualy last about a week. It varys with each species tho. After a while if they do not spawn he should give up. If he doesnt. then maybe swap

hope this helps!

[Cichlid2010]

Aggression is part of the breeding, in order to reduce that, I keep my fishes in a community tank with many other fishes around. If you do put them in a separate tank, I would recommand to provide some hiding places for the females. I usually put PVC tubes at the top corners of the tank for the female to hide. Hope this helps.