Female Geophagus Brasiliensis Attacking Male!

[Joel_G]

Hi there, as you can i see i am new to the forum, i have joined because i need to understand why my female geo is all of a sudden attacking my male, so far he has split fins and missing scales. this all started when i switched them into my 4 foot tank.
i need to do something because she kills him.
i will try my best to answer any questions.

Thanks!
Joel.

 

[star4]

What size are they? Brazilliansis breed from around 2-3", if the male is the same size or smaller than the female she could be rejecting him as she may be ready to breed. Normally a larger male is better than one of the same size as the female. If he is larger than her then she could be getting ready to lay eggs and she is trying to get his attention.

I had a group of 4 brazilliensis one larger male and 3 females, they did seem to get on better in a group.

 

[Joel_G]

Yes, he is a bit smaller but they have been in the same tank for a long time and have breed and had fry with each other in the past.

 

[star4]

Thats weird then if they have spawned before, when was the last time they spawned? have you changed the tank around at all, she might not be happy with a spawning site he has picked.

 

[Joel_G]

the last time the spawned was in their last setup, which was about 1 month and 10 days ago, their setup was smaller and their were other geos in the tank that they were fighting off to protect their fry eggs. i bought the pair and then put them into their own tank dispite having to seperate them from their fry which took them 2 - 3 days until they started to swim around etc. i can upload some picture for you.

 

[star4]

The change in tank may have upset the female, she could be ready to spawn but being picky about where she wants to lay and taking it out on the male. I had the exact same thing happen with my Rotkeil severums, they spawned every 2 weeks, then I moved them to another tank, they didnt spawn for 2 months and the female gave the male grief till she finally decided on a spot, even though I put the same rock in they spawned on every time in the other tank, she ended up choosing a different site. Do you have some dithers you could put in for a while to take the heat off the male till she makes up her mind?