Festivum Aggression Question

[FreshwaterAfishianado]

So I have a pair of festivums in my 55 gal. Along with 5 diamond tetra and 5 corydoras sterbai. At first the festivums were very shy and took a while to gain confidence, after that they were great, always swimming together and coming to the glass to greet people that walked by. I've noticed lately that the male, Clyde, will chase Bonnie and even nip at her sometimes, then they will spend a little while at opposite ends of the tank and then resume swimming together happily as if nothing had happened.
At first I didn't think much of it, but since I've had them he has grown significantly larger than her and the aggressive behavior is becoming more frequent. Should I worry? Is this normal behavior for a mated pair?
Here us a pic if the tank as of yesterday, I thought it may have to do with the lack of cover to hide behind? Any advice is much appreciated.
http/i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b556/justintime122388/20130726_174047_zps2ede19f6.jpg
And another puc from the side
http/i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b556/justintime122388/20130726_173523_zpsced8efad.jpg

 

[Sophie]

To help with the stress of the fish regardless I'd add more cover

 

[Wills]

I agree more cover will help - tall plants that provide breaks in line of sight and floating plants will help. And any tall bits of wood you can get hold of.
 
Also try adding more tetras to the mix the large school will distract the male in the tank - it will look great as well
 
Wills

 

[FreshwaterAfishianado]

Thanks, I bought a few more amazon swords today to add, I was also thinking maybe some jungle val? As for floating plants what would you suggest? I like the look of frogbit but I don't think it can be shipped here
I do plan on adding more of both the cories and tetra, I'm just introducing the stock slowly as my budget allows. Ty for all the suggestions

 

[FreshwaterAfishianado]

Here is how it looks with the added amazon swords. Can anyone suggest a good online source for some more branch-like driftwood? I would love to add some branches to fill in the top area of the tank but most of the driftwood I can find in my lfs is chunks of wood not branches.

 

[Ninjouzata]

I don't see a picture? =o
Hope this is okay to link, these are rather branchy :3 http/www.manzanita-driftwood.com/Manzanita.html

 

[Wills]

Great link Ninjouzata, good prices on there as well! Since its quite a specialist product I think the links ok Ive acutally messaged them to see if I can get some shipped to the UK lol
 
Im not sure what to suggest on floating plants I have used dwarf water lettuce in the past. Maybe post in the planted section and see what you can get in the US.
 
Wills

 

[Ninjouzata]

Glad to hear, hopefully they will!
I think amazon frogbit looks lovely but havn't had any myself. Believe it bothers some people though?
Wills, any idea on that link for the measurements are they going LxWxH or?..

 

[FreshwaterAfishianado]

Thanks.for the advice, not sure why the pic didn't show, let's see if it works this time...
http/i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b556/justintime122388/20130727_184956_zps91543890.jpg

 

[Wills]

Ninjouzata - I think they are going L x W x H if you look at the pieces it sort of makes sense.
 
FreshwaterAfishanado - That pic helps a lot, I know the plants are still quite young but you really need taller decor - that sites wood is pretty good, in the UK the prices of some of the bigger pieces would be at least 3 times that... and thats shopping around - in my opinion they have $200 wood in there for $40 (not that I would pay the $200 in the first place lol )
 
With the Festivums being open water fish that is the problem that with the upper levels so bare it is hard to break up the line of sight from the male to the female.
 
This is my tank a while ago it worked for me because there was plenty of swimming space either side and the "island" in the middle gave space to hide and if a scuffle started at one end the victim could scoot of the other side and the aggressor stays the other side and things cool down. The way to keep the cost down to acheive a similar look would be to put your current wood piled up on the bottom and then stack the branches upto the surface - then with the floating plants the cover will be significant

 
Have things cooled down in there at all in the past few days?
 
Wills

 

[FreshwaterAfishianado]

I was looking at that site that ninjouzata recommended and I really like what they have, I think I will even buy a few pieces for my other tanks too.
That tank looks fantastic Wills, I think I may stack the piece in front of the pot onto the two center pieces in my tank until I can get some of the manzanita wood.
Since I've added the plants they seem more mellow though, she is hiding a lot less and he doesn't seem to chase her, if he darts toward her she just swims to the nearest plant for a few seconds and he seems to completely forget he was ever agitated.
He seems a little bipolar lol one minute they're swimming side by side like a good couple, then he will just lunge at her for no reason, a few seconds later they're together again like it never happened.
Ty for all of your advice, I will post updates once I add the new wood

 

[FreshwaterAfishianado]

So I think I may have found the cause of Clyde's aggression. I think Bonnie may be a boy
The store sold them to me as a mated pair, but I've noticed something, the dorsal and anal fins on our "female" now extend to the end of her caudal fin. I thought only males had the fin extensions? I also noticed something new, while Bonnie was hiding I noticed damage to her tail that definitely wasn't there before:

I will try to get a better picture of the fin extensions in the morning. I'm thinking that maybe she is a he and Clyde didn't care until she/he matured? Its a real bummer because when I first got them I was convinced they were a pair because they seemed inseperable.

 

[Wills]

Aww no - 2 males should still be able to coexist in this tank though...
 
Can you post any pics up and we can try and do it - the best way to do it though is to vent them.... but its not an easy job.
 
Wills

 

[FreshwaterAfishianado]

So here are a few pics that you can see her fins in, they're not the best quality but I think you can see the fin extensions I was talking about.
http/i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b556/justintime122388/20130730_114936_zps171906dc.jpg
http/i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b556/justintime122388/20130730_115008_zps94c17320.jpg
As you can see her dorsal fin stops fairly short but her anal fin has an extension that reaches back nearly to the end of her tail. I was doing a little research and I'm not sure whether this means she is a he or not. Some sites say that females should have no extensions, others say that females may have extensions but the fin shape determine the sex, the female supposedly has a spade shaped fin with thin extensions whereas the male will have a smooth curve to his fins? Its so hard to find concrete information on these things.

What is "venting"?

What I've done for now is added another piece of wood, added some hornwort that I'm allowing to float for some surface cover, and I went and bought 2 more large festivums that looked female to me to hopefully spread any aggression. I'm not sure if that was the best move or not / The lfs here has told me they will take the fish if needed. I'd rather not do that though, but I don't Wang these poor.fish being bullied to death either. Thanks for all the help

 

[Wills]

Yeah sexing fish is really really hard. My Severum by appearance is "male" - pointy fins, lots of facial/ cheek spots but she has laid eggs many times...
 
To me the pics do look like a male....
 
Venting is where you lay the fish in your hand and open the vent on the bottom of the fish and check their gender the old fashioned way.... males will have a thin pointy part and the female will have a short rounded mound... there are a few guides on the net on how to do it.
 
Adding an other two is acually a good idea, they are gregarious cichlids and the hierachy can really help. See how your 4 get on - hopefully your Clyde will be the alpha in the group and the others will just be sub males and females - just watch out for any males that might clash with him for top dog spot.
 
Wills