Firemouth Cichlids Fighting?

[Spiceweasel69]

They keep circling each other, side by side and now lots of lip locking. I posted on here with a pic to see if anyone can sex them but i didnt get a response, so i dont know thier sexes.

Can this be breeding behaviour so i have a pair, or is it territorial by two males or two females.

To add to this fighting, they have started to get shredded fins cos of it

 

[smithy05]

what colours are they?? have they both got red patches/colouring on chest, throat etc etc other than both being males or wothaveya im not sure fairly new to hobby myself me dad done i9t awhile but im a fish noob LOL anyhoo wot colour they and size

 

[freddyk]

I can't tell you what gender your fish are, but I can tell you that regardless of what they are, they are not working out. Place a divider or seperate the fish for now, then reconsider your strategy for getting a pair. The best way is to get a few juveniles and grow them out, let a pair form from them, and remove the rest. The numbers will help in two ways - it provides more fish to improve the odds of getting a pair, and the higher number of fish helps spread the aggression while they sort it out. By simply placing two random fish together the odds are certainly against us.

 

[Spiceweasel69]

theres a link in a post i made a few days ago in here. Its called 'sexing firemouths' or summet...

 

[england]

http/cichlidforums.com/showthread/t-9358.html http/www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/firemouths.htm http/www.timstropicals.com/Inventory/NewWorld/index.asp hope this helps

 

[Spiceweasel69]

cheers for that, i appreciate it. I think mine are too young to tell what they are, but would the fact they are fighting indicate theyre both male?

 

[england]

Cichlids are territorial. If they are establishing a territory then they will pick on all the other fish and especially other cichlids. Blue Acaras will be the same. You need to add lots of rock work and more the decorations around every time you add a fish. No matter what kind of cichlids you get you are going to have to deal with some level of aggression.