Sajica Has Barricaded Herself Into A Cave

[Fishy_7]

I have 3 Sajica cichlids in my tank - a male, a female and one too young to make out its gender.
 
A week ago, the male was really on the rampage chasing and attacking everything in the tank, even the female. Something was going to get killed, so I placed the male into a breeding trap to give everyone else a break from his hostility.
 
I let him out of the trap 24 hrs later and he had totally mellowed out.  The female Sajica was dancing around him and he was just trying to get away. Over next 2-3 days, he continued to be his calm self and the female was trying to lure him into a coconut cave but I never saw him go in. 
 
A week on, the female is now permanently in the cave, has shifted the gravel and totally blocked off the entrance with herself inside.  Whenever anything swims near the cave, she pops her head out of the hole up top and does this pirouette before swimming back in.  The male is now a sociable member of the tank and swims around normally.
 
My suspicion is that she has eggs in there but what I don't understand is why the male is unengaged with the female.  If she is looking after eggs, wouldn't he be super aggressive and defensive of nesting site?  The female also has not eaten in days as she has not come out. Should a flake or 2 in to the cave from the whole she peers out off?
 
Thanks.

 

[AeonMapa]

Its possible they are taking turns guarding the eggs. Or if this is the first spawn the male hasn't quite gotten around to the idea of losing his freedom and guarding the kids hehe! If they truly have spawned, they will spawn again and you'll see they get better at it with age

 

[bikerfish]

Hi I have a pair of these and it is great fun when you try to clean the tank near the nest as they will try to attack anything that comes near esp as I have substrate so running fingers through have been nipped a few times