Aggressive Pelvicachromis Taeniatus Moliwe?

[lcwei96094]

Hi,

I bought 3 tank raised Moliwe (2 male & 1 female) few months ago. The two male got infected by mouth fungus recently so I separated them from the female and in the end only one of them survive. After he is fully recovered, I put him back to the female. However the female is very aggressive to him, chasing him all over the tank and forced him to one corner at mid level of the tank. He will just stays there day and night.:frown:

I did try to separate them for few days and put them together again but the female just cannot coexist with him. :frown: Before this, 3 of them were living happily together without any fighting in this tank.

My question is, how can I "tame" this female? I have one coconut shell, one vase and a few nanas in this 2ft tank. Both of them are about the same size (1.5inch+-) with the male slightly bigger.

Thanks.

 

[tjudy]

The female probably just wants to spawn, but the male is not ready. If they are both only 1.5" he is probably not mature enough, and she may be trying to drive him out of her territory while waiting for a mature male.

She is the owner of the tank. I would first try to rearrange the decorations in the tank, making sure that the spawning sites are in very different locations. If that does not work, separate the female into the hospital tank for a couple weeks and let the male become the king of the tank before reintroducing her. A third option is to place a couple female P. pulcher in the tank. The female P. taeniatus will see them as more of a threat than the male and shift her attention to them. She may also enlist the help of the male in defending the territory, which would go a long way in gettign them to bond.