jaguar cichlids help

jigalo4life

hi i am new here and i have kept fish for 2 years. I bought my 1st jag a couple weeks ago and he is about 4 inches. i found a female 2.75 inches. i rearranged the tank after feeding the male a treat to fill him up a couple wax worms. i put the female in and he was hitting her with his tail and chasing her then biting. i did not want to lose a fish so i separated them. they are in a 130gallon tank with a 14 inch pleco that gets left alone. I am lucky because this tank needs very little work my water ph is always 7.8. i just add water with a conditioner and take care of the filter. my water temp is 80.
Is there any way to have these fish live together without a divider? since they are so mean how do you breed them?

1077

Sounds like the male is wanting to get busy
Unfortunately,,many fish ,like people,prefer to choose their own mate, and females or males of many species may not much like the mates we choose for them.
Sometimes better to provide a male with several feamles to choose from or vice versa and then remove the other's when a pair has formed .
Photo's of tank might be helpful to see if enough hiding places are present for the female to retire to to escape the attention's of the male, or perhaps move the male and try and re-introduce the male after a few days.
Can also help to lower the temp a bit to say 76 degree's to slow the fishes metabolisim down and this sometimes helps to curb aggressive ,behaivor.
Could be at four inches,,that the male is ready to breed but the female is a bit young yet, and doesn't quite know nor is she interested in what's going on.
Lot's of room in a 130 gallon to provide large driftwood pieces,clay pot's,flagstone arranged to provide places to get behind and or caves may help both fishes to create their own territory until such time as they may get along but I would not expect too much this early.

Tazman

A pair should NOT be housed in anything smaller than a 180g 6ft long tank. One is big enough for a 120g tank with nothing else in the tank fish wise.
At some point once the fish get above 8" then they are going to need the 180g tank if they do pair and the pleco will have to go.

They sexually mature at 4" so as the female is a lot smaller than that, then she is not ready to breed.

The female will need a lot of hiding places the male cannot get to or you keep them separated.

rrcoolj

I agree with everything said. She is too small too start breeding. Keep them sperated for some months and let her put on some size. Pairing cichlids can be tricky since some fish can be picky but with a fish like maangunese finding a compatible mate should not be too hard. They are not too picky when it comes too chosing mates. These guys can get 16" so an 180 is ideal for a pair. Have hiding places big enough for only the female. That will help curb aggression.

jigalo4life

thanks for your knowledge it has helped and by the time they are 8 inches i will have complketed my custom built in the wall 300-400 gallon tank that will be seen from the living room to the master bed room. i am saving every penny on this project.Thank You very much.