mamba1 said:
So as of a few moments ago, my convicts started fighting again. they have around 100 fry in the tank... the male is being defensive over the fry and chases the female. However as soon as the male lets down his guard the female comes outa no where and attacks him, usually biting his tail leaving a tear. the male then gets upset and chases her. this has happened before and they seemed to get over it.
What is the cause of this and what should i do???
Well this is not at all an unusual occurrence; sometimes a male and female, especially convicts, only enter a marriage of
convenience and just get along long enough to procreate and then once the fry are free swimming, fight all the time.
My female constantly would bite my male in the face, left a few marks, then he got fed up with it and constantly chased her and took over all parental duties. I had to rehome in her in my 20 gallon so she would'nt get killed. I'm sure this happens all the time in the wild, but the difference is that there the female can easily swim away. In a glass box she's like a lamb to the slaughter.
If you don't want to wake up to a dead fish, I'd say either remove her or get a divider. Or you could remove the object they are fighting over- the fry. With the absence of fry to care for, they will be all horny again.
