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Not sure if they are or not but at first they were very terriotoral towards eachother but now they seem to tolerate eachother in their own space. Funny thing is though sometimes they will swim side by side and flare their gills at eachother but never attack. Its like a weird dance or something. They have been doing it for almost a week now off and on. Any idea if their doing some sort of mating dance or are they just doing what firemouths do? Thanks

sounds like breeding behavior. have they been moving gravel around in attempt to make a nesting site together? do they spend a lot of time together in any cave or near any specific rocks trying to clean off a place to lay eggs? Have they been defending a territory together from the other fish in the tank?

These are other things to look for as these are all a part of the breeding ritual of most CA/SA cichlids. Good luck with them.

Jason

Not really any rock movement. The one smaller firemouth likes to lay between this to big plants and blocked by a log now though while the bigger firemouth basically circles above. Not really any HEAVY territorial stuff towards the other fish. Once in great while u will see the bigger firemouth chase the tiger barbs or electric yellow but not very much. No rock movement that I have seen.

you should get rid of the electric yellow as its a african cichlids. i had a pair of firemouths and i think this is just something that they do

Patience will tell but sounds like breeding time. Have you done a fairly big water change lately? A change in temp can 'kickstart' them into it. If they are, the female will 'go into hiding' and the male defend their patch and will not tolerate anything coming near it. After time, you'll see the female again but both he/she will not venture far from the nest. After a few days, they will 'herd' their young around close to nest and be extra careful as both will 'destroy' anything (i.e fish) getting in their way. For a relatively peaceful cichlid, and in my experience, they rival convicts when they have their young. Good luck

Why does everyone always have a problem with me having an electric yellow in my tank? LoL. I got the yellow lab for free. He/She is a great fish and fits in well and gets along great with the other fish. hrug:

Back to the firemouths, turns out rocks HAVE been moved back where the smaller firemouth has been hiding out. I did a water change about a week ago cause I had to use some MelaFix and PimaFix to cure a small problem. All cleared up now and I was gonna do another water change tommorow. So you think there breeding huh? Now since the rocks are moved, does that mean she is pregnent or just getting things ready? Anything special I should do?

the problem is that it needs higher ph than the others it needs lots of rocks and other electric yellows

I actually have a lot of rocks and caves in the tank and he/she deffiently likes hanging out in them. I thought about getting some more but what is the recommended PH for them?

My P.H. is around 7 but I should check that out again soon to make sure.

pH for Africans should be 8.2

Wow, 8.2 huh? I thought it was around 7 for some reason. Doh. I guess I should look to taking him back. I doubt he/she would find a better home though at my LFS.

Well I took everyone's advice and took the electric yellow back to the LFS. Hopefully he can find a better home with the right Ph. I have a bad feeling though he is gonna get thrown in a fish bowl or 10 gallon college party tank.

By the way, how long does this whole breeding thing last?

the problem is that it needs higher ph than the others it needs lots of rocks and other electric yellows

Most cichlids can and will adapt to different water parameters. IMO, it is much more important to match the water parameters they are used to (from lfs, breeders, etc.) than the water paramaters the species would have in the wild. Most cichlids in the hobby (in lfs/lps that is) are so far removed from the wild that it really isn't that important, imo, to duplicate their natural water params. The only time I'd recommend trying to duplicate the water is if you're dealing with F0 (wildcaught) fish or possibly F1.

Anyway, my reasoning for not mixing africans with SA/CA cichlids is because of their communication/behavior. When signaling aggression, most CA/SA cichlids will darken up or color up. This is how africans signal submission. So, an electric yellow trying to 'surrender' to a fm is telling the fm that the EY wants to keep fighting. There will most likely be unnecessary injuries or even deaths because neither fish is able to surrender.

That being said, many hobbyists have successfully kept Africans and CA/SA's together, but I still don't recommend it as you never know when they could start fighting...once they do there's a good chance they won't stop until it's too late.

jason