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This is a problem I never would have thought existed....

There's a male and a female Ram in my tank. The male has been there, the female is new from two days ago.

When the hood light is off, the male can see that the female is, well, female, and he starts courting her. As soon as I turn on the hood light, he changes his mind, decides she's a competitor, and starts chasing her around the tank. She just runs away, doesn't even try to fight back. Yesterday, after a short time, they didn't seem to have this problem, but today the male won't stop for anything (except the hood light being turned off). Light goes on - male on the warpath. Light goes off - courting behavior.

If I leave the light off for a week or so, will they maybe settle this for themselves and pair-bond, or will I probably just get the same thing all over again?

She's still new to him, and when the lights are on, it seems more obvious to him that she's in HIS territory. I think your idea should work. It might also help to rearrange the tank so that it feels less like his home turf. More hiding spots may help, also; try adding a new plant, rock, pot, or cave.

Thanks, Joe!

The thing that doesn't support the "he's territorial because she's more obvious" theory is that, when they're friendly, they're REALLY friendly. They swim together, they eat together, and they try to drive off the cories, very much as if they were looking for a spawning spot.

I'm going to need to do a bit of a tank rearrange when I get some flowerpots - the artificial castle served me well but I think it's time to get it out, and nobody hides in it anyway. I wonder if it'd be helpful to make the flowerpot hole only small enough for them, this way they can have a spot away from those nosy cories....

[span class="edited"][Edited by Silverlight 2004-09-04 10:22][/span]