keyhole aggression

[fishysmell]

I have two male keyhole cichlids which I have had for about a year. They are both about 2.25" long (one being slightly smaller than the other) and are just starting to color up and get adult finage. My porblem is the smaller one has just started chasing the larger one around for the past couple of days. They have always stayed pretty close together in my 60 gallon so this aggression is strange. My question is will this aggression pass with a little time? Can I lighten it up by adding a few more keyholes of similar size? Or is the best option just to move the "victim" to my 24 gallon? Thanks for the help.

 

[moricollins]

i would either get some females (a whole harem of them , probably at least 5) or move one to the other tank, two males of any animal will generally fight because to the victor go the spoils, in this case women. it holds true for almost all animals, especially humans .

 

[fishysmell]

Sounds good. I'll be looking for some females then. If they were only about 1.5"-2" would that be a problem? Thanks for the help.

Also, 7 keyholes is fine in a heavily planted 60 gallon correct?

 

[blueturq]

i had 8 in a 55 gal plastic planted community tank and they had ALOT of room!!!, so 7 is fine

 

[moricollins]

ya, 7 is definately fine for a 60 gallon tank, you should add some dither fish (like neons, or white cloud minnows) to divert the males attention some of the time (if you already hadn't), that and they look nice with the constant movement.

 

[fishysmell]

I got loads of dithers in there. They don't really even seem to notice that there are about 35 other fish in the tank. Strangely, the aggression has died down for the last few days. There was a little bit of chsaing again today but nothing like a few days ago. Haven't found any females yet but I'm still on the lookout....

Thanks again for the help.