Help...newbie with cichlids

Earlier this week I stocked my 30 gallon with two Archocentrus sajica T-Bar cichlids. The fish are about 2" (male) and 1 1/2" (female), so they are still juvenile. The first two days they were inseparable, but the honeymoon didn't last long... Today the male apparently decided to keep the female in one corner of the tank and have the rest of the tank to himself. If she tries to come out of her hiding spot beneath some Amazon Sword plants, he chases her back. He guards the sand spot where food pellets land when I feed them. I am concerned she is not able to eat, plus I thought they were very compatible before, based on their behavior while exploring the tank the first two days.

I read in one of my books that you could stick some 'target' fish in the tank to help. They are non-cichlids, and fast, so they can escape. I introduced three black sailfin tetras into the tank. The first minute both T-Bars chased them, but they quickly went back to the old routine again after that. Now the tetras stay in one area (above where the female hides) and the male swims the rest of the tank.

This all sounds pretty normal to me as I write it, but since I've never kept cichlids before I'd like to see what others with cichlid experience think. Also, I know Archocentrus spawn before they are mature...is this spawning behavior?

 

Heck, I'll answer myself...

Everything is fine. Got three black tetras, but the sajicas didn't pay them attention. They made up and now are busy preparing a spawning trench inside a pot.

 

Its good to see everything turned out good, which is what I was going to recomend. Give it some time.

 

I was going to say give it some time, but for a different reason.
When I had Convict cichlids, one of the fish was always dominant. Usually, they would sort out who stayed where. As long as no one lost fins or scales, I wasn't concerned.

 

16-Rabbit

I just finished reading an article about Archocentrus. According to what I read, the sajica female does not display color changes when wooing the male. I disagree strongly with that, as I have observed Lady Jaguar several times today going up to 16-Rabbit wearing a pale coloration, and turning so he can see her underside. This is exactly the type of behavior this article said is common in other Archocentrus, but not in the sajica. The rest of the breeding behavior is exactly what's going on in my tank: Lady Jaguar tries to get 16-Rabbit into her pot (which she has cleaned out of all gravel, stone-by-stone - she has a huge rockpile at her front door now!). Things are getting interesting!

A photo of 16-Rabbit taken today... (by the way, please excuse the Mayan names: they are based on historic Mayan personages, but slightly changed).

 

Here is a photo of the female courting display:



The gravel outside the pot's mouth was piled-up by Lady Jaguar stone-by-stone from the inside of the pot. It is clean of gravel now!

 

Nice! Good luck on those fry. I had only 3 pairs of cichlids in the beginning and they turn well over 120.

 

I am posting photos of the fry in a separate thread!

 

link?