# Female blue acara being chased, eating a little, stressed



## The Orangutan (Dec 31, 2013)

Hi all,
I've set my 4ft tank up with the goal of having the blue acaras as the main stars. Problem is the female has been stressed for a long time now and just isn't loving life. The male is a fair bit bigger and full of colour (getting to 4.5-5in? and thick through the shoulders. Female is about 75-80% of his length and looking thin!). The female is usually in one of the top corners with her fins tucked and really pale, or hiding behind a bit of driftwood the male can't easily get behind.

Up until a week ago I had a firemouth in the tank, roughly the same size as the male acara. That fish and the male acara were always displaying and trying to dominate each other (no lip locking or physical contact). Would be a bout 50-50 who would back down. It seemed that whenever the firemouth was out of sight the male acara would want to get out his aggression by chasing the female. The firemouth isn't her biggest fan either so just when she'd got out of the acar's way, she would cop it from the firemouth.

So, I took out the firemouth a week ago to see if they'd settle. Maybe hoping the hormones in the male would settle and she could get a rest. No joy, he still chases her any moment he sees her so she just stays hidden. She does eat but not a lot.

Maybe I should throw the firemouth back in and let the female have some rest and feeding for a while in the spare tank? Or maybe I should think about swapping for another larger female/leaving one out altogether (will the male keep his colour if the female isn't around?)

She used to spawn when she was bigger than the male but that was months ago (they're both maybe a year or so old?). Other tank mates are two gourami, a few black tetras, and 3 bristle nose. Seems to only be trouble between the cichlids.

Thanks for any advice!

(Ps. I have posted this topic on another forum, but have since looked at the number of visits that site receives and decided to post on a more popular forum. Sorry if you've already read this!)


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## gverde (Mar 3, 2010)

The female will get sick from all the stress if you leave her in the corner. I would remove her or the male to a separate tank for a little while. How many gallons is the tank? You may need more cichlids to disperse the aggression or maybe some hiding spots that only the female can get into.


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## The Orangutan (Dec 31, 2013)

Thanks. Happy new year everyone!
It's a standard 4ft so I think that's about 55g? (sold as around 200L here) probably 75% full taking into account the substrate, driftwood, plants and not being filled to overflow.

Originally I was thinking of having two pairs of fish, (breeding acara and firemouth pairs) but I've been told the tank is too small once fully grown. The aqadviser(?) application said it would be an issue as well. When the firemouth was in the tank the female acara would never get a break from being chased.

I'm worried that if I spend a few weeks getting the female back to condition the same problem will just happen again when I re-introduce her. Hard to know. Maybe she'll have more condition and be able to stand up for herself, or even feel a bit more like pairing with the male?

Thanks again


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## The Orangutan (Dec 31, 2013)

Well, I put the firemouth back in and moved the female acara to isolation.

She seemed happier straight away getting some of her colour back, and feeding freely.

The Firemouth immediately took over the main tank and now the male acara has really darkened up. The firemouth just has to threaten him from a foot away though and the acara will back up. It's him hiding away in the corners now.

Will have to see what happens over the next few days...


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