Im babysitting my brothers son and also his fish. He has 2 cichlids, a red one and like a whiteish and black one. Usually they hid in their little cave, especially when someone comes in the room. Well I just came in and they are swimming around and what looks like kissing. They look like they are about to attack but they kiss instead. Are they mating or what?

when cichlids lock jaws its either territorial fighting or a mating display to make sure the other fish is strong enough for breeding.
how big is the tank and do you know what they are? i couldnt even tell you if they were the same kind or not, but it sounds like two different kinds fighting over territory.

The tank is 20 gals and has been setup for almost 2 months. They are both parrot cichlids, just one of them is painted... didn't know that they did that to them. They always hang out together in the cave thats in there so I dont think its territorial, atleast I hope its not.

well it sounds like they may be pairing up but i dont know anything about parrots and always thought they were sterile.

found this so hopefully it may answer a fw questions
http://www.geocities.com/parrotcichlid/breeding.html

Ok, well now I'm not too sure what they were doing. Now the red one wont go in the cave with the other one and they stopped locking jaws. So maybe it was territorial but why would they suddenly fight over that when they have been sharing the same space for this long now?

Oh and thanks for the website, I'll make sure to read the rest of it when I have the time.

has one of them laid eggs maybe? try and get a look in without disturbing them, maybe a torch might let you see better. usually if one is outside and the other keeps going in then there could be eggs.

hey there,

the male will be sterile, but the female can lay eggs, and they will act as they are breeding even though they ant, so yes they could be spawning, but its more likelly they where just having a dispute over tha cave

i wouldnt worry about it.

Kev

Just dropping in on the thread. I was at a different lfs this week where they have heaps of tropicals. The had these gigantic 'flowerhorns' which I understand are hybrids (after reading on the web). Apparently these 'man-made' fish are decimating local fish populations all across asia where they have been released in the wild by ignorant fishkeepers.

Gee, I kinda want one but I don't have a tank, maybe later down the track I'll get one but I'm concerned about 'painting'. How can I tell if a flowerhorn has been painted?

flowerhorns are not dyed, ther are strain bred for bright colours i have one myself, they are very very aggro though and need a good size tank just for one.

It's on my wish list Kev, but I appreciate a flowerhorn would need a minimum of 30-40g. So, I just have to wait for natural attritution to occur and I have a tank available. This probably won't ever happen because I keep buying more goldfish!