Hahaha I love your naming scheme, that's awesome! And thank you for the suggestion to trick him and give the female an edge by rearranging! I went ahead and did that, while adding a bunch more caves to the tank in the hopes that she'll find spots she can rest in - if need be. He's currently in the breeder box and he is SO MAD 😂 How long should I keep him in timeout? He's been trying to bust out for a while now, I feel bad for him 😅 What's even funnier is that she has been having a great time exploring, but every now and then will notice him in the breeder box and swim to him! She's like oh! it's you! and he's been trying to swim at her the whole time, bless him 😆 They have dither fish in there with them, 9 female cherry barbs! Hated the male cherry barbs; talk about pushy, my goodness!
She recovered fully and is now behaving totally normal again, thank goodness! I rearranged the tank with him in the breeder box and she's been exploring happily. Tons of new caves just added, and she even swims to him in the box lol; maybe there is hope! They are pretty young; what I think may have happened is that the male is a little smaller and wasn't in great health (only LFS here kinda sucks tbh) and he either a.) was too young when she was pink-bellied and ready or b.) was too busy being sick with parasites (that have since been successfully treated) to do the job. How long would you say he should be in timeout? He's PISSED 😂