New Cichlid Behavior

[BlueLineAquaticsSC]

I’ve recently added a Jack Dempsey to my Cichlid Tank. He is the only SA cichlid in the tank and the rest are all CA cichlids. I’ve noticed some new behavior I’ve never seen before that I thought was interesting. The Jack was, for lack of a better term, wrestling with my Flier. They were side by side, facing opposite directions, and swimming in circles with while locked against each other, as if they were trying to knock each other over.  It reminded me of two bucks sparing. I’ve seen plenty of lip locking, chasing, and nipping in my tank but never this, could this southern boy be teaching these yankee cichlids new tricks?

[Odd Duck]

Your Jack looks like a Jill.  Female Jacks wear the “beards” with lots of blue spangles under the jaw.  Female Jacks can be quite territorial and are sometimes even more combative than males (mine is).  Jack Dempseys are Central American cichlids (they range from Honduras up into Mexico), not South American, so they can potentially hybridize with the flier cichlid.  Is your flier a male or a female?  I don’t know enough to tell.

I couldn’t tell you anything about flier cichlid behavior since I’d never heard of them before and had to do a search.

My best pick of my pair together is before they moved to the 75 G.  The male is forward, the female slightly behind and showing her “beard”.

 

Edited November 11, 2022 by Odd Duck
Add pic.

[Odd Duck]

He’s grown a little and she’s grown a lot since this pic.

[BlueLineAquaticsSC]

Thanks for the correction, I’ve always assumed Jacks were SAs, I guess because they are usually lumped with them like firemouths are. 
 

As far as no the Flier I have no idea in the sex, but I definitely have male Nicaraguans in the tank. 
 

I’m not worried about the behavior, I just found it interesting since I’ve never scene them do something like that before. As of right now the Jack is by far the smallest cichlid in the tank, and everyone gets along with minor squabbling 

[Odd Duck]

On 11/11/2022 at 5:43 AM, BlueLineAquaticsSC said:

I’m not worried about the behavior, I just found it interesting since I’ve never scene them do something like that before. As of right now the Jack is by far the smallest cichlid in the tank, and everyone gets along with minor squabbling 

That may change drastically if that was some pre-mating testing behavior.  🤷🏻‍♀️ 

[BlueLineAquaticsSC]

On 11/11/2022 at 12:21 PM, Odd Duck said:

That may change drastically if that was some pre-mating testing behavior.  🤷🏻‍♀️ 

Good point, I will have to keep an eye on them