Firemouths Polygamous?

[pawal]

Hi,
Has anyone ever heard of  Firemouths being polygamous breeders?  My understanding has been that they are monogamous pair breeders.  But I now have a pair that have just bred.  I took the fry off the pair and now the male has chased the male from the other pair off and is in the process of breeding with the other female having abandoned his own original mate.  The problem I have now is that male has claimed his original territory and has now also claimed the other territory where the new female is.  Anyone have any ideas about how I should approach this, and if anyone has heard of polygamous firemouths before.

Thanks

Peter

[joffbell]

Most american cichlids i know of will breed with more than one partner. whether or not the fry survive is another question. The best thing to do would be remove your non-dominant male and see if the male will successfully breed with both and if he does just get rid of the second male.

Joff

[pawal]

Thanks Joff, I might give it a go and see what  happens.  When you say the fry might not survive,  do you mean as in the male eating them?  or the non-breeding female at the time?

Peter

[joffbell]

the non breeding female would most likely eat them but if the tank is big enough they will be alright.

Joff

[pawal]

They should be right, they are in a 4'x2'x2' and the male seems to keep the females in their own territories and he patrols both of the females areas.  It is just strange and unexpected behaviour.

[joffbell]

yeah they should be fine.

plenty of room.

Its quite normal for american cichlids.

Joff