Female aggression

[jred]

Ok so I was hoping someone on here can give me some insight too African cichlid female behavior. I have a trio of fuelleborni and 1 female has always kind of picked on the other female a bit but tonight I witness female A go after female B more agressively than the male has ever done (like swimming half the tank to ram into her). Could this be a sign that she wants to mate and is upset there is competition in the tank? Female A is fatter than Female B right now so maybe she has eggs ready? But why wouldn't she just go after the male? I have had kenyi females go after all other fish very aggressively as well BUT that was after they were holding. Just not sure what to do, should I remove Female B and hope for a spawn then pull Female A? I don't want to stress fish if I don't have too, let me know what you fishheads thinks. Cheers

[Marty]

It's always good to have rockwork in a Cichlid tank to break up sight lines.  If you place rocks in the tank and break up the tank into thirds, you may reduce aggression.  I would also create hiding spots so if someone is being bullied, they have a place to hide.

[jred]

Thanks for the reply Marty, I am planning on reworking the rocks this evening along with adding quite a bit more, I was just curious why a female would behave this way. Seems like odd behavior to me but maybe I just have never noticed the aggression like this before. I will monitor the activity and see if the Female A does spawn with the male - which would be wonderful considering they have only spawned twice for me.