jewel cichlid pairing

Question
Ok so I bought 2 jewel fish from my LFS and they are male and female. For the first 2 weeks I had high ammonia in the tank and the male got poisoned.the female would just follow him all over the tank but he wanted nothing to do with her.my ammonia is finally just about gone I added salt and 20 min. Later they were dancing and shaking next to each other.now the male is really beating the female up badly she is crouched in the corner, fins pretty beat up.will they eventually pair or will the male kill her? Should I seperate them? Its only been a day but he is really after her. What should I do?

Answer
Hi Steve

The phrase "You can lead a heart to love but you can't make it fall" not only applies to humans, but animals as well. You can't force or assume a male and female will breed simply because they are male and female.

The best way to achieve a breeding pair is to put several males and females together and let them pick their own mates. However, with Cichlids, once you have a breeding pair, they will need to be separated or they'll kill all of their tankmates once they start spawning.

I hope this helps you, good luck!

Richard