trio or no trio?

Hi all,

So i finally get my 14cm beautiful pep bn male and he's in a 3 foot tank with what i believe are two girls around 9cm (posted pics up recently and people have responded with saying they are most likely females). Question is: is it common for females to take/guard a cave? my big male is still settling in and just hiding on driftwood but one of my other peppermints is constantly in one of the two caves. Has anyone come across this before? Or could this pep really be a boy too....
Any help would be great thanks

It's not unusual for females to use caves, all Bn's like somewhere to hide and where they feel safe. Once your male has settled in he will probably claim it for himself.

my pep females do the same. if they cant hide behind or under something they will be hiding in a cave. peps are more nocturnal than commons which is the reason they seem less active. once the male is settled in he will assert his authority and boot one of the females out of the cave he chooses.

btw did u get ur male locally? as im looking for some more adult peps

ok thanks for the help guys this morning my big male is in the other cave and seems to be quite happy. which is good because the other cave may be a little small for him especially if another bn is in there with him, but i have read that bn need very tight caves. if my male has claimed his cave should i remove the other cave? they are at opposite ends of the tank. i actually wanted to order a round peppermint cave online from thefishcave.com but maybe if he like his current cave i should just wait to see what happens.

yeah i got my male locally from reynella aquariums. they have another male i chose the bigger of the two but the other male is still quite nice and both are in great condition for breeding. didn't pay that much for him considering other aquarium places were quoting me $200+ to order one in. haven't seen any girls around though.