My two pearls have started lip wrestling in the last year, never did it in the previous 2 years.

Is this the result of lip wrestling .. or does my fish have something else wrong with him.. and what should I do about it?

Have added some salt to the water and keeping it extra clean.

They get on most of the time but in the evenings like to have a lip wrestle.

Looks like a lip locking injury to me. In my opinion just keep the water clean and watch out for infection.

Looks like he lost.

Could be oportunistic fungal infection following their little get together or could be columnaris. Keep an eye on them till you figure what to treat.

I wouldn't say it is infected yet, mine got lips when they had a bad fight, that is why I said observe to make sure it doesn't get infected.

It looks a bit more than just damage and can't see both but suspect they are a pair testing each other in preparation for mating.

thanks for all the replies

It looks a bit more than just damage and can't see both but suspect they are a pair testing each other in preparation for mating.

the 2nd and 3rd picture is both of them so I think they are both males.

The lips are looking a little better today, they certainly haven't got worse , so I'm hoping the injury will recover without infection.

The right hand one is a female but can't tell with the left.

The right hand one is a female but can't tell with the left.

really, wow .. theyw ere sold as two males haha ... here's an old pic of them as jeveniles..

and I'm not sure which one this is (also an older photo)

look at the dorsal fins.

Both are males to me. That could be part of te problem !!

The back one is a female, can't be sure with the front one.

I am afraid it isn't. Still believe they both are males. Think one dominant (brighter colored).

Females do have a short rounded dorsal fin and a bigger / rounder belly.

A pair---compare the dorsal fins.

male

female

Have a look at the dorsal of this female.

thanks for all the info, looking at them today , they still look like two males to me.

They both colour up at times.

I'll try and get a better photo of the two of them.. in the current photos one appears to have a rounder fin , but in real life it doesn't look quite as round.