How do you know when pink convict cichlids are paired?

Help! my Convict cichlids are fighting?

• I need to know what is going on in my fish tank. I have a 10 gallon tank with 3 convict cichlids. I am trying to set up a breeding tank and tried to start with 2 female and 1 male. The fish store employee was not sure if there was only 1 male. Of the 3 convicts, I believe 1 is a female cause it appears to have some orange on it. The largest one is a male cause it has the bump on its head. The third fish i think is a male though. He has started attacking my other male fish but in a weird way. I looked up convict fighting videos but they fight mouth to mouth. My fish one attacks the side of the other and then he doesn't even try to fight back. He sits and takes it or tries to swim away. After swimming away the attacker will then try to chase around the female convict. Is this probably correct what is going on? I need to know since the large male that gets attacked seems to not be interested in the female and he doesn't even fight back so I think i need to get rid of him. What should i do?

• Answer:

  A breeding tank needs to be BIGGER not smaller! You need a 55G tank with rocks and hiding spots, even if they do pair up. Whoever gave you advice on doing it this way should NEVER keep fish. What you are attempting will not work, you will end up with 2 dead fish and one stunted survivor.