severum help

My male severum is 7 inches and my female is closer to 4 and they are in a very large tank compared to them so i know its not space but.....He seem to be beating her up very badly and i do not know why.I really do not wanna divide the tank or sell her what should i do i dont have any extra tanks and she is hiding from getting a BAD beating she has some scales missing in my videos you can see him chasing her she had color then but now she is .I assumed this is normal cichlid behavior but not how much hes doing it.i just moved them from a 55 tall to my 78 i always use for big fish and they have not stopped he circles around looking for her (punking) her behind a pot....Is it possible breeding im doubtful on that but these are my first severums so please dont grill me if im not as adequately setup as i can be...i can not find any concrete info on them.


temp-76
ph 6-2
78 gallon cube
sand
wood
airstone
Emp 400 HOB filter


whats on it and params

My guess is he is ready to hump and she isn't. I would throw up a divider if it starts getting to bad, he wont stop until she puts out.

sounds like typical breeding behaviour for them.
options i would try would be to give her some place to hide by adding decore,
add some smaller fish to take attention away from her all the time.
seperate them.
Get them a bigger tank

it looks to be separation until she gets better i need to go buy divider material

ok divider would not cut right.added dithers about 10 white cloud minnows he will suck them up and spit them out i think they just made him more angry because he kept grilling her.she now is recuperating in my planted for a few days but she likes it so much more than being with him i feel like a AHOLE because i did not get to her sooner .

she has large bite marks and torn fins.I still love her but she if far from something to show off .Also eggs were laid but i did not see them for 3-4 days so they were ALL BAD .I know they laid though so hopefully next time because there will be a next time he squirts right lol

if they make it to the next time..... sounds like she is getting abused so bad she will die before then.... a dithers that can fit in the mouth, is not a dither, thats food..... you need allot bigger dithers, but thats kinda mean cause it will just have them get beaten to death.... your left with, getting a divider or taking her out... If you dont do one quick, think she will die. Good luck.

.scratch what i said earlier i did not see her damage because she was hiding but they will never come in contact again.Atleast i know if i can find a smaller male and she pair's with him ( very unlikely) shes a good layer.I tried making a divider but they are a very skinny fish so they can make it between the 1 inch gaps.

Sorry to hear about the problems with the sevs. Sounds like you need to replace the male with a more gentle one for sure.

after everything is setup im ordering 3 FM's for him to have to chose from and hell go in a pond.

a dithers that can fit in the mouth, is not a dither, thats food

I buy small fish so they last longer,dont get hurt as bad as say a con and do not do damage back like tetras or cons he is tough against her but 1 con male or 2-3 hungry affies would kill him no problem he is a woman beater only tough against his GF

i think geting more severums may help you alot. bigger non food item fish would help distribute the aggression like a african setup. where you save one from being the target all the time buy providing alot of other targets.

thanks for the support guys i figured that is my best bet and i cant use big dithers anymore or i feel like michael vick of the fish world