Parental defense is risky, so parents balance the costs and benefits to make context-dependent decisions based on the type of threat which may impact pair distribution. Our previous field studies in convict cichlids, Amatitlania nigrofasciata, showed that the risk of brood mixing impacts aggression towards conspecific intruders. We also observed that parental pairs seem to distribute differently in relation to conspecifics versus heterospecific pairs. Parental aggression appeared to vary depending on species, with more aggression towards conspecifics than heterospecifics at closer distances. Here, we mapped pair distribution identifying pairs with neighbors within 3m. We found that more convict cichlid pairs had neighbors than did not and those with neighbors tended to be closer to heterospecifics than conspecifics. We then presented pairs of parental convict cichlids with stimuli consisting of other parental convict cichlid pairs or parental Hypsophrys nematopus pairs. Each focal pair was exposed to each species separately and then simultaneously at both near (20cm) and far (60cm) distances. During separate presentations, focal parents were more aggressive at near distances versus far distances for both conspecifics and heterospecifics, though the aggression towards heterospecifics was always less than that toward conspecifics at each distance. In the simultaneous presentations the focal parents were always more aggressive toward conspecific stimuli. These results support the idea that each species represent separate risks (such as conspecific brood mixing or predation) and benefits (such as shared offspring or territory defense) to reproductive fitness, which help shape the observed natural distribution of pairs.