not a good pic sorry. should of said when i put the fish in the tank it went brown white darker brown stripes. but has now turned blue

Your female just might be a male, which could be why the instant aggression.

Ooops let me explain, when you put it in it went brown to try not to look like a male so that it didn't get picked on. But now that it is safer in a net, its true colors come out, and if it is blue, then it is a male and you can't put 2 males together. The dominant one will kill it. These are very aggressive fish.

thanks michelle for your replies. read on the web they where moderate aggression. got rid of my male auratus and blue decided to bully my sail fin so thought right i'll get another female (eventually aiming at having 3 females to one blue) to distract him a bit more. hope the lfs will swap this now it's a bit battered it's not the best lfs in the world

Yeah I have one I call Hannibully. He is going to my neighbors house this week. They say moderate, but take it from me, they can be real mean. At least mine is.

Yeah, that's a male. It is doubtful you have enough room in your tank to house 2 males. Their aggression is moderate, but their conspessific agression is aggressive. Which means that males are more aggressive towards other males of the same species and can be aggressive towards females that are bearing eggs.

yeah shawn is right, they can be super bad a#$es, mine is about 4-5" and he even holds his own against our male Auratus.

i got so big guys in my tank that bully the other fish and tri to get the babies

I have witnessed the same scenario lee. but after I relocated the #1, the male auratus went crazy on the rest of them, even the little females. That is why I started over, and the lfs would not take anymore babies!