Aggressive behaviors are conserved across vertebrates and can be modulated by the social environment. Since social behavior relies on environmental perception and signaling, and the presence of an observer may influence interactions, social behavior can be addressed through the Audience Effect. In the Neotropical cichlid Cichlasoma dimerus, escalated aggression is observed during intersexual dyadic interactions. To study whether intersexual agonistic encounters are modulated by the Audience Effect, we first tested whether a virtual stimulus can serve as an audience by exposing focal fish to a screen displaying a conspecific. Two experimental setups were used: with the opposite side of the tank empty, or with a second screen showing an empty aquarium. We quantified agonistic and social behaviors to analyze temporal dynamics. In the second setup results showed differences in lateral swimming (p=0.010). Moreover, an alternative two-screen paradigm was used: first both screens displayed empty tanks, and after 30 minutes a conspecific was displayed on one screen. Focal fish increased interactions with the conspecific screen (touches p=0.0476; lateral swimming p=0.0094) but not with the empty one, suggesting a possible recognition of the virtual stimulus. These validations will enable using virtual stimuli as audiences as a first step to study how social context shapes intersexual aggression and which are the brain activation patterns involved in this modulation