Female haitiensis killed my male

[jackalope17]

I woke up this morning to find my male haitiensis belly up. He was a little marked up but not too bad. It looks like the female was the culprit. They were getting along just fine last night. They were raising a nice brood of fry together and everything. Both were extremely protective of their fry and kept water changes interesting. I've read on other forums about how aggressive the females can get but I didn't forsee this coming at all. The male was twice the size of the female.
When I first introduced them I was more concerned about the female. I had them separated with a divider at the beginning and eventually took it out. They seemed to be getting along just fine. She snapped too suddenly for me to do anything about it. If I had seen signs of aggression I would have been able to save my male.

This just sucks.

 

[nuth88]

I am so sorry for your loss........A good friend has a buddy whos male is sub-dom to the female, plus if you have fry, look for the tell tale signs of canabalism. The fry will feed off of them (Parents) should they need to, he has had to twice remove his male as he was getting eaten alive by the fry.....

Again~ Soory for your loss dude.

 

[duanes]

I've had the same thing happen with other cichlids (Paratheraps guttalatum to name 1), where the female killed the male. At times there seems to be a point where one of the pair decsides the other isn't good for the spawn. It may not look like significant outer damage, but they tend to ram the sub dominent partner causing lethal internal injuries.
Also, as Nuth said, be careful of fry cannabalism, my male was almost eaten alive, and did so willingly. He is now separated from his fry, as I noticed it starting again.

 

[bigchubz]

nice

 

[Albel]

plus if you have fry, look for the tell tale signs of canabalism. The fry will feed off of them (Parents) should they need to,

OMG!!! Sweet fish they are!

 

[nuth88]

Duane (The Dude)~

You know I was referring to your beauts and the cannibalism......They are so beautiful, and I was hoping you would jump in and help out....

Nuthman Abides~

 

[duanes]

The Dude abides, when we gona get together and distribute some fry?

 

[nuth88]

Dude~

Lets see if we/I can grow out a nice male for this guy......I feel horrible for him......Maybe Ill setup the 38 (Not a leaker) and get some nice Juvis for the fellas.......I put Los Cubanos in the 45.....

Nuthman Abides~

 

[duanes]

No problem, I have way more hait fry than I can handle, I just shipped some to Philadephia and to tezr yesterday. The ones to PA arrived safely just after noon, still waiting on word from Texas.

 

[jackalope17]

Thanks for the condolences. I'm still assuming the male was killed by the female, but I did notice the fry trying to feed off of the female. She is now in a different tank than her fry....at this point I'm not taking any chances. I've seen parents eat their fry but never the other way around. Crazy.

Well here's to better times.
<img src="http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=47647&size=1">

Thanks again for the replies and advice.

P.S. - If anyone happens to have a male over 6 inches or so I'd be willing to work something out. The male that was killed was right at 9. The female is half that.