Heres why parents eat their young!!!

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Do not pee in the tank! If they are too young, they could be just dating and not ready to marry yet. lol

Seriously, some cichlids will eat/destroy eggs for much longer than we would like before they get it right. No one is following them around in the wild to see how many clutches a pair will consume before they are settled. Even when everything is perfect, they will still decide to eat the eggs...then one day they will become excellent parents. Nothing different, just more mature fish. Or you could pee in the tank.
 
I think there are a general idea of which species will eat there young but from what I noticed when breeding cichlids is that it just depends on the individual and his or her surroundings
 
Not sure but I think female guppies will eat they're young to "protect them" from other fish. Its like saying, I I'm afraid you will eat my kids so I'm gonna eat um first. What stupid parents! At least, that's what I've heard they why they do it. Either that or they're just plain stupid.

Cichlids do this sometimes if they don't think they can protect their fry. They see it as someone getting a free meal and it might as well be them.
 
If an animal thinks its offspring arent going to survive then why not gain back some of that energy that they spent on producing those offspring instead of loosing all of it?
 
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The post explained why a pair of parents would narrow numbers of eggs down which is understood. My question is why would a pair of fish in a tank by themselves all of a sudden just eat their wigglers and or free swimming fry.
 
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