red devil getting beat up

[lucas2]

My red devils just hatched a bunch of eggs. It is only day 4 since they hatched and the fry are still just wiggling on a pile. I removed all other tank mates except a pleco. The problem is that the male is guarding the nest and wont let the female near it. He is keeping her trapped up in the opposite corner of the tank. I looked at her today and all her fins are torn up real bad. I am thinking of getting some egg crate and separating them, but don't know if she needs to be able to take care of the babies? Also, why is he doing this? Everything I read says that they should take care of them together.

 

[Ryanmahe]

that happens sometimes, she doesnt need to take care of them, they will be swimming in no time... get a divider and let her heal up, then try them together again.

 

[Bderick67]

Get her seperated, he will kill her. After about three weeks she'll be ready to spawn again and you can reintroduce. What size tank are they in? Is the female much smaller then the male?

 

[lucas2]

Get her seperated, he will kill her. After about three weeks she'll be ready to spawn again and you can reintroduce. What size tank are they in? Is the female much smaller then the male?

This is exactly what happened.He kept beating her up and about a week ago I came home from work and she was floating, barely breathing. I built an eggcrate divider and nursed her back. She is fine now and is healing fast. The problem is that is soon as I separated them, the babies swam through the divider to her side and without the males protection, she ate every single one of them. Seems he was just protecting them from her. Now they are still sepatated by an eggcrate divider, but her little tube is out again like she is ready to lay eggs. He is up at the divider trying to be nice like he wants to get some. I don't know if I should let them back together or not. I would like them to have some fry because it would be fun to watch, but this is almost too much trouble to be worth it.

 

[lucas2]

Get her seperated, he will kill her. After about three weeks she'll be ready to spawn again and you can reintroduce. What size tank are they in? Is the female much smaller then the male?

Tank is a 55g and they are about the same size. He is a little larger because he is a male, but not by too much.

 

[SOKO]

DON'T take my word for it. But personally, I would probably let them get back together, and let them lay the eggs, since you said that her tube is sticking out and that he is ready for some action. However, I don't know how much your female is worth to you, and if you have gotten emotionally attached. The problem is that he could kill her.

 

[BigDaddyMagnum]

just let her back to him and monitor them closely, and show of beating or ruf housing and you know what you have to do...

 

[lucas2]

I will give it a try and see what happens. Thanks for the advice.

 

[piggy67]

i had the same thing happen,i bought some egg crate and put holes in it just big enough for her to get through and not my male.gives her run of the tank and if he gets mean with her(which is about every 5 min or less)she can get away from him.here's a pic of mine.hope it helps you,works great for me.about 12$at your local hardware.sorry for the dirty tank photos-tomarrow is cleaning day for the 90gal

 

[midtae]

i had the same thing happen,i bought some egg crate and put holes in it just big enough for her to get through and not my male.gives her run of the tank and if he gets mean with her(which is about every 5 min or less)she can get away from him.here's a pic of mine.hope it helps you,works great for me.about 12$at your local hardware.sorry for the dirty tank photos-tomarrow is cleaning day for the 90gal

sweeeeet fish bro your female is awesome.