RHT Geophagus Pair: Male immediately eating eggs?

[cmsbthebest]

So last night I managed to catch my female red head tapajos laying eggs, and too my surprise, and soon as she laid them, the male followed behind and ate them! She was super pissed at him the enter time, but he continued to defend her from other fish and act like he was going to fertilize them. She has laid two batches prior that I know of, but they were both done overnight (and eaten by the entire tank within 5 mins).

Has anyone seen this type of behavior before? Could it be due to the male not feeling comfortable with spawning at this moment?

 

[tlindsey]

So last night I managed to catch my female red head tapajos laying eggs, and too my surprise, and soon as she laid them, the male followed behind and ate them! She was super pissed at him the enter time, but he continued to defend her from other fish and act like he was going to fertilize them. She has laid two batches prior that I know of, but they were both done overnight (and eaten by the entire tank within 5 mins).

Has anyone seen this type of behavior before? Could it be due to the male not feeling comfortable with spawning at this moment?

I've never had that happen but had two different female a Kribensis and a Electric Blue Acara beat and kill a male after spawning. The female Kribensis was the killer of the male. Saved the male Electric Blue Acara from death.

 

[tlindsey]

I've read threads of males eating eggs after fertilizing them.

 

[ryansmith83]

If they're a young, inexperienced pair it's not uncommon for cichlids to eat their first few spawns. Usually with some practice they'll figure it out.

 

[duanes]

If they're a young, inexperienced pair it's not uncommon for cichlids to eat their first few spawns. Usually with some practice they'll figure it out.

I agree.
Are there other fish in the tank?
In many cases, if the parents instinctually feel that other fish (Pleco's, other catfish or cichlids, etc) are a threat, they will eat the eggs before other fish get a chance to, putting out eggs has a lot of energy cost.
And especially if the other fish, have more alpha status.
If there are others in the tank, I'd give the pair a tank all to themselves. If not....
then its just a learning curve that sometimes takes a number of spawns to get other.

 

[cmsbthebest]

I've never had that happen but had two different female a Kribensis and a Electric Blue Acara beat and kill a male after spawning. The female Kribensis was the killer of the male. Saved the male Electric Blue Acara from death.

Luckily they aren't too hard on each other ever, just torn/tattered caudal and dorsal fins. My RHT bicker constantly but I've never worried about one killing another.

 

[cmsbthebest]

If they're a young, inexperienced pair it's not uncommon for cichlids to eat their first few spawns. Usually with some practice they'll figure it out.

I agree.
Are there other fish in the tank?
In many cases, if the parents instinctually feel that other fish (Pleco's, other catfish or cichlids, etc) are a threat, they will eat the eggs before other fish get a chance to, putting out eggs has a lot of energy cost.
And especially if the other fish, have more alpha status.
If there are others in the tank, I'd give the pair a tank all to themselves. If not....
then its just a learning curve that sometimes takes a number of spawns to get other.

Thanks for the replies,

It's spawn number 3 for them, and there are other cichlids in the tank (3 Severum and 4 other RHT).

Tbh I'm not looking to spawn them, they've just naturally paired up recently. While I've heard of a pair eating their eggs, I've never heard of the male eating them as the female lays them.

Eventually when I have the infrastructure in place, I'd like to try spawning and raising the fry, so I may separate the pair at that point. But for now I'm just happy to watch spawning activity in the tank! I've now got a Severum pair, one RHT pair and possibly another RHT pair forming.

 

[duanes]

It is very common for both, the male, or the female, or both parents to eat the eggs.
And now that you mention the others in the tank, its seems to be one of the most common occurrences for cichlids in a community setting like that.
Iv'e had this occur hundreds of times over 50 years of fish keeping, along with males killing females and vice versa.
Many cichlid breeders will remove a male as soon as eggs are fertilized, or remove the eggs an raise them artificially.

after raising eggs successfully in tank, the pair of Chuco conveniently put most fry iin a PVC cap, where they were easily removed to the tank above


I often remove the object the spawn on, to a separate tank, just for raising eggs and fry if they have spawned in a community setting

above eggs of Paretroplus maculatus

 

[duanes]

Another thing to consider, is many Geophagines (and other S American cichlids) are Larvo-philic mouth brooders.
When the eggs are ready to hatch, both parents will take the fry into the mouths during fry development.
In nature the parents break off from the shoal, go off to a separate area where few other fish are present to raise the young away from predation.

even at this time they can get easily spooked and eat fry if disturbed.

I often will give a female a separate @ 50 gal tank full of algae to just herself, and to raise fry in peace.

 

[neutrino]

I bred red head geos quite successfully in a community with Heros sp. rotkeil, wild Peru scalare, and an L200 pleco. Naturally, the other fish need to mild enough and/or the parents feisty enough for it to work. At a certain point when the parents started losing interest in watching over them I'd transfer them to a grow-out tank.

As mentioned (like many SA cichlids) new red head geo pairs may need a few tries to work it all out, some pairs get it quicker than others. Pairs can also vary in how easily they bond and get along or how much they fuss with each other.

Doesn't work with all species, obviously, but nearly all of the fish I've bred have been amenable to breeding either in community or species tanks.