RHT Geophagus Pair: Male immediately eating eggs?

[neutrino]

...Everyone has their preferred approach to breeding, naturally, but plenty of species cooperate in tending fry, including red head geos. I enjoy this part of the process and when possible I prefer to let parents raise fry up to the point they stop protecting them.

With most of the red head geo pairs I had, at feeding time one parent would hold the fry while the other ate and then they'd switch off. It was cool to watch, as was watching them release them and shepherd them around. This process goes on until they eventually stop guarding them.

 

[cmsbthebest]

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.
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even at this time they can get easily spooked and eat fry if disturbed.
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I often will give a female a separate @ 50 gal tank full of algae to just herself, and to raise fry in peace.

This backs up what I've read about Red Head Tapajos in the wild, juveniles shoal in large groups, and older fish pair off and hang out alone.

 

[cmsbthebest]

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.

...Everyone has their preferred approach to breeding, naturally, but plenty of species cooperate in tending fry, including red head geos. I enjoy this part of the process and when possible I prefer to let parents raise fry up to the point they stop protecting them.

With most of the red head geo pairs I had, at feeding time one parent would hold the fry while the other ate and then they'd switch off. It was cool to watch, as was watching them release them and shepherd them around. This process goes on until they eventually stop guarding them.

Interesting, I've had my Severum pair succesfully get fry to free swimming in the community tank, but they are much larger than the RHT.

Also, surprisingly, it looks like I have a second RHT pair getting ready to lay eggs! We'll see how they do lol