The eating of eggs

thegeeman

Member
Apr 21, 2009
2,256
0
36
51
In the house of gee
What are peoples opinions on why plecs eat their spawns?. I had a trio of L333 that spawned on a regular basis and after selling them to another member last year who didnt have any luck with them I bought them back. Since then they have spawned twice and on each occasion he has eaten the eggs:(. When I had them first time around he never once ate them. The tank is the same as before and also the same parameters. I have checked my book aswell and the temp, TDS and ph are almost identical to last time.

Your thoughts please

Cheers

thegeeman
 
Last edited:

Doodles

Retired Staff
Apr 8, 2009
8,786
2
36
How long ago did they come back?

personally i would think its because he doesn't think they are safe which means he isn't feeling settled in himself.
 

thegeeman

Member
Apr 21, 2009
2,256
0
36
51
In the house of gee
How long ago did they come back?

personally i would think its because he doesn't think they are safe which means he isn't feeling settled in himself.
Yeah kinda thinking that but like I said they are in the same tank and same parameters. I have had them for 6 weeks or so now. Maybe you right and he needs time to settle.

Cheers

thegeeman
 
Last edited:

plecoaddict

Member
Apr 23, 2009
147
5
16
52
Michigan
That is what I have found too bud....sometimes the male will eat the eggs to breed with another female. Try taking the other female out for a month or so and see if that works for you!
 

Jo Crane

Member
Apr 23, 2009
927
1
16
Cheshire
www.rareaquatics.co.uk
I have had this happen with young inexperianced males at the very start of their breeding not with established breeders maybe just a case of them needing a little longer to settle back in and just hope the male has not formed a bad habbit whilst away
 

thegeeman

Member
Apr 21, 2009
2,256
0
36
51
In the house of gee
That is what I have found too bud....sometimes the male will eat the eggs to breed with another female. Try taking the other female out for a month or so and see if that works for you!
Yeah. I think I will remove the one hes just spawned with as the other one is as fat as a house

hope the male has not formed a bad habbit whilst away
Thats my concern aswell Jo

Thanks for your advice people ;)

Love and squidgy bits

thegeeman
 
I

intrepidmax

Guest
With discus its more a maturity thing. but Im not so sure with hypans....they say that once a fish tastes the eggs they can end up eating them every time.

but in this case I think the male just needs time to settle.
 

Irene0100

UK Support Team
May 14, 2009
4,271
0
36
Norfolk, UK
well you may find its the other fat female who is hasseling to get inthe cave....

maybe take male and cave and eggs into large frysaver device or take both females out, or get another male?

I have 4 L270, 2m, 2f, in 4ft tank (with Bns and dither fish, and fry). only one male was breeding, I was not been getting very good numbers of fry so not sure if he was eating some/all sometimes, so tried him in a fry saver for a while. while he was in there a female wanted to lay and as she could not find the alpha she went with the other male.
 

cup

Retired Staff
May 6, 2009
183
0
16
Berkeley, CA
One cannot really predict the complexities of animal behavior at this point in time, but suffice to say if you screw with the fish, the eggs'll probably get eaten.
 

lealea

Member
Apr 25, 2009
110
0
16
Brisbane Australia
Usually I find they eat them when they are to dominant and protective of them or when the fertisiation hasn't been 100% and they start to get a little fungal and he will eat them then. lelea