Ellioti pair. Changed?

[Gravydavy727]

Is it usual.for a male ellioti to change its breeding partner?

Just over a week ago I had a decent amount of ellioti fry, unfortunately I had to.go.away on holiday and couldn't keep a close eye on things, when I returned from my holiday on friday all the fry had gone and there was a new batch of eggs.

It wasn't till today that I realised that the female that is now paired up with the male guarding the new fry is nit the previous egg layer.

Do males not stick with one female? Or is this a one off due to last batch of fry being eaten?

Will it be best to remove the fry or just let things be and hope for the best?
I would need a pretty big fry tank to house growing elliotis a spare tank isn't really ideal

Answers on a post card

 

[Colin_T]

It depends on how many males and females are in the tank. If there are several females, the second female might have wanted to breed and someone ate the babies so the male paired off with her.

All cichlids can change partners if the current partner is not a good breeding partner.

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All baby cichlids should be left with their parents for at least the first month so the babies can learn brood care and fish language from their parents.

Normally you leave the babies and parents together until the babies swim off on their own and don't come back to the parent's nest at night. Then they are old enough to move.

 

[Gravydavy727]

I will just let nature take its course then.

Thank you