Im Confused

[civicr]

well what it is my german rams layed eggs about 2days ago and were taking turns gaurding them and today i came home from work to find all of them gone has any got a idea whats happed?

there in a tank on there own

ryan

 

[ArauraDiscus]

Well I'm sure they ate them. Many cichlids need to gain experience with breeding, and some, like discus, will often fail their first few tries as they are not sure what to do once the eggs are laid. Give them another few chances, and if they continue to eat the eggs, then remove the eggs into their own tank to raise them seprately. Also if you have a pleco in the tank, they are armored plated, and could even resist the frantic nips of the most agressive convict parents, just to eat the eggs. So remove plecos from spawning tanks.

 

[Gatorbait]

I agree 100% with ArauraDiscus but wanted to also say that you could also put some target fish in there now or after giving them another shot. It's definitely correct that some cichlids do this because they are new at breeding and after a couple other tries they turn out to be the perfect parents. They also may fail next time or a couple more times before they get it right. One thing you can be sure of is they WILL get it right but it's anybody's guess as to when exactly.

You say you have nothing in the tank with them so adding target fish lets the breeding pair "pair bond". This is sometimes done with the more aggressive larger cichlids so that the male doesn't take aggression out on the female and hurt or kill her. It gives the male and female a common goal and takes their mind off from each other with their aggression.

That's the first thing I thought of when I saw "cichlid" and "in a tank of their own". I'll be the first to tell you I know nothing of small cichlids but thought I'd throw it out there.

If anyone has other info that this won't work with rams please post as I wouldn't have any hard feelings and it would teach me and prevent me from posting something so wrong in the future, also.

 

[ArauraDiscus]

No thats good info, target or dither fish is normally the term used and they are great to have for any cichlid parents. They keep their attention off eating the eggs more than anything. The parents will be too busy gaurding the eggs from the dither fish to sit there and stare at the eggs and decide that dinner is served.