Jade Eye Cichlids

[lowthy76]

hi all im new to this and this is my first post. just over 3 months ago now i purchased a male and female jade eye cichlids. they settled in just fine at first making a nest in the lime stone in the corner of my tank, i knew they were about to breed as the female was constantly digging in the sand with the male on guard. after a month i finally saw some fry in the evening,which i was very happy about. the very next morning all the fry had dissapeared!! within 2 days of this happening i noticed the female was no longer in her stone nest and was the other side of the tank! this has now been going on for 2 months with the male constantly chasing her and hassling her, my question is why has this happened? and will it go back to normal? i hope someone can help as they are beautiful fish and my favourites. thanks in advence.......dan

 

[glolite]

Hi Dan and welcome to the forums.

I think your jade eyes have probably eaten their first batch of fry, which sometimes happens. You don't say which other fish you keep but if you have other cichlids they too may have eaten the fry.

The male jade eye is now trying to mate again, hence the chasing. Sometimes the female will submit, other times the male will chase and harrass a female to death. If you think this is the case, separate the male for a while in a different tank for a couple of weeks and then try putting him back when the female may be ready to mate again.

Jade eyes can produce young up to 3 times a year, so you can see that she may not be ready yet. She may need a gap of 2 or 3 months until she is receptive to the male.

Hope this helps.