Male Green Terrors Not Good Parents?

[Zagggon]

My male GT ate his own fry when my female last spawned, and he ate some eggs too. My female has just laid around 500 eggs now so im wondering, are male GT's just not as helpful as say, convict males in taking care of fry? Or do female gt's generally do all the work?

 

[Katchan]

While I have no experience with breeding GT's, I have kept one up to 5" before I had to sell it and I have bred more than a handful south and central american cichlids including A. pulcher aka blue acara, GT's cousin

1. Parents eating eggs is not uncommon, often the parents will eat eggs that are going bad or have gone bad to help stop other eggs going bad

2. Many cichlids eat there own young the first time or three (most notable are blue ram, apistogramma and angels). Of my current convict pair the male ate well over 1/2 the brood once they got to swimmer stage first two tries, last time, his third he didnt, and thats a convict, so your GT might just need the practice

HTH

Andrew

 

[Zagggon]

Yea the time he ate them it was his 2nd spawn. Hopefully he wont eat the fry this time cuzz he seems to have left the eggs alone so far.

 

[Nevergone815]

Also, depending on the size of the tank they are in, I've noticed the parents will eat the fry until the fry have enough room where htey can live comfortable and manageable with the parents.

Also, depending on the size of the tank they are in, I've noticed the parents will eat the fry until the fry have enough room where htey can live comfortable and manageable with the parents.

*Please note that by parents I don't necessarily mean GTs but cichlids in general, and this is just from my experience so other people may experience other things may be present*