Taking Away Cichlid Eggs

[Elisabeth83]

My Acara cichlids are getting read to spawn again. Their last spawn the syno cat I bought didn't do the job and I ended up having to get rid of the eggs myself Anyways it seemed like it caused a lot of trauma for the pair. The female was very ticked off at the male for a day or so and he went into hiding and was more pale than usual. They both of course attacked me when I took the stone out the eggs were laid on and afterwords until the next day they both were searching non-stop for the eggs. I felt really bad for them. After a day or two they got over it and were the close pair they normally are.

The syno I bought has been a lot more comfortable in the tank and has been swimming around areas other than just behind the filter. I've seen him a few times on a piece of wood right over the spot where the Acaras are getting ready to spawn so I am hoping he'll take care of the eggs this time.

I feel if the syno sneaks in and eats the eggs in the middle of the night while the Acaras are sleeping then they really wont know what happened and will probably be just fine but if I have to take care of the eggs I'm afraid I'm causing some trauma to them. I'm not as sneaky as a syno is and it's obvious to them I'm taking their eggs away.

So am I causing a lot of trauma to them or am I over-reacting? Do most people who keep cichlids take away their eggs too?

 

[Elisabeth83]

Is my question so dumb that no one wants to answer? )

 

[diademhill]

Is my question so dumb that no one wants to answer? )

Not much to say really, I either keep an egg eater in the tank or take out/rub the eggs in the dark.
I've had to resort to splitting some pairs as they are just too good at parenting & there are only so many homes available.

Sue

 

[freddyk]

Removing the eggs will cause them to become moody and stressed as you've seen, but they are just fish and do get over it quickly. If the syno isn't doing the job then you might want to consider something smaller that you can keep more of - for my Nics I use Syno. Multipunctatus (a grouping syno that is very fast and active), and together they make short work of any eggs.

 

[aardvarkfromspace]

Fish do seem to freak out a bit when things like that happen.. my pairs usually eat the eggs themselves, or maybe one of them ate them by itself... but I always notice things in the tank aren't normal for a few days after.... a lot of fighting and bickering it seems..

why not just let them breed and take out the syno? no options for re-homing the babies I guess? tank space can be tough too...

oh well.. your pair are hopelessly in love!