What's Up With This Pair

[blitztidus]

The male almost always lets the female guard the eggs. he is almost always on the other side of the tank while she is fanning the eggs. there are no other fish in the tank. He also started digging a hole in the gravel. kinda weird

 

[willtang3000]

when most cichlids are breeding the female cares for the eggs and the male protects the territory around the tank making sure no fish can get in and steal while the mum is busy cleaning

 

[scrappy]

very common breeding behavious for cichlids, diggin holes is common as when the eggs hatch they tend to put the wrigglers in the pit they dug out for first few days

 

[Doggfather]

It's quite normal for cichlids to do this, just another example of their protective parenting behaviour. By keeping the eggs/fry in a pre-dug hole they are much easier for the mother to look after since they're are in a close proximity and tend not to leave the pit and the safety she offers until they are bigger.

You might notice some fish, my apistos for example, dig more than one hole sometimes and often move the fry from one of the pits to another. This is one of the reasons why it is preferable to keep certain cichlids in a tank with a sandy substrate, if there was to be a gravel bottom, they would find it impossible to do this.

 

[blitztidus]

It's quite normal for cichlids to do this, just another example of their protective parenting behaviour. By keeping the eggs/fry in a pre-dug hole they are much easier for the mother to look after since they're are in a close proximity and tend not to leave the pit and the safety she offers until they are bigger.

You might notice some fish, my apistos for example, dig more than one hole sometimes and often move the fry from one of the pits to another. This is one of the reasons why it is preferable to keep certain cichlids in a tank with a sandy substrate, if there was to be a gravel bottom, they would find it impossible to do this.

I already knew about the second part but thanks. with my last breeding pair, they kept them in one area and only moved them a little. oddly, the female black convict was one that i raised. the male in that batch never dug any holes.