My Dad Went Crazy

[sman91wing]

I have a mating pair of convicts, and they're raising their second batch. Last night, I saw the male showing a little agression towards the female, which has never happened. This morning, she is in horrible shape. She probably won't make it, she is floating vertical but is still breathing and keeping herself in the same place. I removed the male. Also, there were around 20 fry about 2 weeks old. Now I can find 3. He went insane.

Is this normal? Did he want to breed again and she wasn't ready? If she dies, should I put the male back in to care for the fry? I have another female convict about the same age as the sick one, could I put her in?

[LongTime]

You cannot be absolutely sure who snapped. All you know is somebody started eating fry and the female got beat up.

It is possible that the male was ready to breed and she wasn't. It is also possible that the male started eating the fry and she tried to protect them.

Another posibility is she started eating the fry and he came to the rescue.

If he is the one eating the fry, putting him back in won't do any good and you cannot be sure the other female wouldn't start eating them as well. After all,l they are not hers. Some convicts do help with other convicts' fry but it is not something to bet on.

If the other female is not ready to breed and it the male who is the problem, you would just be putting her in harm's way.

If the fry are free-swimming and there is nothing in the tank to harm them, they will do fine by themselves as long as your water conditions are good and they get plenty of food.

[sman91wing]

There is also a sole survivor from the first batch of fry. This one is growing nicely and takes care of itself. Could this fish be eating fry?

[LongTime]

If he can get them in his mouth, but it should still be too small to beat up the adult female. The plot thickensk!

[sman91wing]

yeah, its kindof like Clue, only not as fun.

[sman91wing]

At this point I have no clue what started the agression. The mother is now dead. The remaining fry are gone, only the older baby remains, which leads me to believe that the older one ate the siblings, because the mother was completely immoble, only was breathing. So if it was the baby eating all the fry, the Father must have thought it was the mother. But there were a good 20-30 fry in there, and only 3 left this morning, I don't think the baby could've eaten them all. But the mother was the most protective of the fry, the dad didn't do too much work. I might as well stop, I don't think the dad is going to make a statement, so I'll never know.

[LongTime]

Sorry for your loss. I think it was Sherlock Holmes who said, "After you eliminate the impossible, whatever is left, no matter how improbable, must be the truth."