female convict is laying eggs but

[fishfreaks]

the male is eating them as soon as she does, is this natural? sometimes she will flare her gills at him, but others she will just let him be. should we remove the male from the tank or seperate them? I think this is their first time, ive never noticed her laying eggs before

edit: now the male is rubbing his belly on them

 

[NatakuTseng]

Just leave them be, they'll get the hang of it. Your gonna have an awful tough time getting rid of little convicts anyway.

 

[fishfreaks]

not when they will be feeders i wont

 

[dave76]

If you are feeding them to cichlids they may not get eaten if you dont put them in in time. There is always the chance that a few might survive, you don't want that trust me. It became more of a hassle than anything else and my two turned into 30 real quick. LFS in my area wont take them anymore. I would consider guppies if you want to raise feeders, that way they will get eaten no matter what.

 

[NatakuTseng]

Personally if your going to feed them as feeders, remove them from the parents once they are around 1/2-3/4" size, (this will sound cruel I know) put them in a tupperware or plastic bag with a little bit of water in it, and freeze them. That way when you do feed them to the other fish, they won't be alive so no chance of surviving, and you can keep them longer to feed to your cichlids without needing to feed them (the baby cons).

 

[fishfreaks]

thanks guys the eggs are still there, how long until they are eggs no more?

 

[NatakuTseng]

usually hatch in 48 hrs, then you may not see the fry at all till they go free swimming.