# I did something bad HELP!!



## njan (Jun 1, 2017)

Hi, 
I had hoped for my Red Empress to start breeding so I introduced him to 2 females on a separate 29 Gal tank. After observing for few days I did not see any mating activities and my larger female was beat up and died. I moved the male back to show tank and had only 1 female on the 29 Gal. I had always wanted a flowerhorn and saw a local CL add where a guy had fries and was selling for pretty good deal. I thought I would move the female to big tank and get the 29 ready for Flowerhorn (I know that is not a good size for FH but it was only going to be a temporary tank for smaller Juvi fish (2-3 inches).
I proceed with the move without thinking twice and dropped the female in the big tank, that is when I noticed that she might have some eggs. I pulled her out of the big tank which is very challenging as it has lots of rocks and hiding spaces. I was successful in pulling her out but she also dropped couple of eggs in the process and I cannot get them out of the tank. 
I put the female back in 29 and gave her some hiding spaces and turned off the light, I also set up a sponge filter and let it run along with my HOB for some time to seed it. The fish looks stressed but still swimming normally. 
What are the chances of getting the eggs to hatch? will the stress cause her to drop the eggs. This happened about an hour ago and so far she seems to be holding on to the eggs.
-Njan


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## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

It just depends on whether or not they got fertilized...


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## njan (Jun 1, 2017)

Thanks Cladwelldaniel26. How long before I find out? 2 - 3 weeks??


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## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

Just keep an eye on her, she will end up eating them if they aren't. Sometimes young females will swallow the eggs just because they want to... Can't really give you an exact time frame but you'll know in a couple weeks for sure


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## Lildragoness (Jul 21, 2017)

My (ruby read? Maybe? I don't know, not good with peacock names) peacock was holding for the first time about a week ago, I moved her to the 10 gallon so she would not be stressed. She was very calm, all was well for three days, then I come back and she ate all but maybe one egg. There appears to be nothing in her mouth, but she is still tumbling something. I needed the 10 gallon for a batch of fry I had stripped, but they were in a small breeder box. A makeshift one at that. So I put her back in the 75 in hopes the male might come back and fertilize more eggs, often my cichlids come back to finish fertilizing a day or a few days later, my lab is holding fry a few days apart right now. No luck with that, but she is still tumbling the one egg or so. Maybe she decided she didn't like having her mouth that full and only wanted a few babies :lol: Becuase when I found her, she was so full of eggs it looked like they would spill out if she opened her mouth any wider than she was for tumbling. Some females just need to get the hang of things with the whole mouthbrooding thing, some it takes a few tries. I have heard of some females refusing to hold eggs to term altogether, eating them, spitting before they hatch, ect. So people I heard that from would have to get tumblers and strip those difficult females immediately and tumble the eggs that way. It may be too late for that, or maybe being isolated will make her calm down and your female will carry her eggs to term. Guess it is a wait and see kinda thing. You didn't do anything "bad", mistakes happen in the hobby. Don't beat yourself up over it


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## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

Trust me, even if this batch doesn't work out there will be plenty of other opportunities. Lildragoness, you're referring to an aulonocara rubescens aka "ruby red"


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

I find there are lots of small differences in the way fish hold or not. Just as in humans, some are better at being parents, while others need to have some experience and do learn the job. A first time fish may have some difficulty learning how to stretch the mouth to fit over the eggs or may panic and spit them. Fishkeeping is very much an area where we need to learn lots of things ourselves. One is patience! 
We can't expect a new female fish to know it all and we, as new fish breeding folks, also need to learn to give them time. 
Most of us would agree that it's a tough job to hold your mouth full of eggs and not eat a full meal for more than a couple weeks? Female mouthbrooders get my respect for shear dedication! =D>


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## Lildragoness (Jul 21, 2017)

Yes, there will be many opportunities to have more batches, cichlids breed like rabbits. Just don't stress out so much, and thank you caldwelldaniel. Update, she ate the last few eggs :lol: she is eating normally again. I'm sure she will try again sooner or later, when she is more ready.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

It may seem weird to human thinking as we apply different standards to our behavior but the female eating the eggs can be a really smart move in nature. In human activity, we tend to apply social customs which make it bad to eat your young! But looking at it from a natural standpoint, if the eggs are not fertile, the female is definitely the best use of the resource for that species. One factor in getting the female ready to produce eggs again is how well fed she might be. Eggs are good nutrition so why not make the best of a bad try? 
We often refer to "Mother Nature" as if she were some nice old girl to take care of us. In fact, I doubt if any of us would survive her efforts! Best to have a real mother of our own. Cause the Mother Nature I know is a mean old hag that kills at the drop of a hat!


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## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

Yep, us crazy humans tend to have an affinity for anthropomorphism.


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