Why wont my Bolivians get it right???

[Neptune]

I have 4 bolivians in my tank. 3 females and 1 male.

Last month a female laid eggs and her and another female watched over them until they were eaten. I don't believe the male had anything to do with spawning.

Now they are doing it again, but still the male is not involved what so ever. Does he just need to mature more?

He is low man on the totem pole of the group.

[Poppa Ryno]

Have you tried pairing the male to a female in their own tank?

[BmoreBraap]

From what I read about rams, just having the correct amount of sexed fish in a tank doesnt mean anything. In fact I've read about females killing males they did not want to pair with. One of the GBR breeders I just purchased a pair from told me he takes about 30 rams in a tank from different fry batches and from those fish he will only get 2-3 naturally mated/matched pairs. I will say that pair I got shows some of the coolest behavior I've seen in a fish. Never leave eachothers side and if one is picked on by another fish the other comes to help their mate.

[Poppa Ryno]

I breed rams and agree they usually pick mates & can be bullies to other unwanted rams. This holds true with my GBR, EBR, & Gold rams. But i succesfully pair bolivians rather frequently. I do use the dorm style to get pairs for the other 3. But for bolivians i have not had to.