help!!! frustration!!!

[skavish]

hey all,
erm, problems, problems, and more problems. :'(
my discus have bred about 6 times now, and i know that one is a male and the other is a female, because i have seen them breeding a few times, the pair is in a 200 l tank, there is 1 more discus with them,alot smaller and also some neons.They lay there eggs, and do look after the for a while, but slowly and surley they slowly eat them, evryday there is less and less, untill they are all gone, but they still hang around the bog wood where they laied them, help, what can i do, or help them to stop this, i think they want them, i dont know what it is, the eggs dont get fungus, they are fine, its just they eat them slowly,
help, ty all,

[Carol_Roberts]

Really - you think the pair are eating them instead of all the other fish in the tank?

First thing I'd do is pull out all the other fish and see what happens . . .

[OEG]

Sorry Carol, i disagree with you. Skavish you actually have a pretty good situation on your hands although it may now look that way now. See you let them spawn a few more times in there and let them build that bond stronger and stronger and their instinct to protect the eggs get better and better and then you move them out into another tank by themsleves. If you move all the other fish now you loose the opportunity to force them to bond and become a true pair that will protect their eggs from the others, even if they eat the eggs they are actually learning from the situation. Its much better to get a pair this way than to just throw two fish together and make them breed.
Oscar

[skavish]

Thank you both for your help, erm ill try and let them do there stuff for a while longer, they have no problem breeding and have done it loads of times, ill give them sum time for a while, then ill move them out on there own. hope it goes well, thanks. ;D

[limige]

sounds like they are doing pretty good! they are probably eating the eggs because they aren't fertilized. how old is the male? also they might be eating them in fear of the other fish getting to them. i'd suggest give them their own tank soon and wait for them to get it right! your doing good, good luck!

mike