Egg eating.....male????

[Richman]

About 2 months ago, I had a blue panda and red panda pair up in the community tank. They finally spawned and I watched the blue lay the eggs and the red came right behind and ate the eggs on each run as they were layed. A bit later, my largest hi fin Coerulea ran off the blue panda and paired up with the red. The Coerulea layed eggs and they were eaten by the red also. I had two other spawning pairs with fry at the time and decided to leave all these fish in the community tank for a while till I could set up another breeding tank for them. I know that they spawned some more, but I didn't watch closely. Except for once I saw the Coerulea lay eggs and eat them herself immediately. There is another large red panda in the tank and the spawning male (?) constantly harrassed it when with the females.
Finally I set up a tank and separated the Red Panda and the blue panda with a spawning pot.
They spawned a few minutes ago and the red ate the eggs immediately as they were laid. I do not know for sure if the red is actually an immature male. Or perhaps a female?
What do you think??
If he (?) is a male, what are the chances of breaking this behavior and any tips on doing so?

[afick1975]

Randall sometimes it takes a few runs for the fish to get it right. It took a pair of Red Turks I have ten times to get it right.


Andre

[Carol_Roberts]

Young males do eat eggs. Some outgrow it and some don't. IF you really want fry from that male leave them together and see if they can work it out. If not move in a different male.

[shamsoo]

put the wire screen over the eggs and see if the male is fertile or not, this will also break their habbit of egg eating and develops the parental instincts after seeing the wriglers HTH

[Richman]

Thanks guys,

I have another pair of RT that took about 15 spawns before they quit eating them and now are producing fry. They would lay and fertilize, then eat the eggs. This behavior is different. The female makes a run and lays eggs, then the other fish comes up behind and eats them immediately. Therefore, no eggs ever accumulate. Other than that, they show normal spawning behavior. That is why I was wondering if there was a possibility I might have two females. Haven't seen any physical evidence from the supposed male to prove it actually is a male. At this point, I guess I'll just leave them together and see what happens. The EESOB is a great fish except for this behavior.

[Carol_Roberts]

I've had young males eat the eggs as they are layed the first couple of times . . .

[cgrim10]

i have a male marlboro who watched her lay egss and produced wigglers several times. never got fry on him though. now he eats them as fast as she lays them. ????