Does fry bother their parents?

[raymond82]

Hi,

My gephyra's have bred twice now and there are about 30-40 juveniles (1-1.5 cm) swimming with them in a 60x40 cm aquarium.

Since a week or so, the male doesn't look too happy anymore, he has his fins clamped and hides a lot. However, whenever I feed him he does come out normally.

The hiding started last week when one of the females had eggs again and I thought he was hiding because she was territorial and with all the fry it got too busy for him. Now the female has given up on the eggs and he is still hiding.Of course the fry is still there.

So the question is: could it be that he's bothered by all the fry and is therefore hiding? Or should I be worried that he is sick?

 

[Mike Wise]

He's probably bothered more by egg brooding females than the fry. It is unlikely that you will see more fry (only spawning) until you move the other fry from the tank. Water quality will also improve with fewer fish in your relatively small tank.

 

[raymond82]

Thanks Mike, the female is not brooding anymore but the male is still hiding a lot so I'm a bit worried now. I'll try to give some of the fry a new home. Since I don't know what to do with all the fry yet I was happy to leave them in there so I wouldn't get more but of course this shouldn't go at the expense of water quality.