Breeding Manganese Cichlids?

Question

My Manganese Cichlids have been laying lots of eggs. Then a day later the mother eats them all. Why do they do that? How do I safely prevent them from eating their own eggs?

Answer 1

i really don't know what a manganese cichlid is. all i can think of is Parachromis managuensis.  the managua jaguar. at any rate, there are several possibilities  your cichlids could be all females. female cichlids will often lay their even in the absence of a male. second is maybe your male was too inexperienced. that shouldn't be a problem. if you keep your cichlids well fed they should be ready to spawn again in a few days. usually within two weeks. the third possiblity is if there are other fish in the tank, maybe they are causing too much distraction to the parents. lastly, the male might be sterile but i really doubt that. i'm betting after a few more spawnings your problem will be where to put the babies. cichlids know when the gss are not fertile and will eat infertile eggs.  i'm assuming you have managuense(sis). when i kept these fish before, my six inch female was producing more than 2000 babies per spawning. i was hesitant to remove the babies because as soon as i removed the babies they would spawn again within a week.  good thing i had my arowanas back then to take care of the excess fish