Parrot cichlid laid eggs

[smackitsakic]

Hi everyone,

I have been noticing my parrot cichlid is basically living in its cave. It usually just hides there the odd time but is often out and about. For the last week though it has been in the cave almost all of the time. We've had this cichlid since new so I was unprepared to discover this morning that there are eggs all throughout the interior walls of the cave. Obviously 'she' is protecting them. There are no other cichlids in the tank, it's basically her tank to her own (we used to have a few guppies). This also explains the shaking/tremoring behaviour I've seen the past couple of days as well.

Anyway, I've never dealt with this before. What do I do with these eggs? Can I take them and wash them away? Will they eventually go away? I am planning to introduce some new fish from the LPS in about a week; will that be an issue?

Thanks.

 

[smackitsakic]

Here are a couple of pictures.

 

[Ladykelly]

Good question.....being a cichlid she be very protective of those infertile eggs.i suggest wiping them off and what trick I saw on YouTube that might help you dispose of eggs easier is put a flat flower clay pan at bottom of tank or a big rock. She probably lay her eggs on it and all you have to do is remove that object. As of tank mates i think it depends on what you thinking of putting in with her. My 2 are by themselves. I'm unsure what sex they are. Im fairly new with them myself hopefully others with more experience can help

 

[Ladykelly]

You can just move that ornament and wipe it off and put back in.... she continued to lay eggs though part of nature. If you remove that ornament permanent she may lay them somewhere hard for you to clean so i suggest putting it back.

 

[itiwhetu]

Cichlids usually keep their eggs clean. So the infertile ones are not a problem.

 

[The Lumpfish Guy]

Depending on the spawning strategies of the fish, they will still undergo ovulation depending on various factors, eg photothermal cues, size, lighting regime ect.

Some fish are able to keep their eggs within the gonad for a period of time after ovulation, eg in Salmon this can be a matter of weeks. But some will need to release them sooner.
In asynchronous maturing species, which many Cichlids are, they expel the eggs quickly as they have an almost continuous supply of developing eggs. For most of these species, the rate at which spawning can happen depends on food availability and the extent of parental care post hatch.

By the sounds of it you have no male in the tank? so I would imagine they are not fertilised eggs. You can either removed the ornament and just get rid of them or just let the female remove them naturally, she will realise at some point they are not fertile.

Now she has started spawning you are probably going to be seeing more of this type of behaviour. Whether or not she might be aggressive to any newcomers, I would hedge on the side of caution and say yes, but you might get away with it. I haven't any experience with Parrot cichlids do I will defer to people with some experience with the species.