[maniac_richboy]

My red oscars keep laying eggs for me about every week and a half. The only trouble is they keep eating their eggs either the 2nd night or the 3rd day when they are going to hatch. I've tried taking out the eggs after the first night, and added some "methylene blue" as a fungus med for the eggs. My only problem is, when the fry are able to swim, they don't seem to swim properly. They're always darting up and down (sort of like betta fry when they've just hatched).
Even with some success, the fry usually dies out within a couple of weeks. I usually make very little water changes to try and get rid of the meds, but whenever I do, I usually let the new water drip into the tank very slowly. Should I continue to use this med for the eggs? Or better yet, tell me what I am doing wrong?

 

[bobme]

Some people say, leave them in there so they learn how to be good mothers.

I say remove them.

 

[taylorhedrich]

Yes, some people do suggest that you leave the fry and eggs in the tank, and I happen to be one of those people. Oscars need to learn how to be parents on their own, and they need to learn on caring for their young and what they are supposed to do the natural way. It is normal for Oscars to eat their first 4-5 batchs of young, but then after that they usually start figuring out what is going on. You are only prolonging that ability for them to learn on their own the natural way if you take the babies and/or eggs out. However there is one exception. I would say after about 10 batches of babies, if they still eat them, then if you wanted to raise the babies I would suggest you take the eggs out anf hatch the fry in a different tank, because after 10 batches it would appear that the parents would never learn. It is completely normal for the babies to wiggle around and make stranga movements, after all they are basically larvae. I hope that this helps you, and I hope that I can convince you to let your Oscars breed the naturally. Please feel free to e-mail me with any questions you have about any fish.
~Taylor~
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