CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

Hello all!
Well, we have a huge tank set up. We have 5 Zebra Cichlids. Once we noticed that two became very protective of a ship, I took the other three out and placed into another tank. I looked inside of the ship with a flashlight and there were eggs all over. We were very excited and were told that the mother and father will not eat them, and that in about a week, we would have little cichlids. Well, a week went by and all the eggs disappeared. I thought that the babies were probably hiding, so I left it all alone. Now about a month has passed and still nothing, I finally had to clean the tank and moved the ship. Nothing. Could someone please tell me what happened, so that it does not happen again. We were all so very disappointed. Thank you.

Hi, Vinfi! Welcome to the forum! Have a look around, its a great place.

Okay, first off, what size tank is it? Huge means different things to different people. My mom thinks the 29 gallon I have in my room is mamoth, and can hardly fathom a 55 gallon tank being necessary for anything.

Secondly, what do you mean by zebra? There is an African cichlid commonly refered to as a zebra, but it is a mouth brooder and does not lay eggs in a cave and then defend them. Here is a picture.

http://www.aquaworld.netfirms.com/Cichlidae/Pseudotropheus_zebra.htm

Or do you mean a convict cichlid?

http://fish.orbust.net/convictcichlid.html

Convict Cichlids will often eat their first broods. Don't worry about that. It just takes some time.

Good luck with your fish, man (or woman, as the case may be. I've messed up on that one before... )