Why Some Fish Eat Their Babies After Giving Birth To Them

Breeding makes your aquarium experience extraordinary. Raising different kinds of fish can give a level of enjoyment for everyone. Proper care is also essential to make your journey possible, based on kingsoftheaquarium.com. However, there are times that unexpected situation occurs, especially when it is about the nature of your little fish friends. And because of that, it might affect your breeding negatively.

The typical example is about the mother fish that eats their babies after giving birth to them. It is a dismaying situation when you are expecting more from your mother breeder. Given that it is a great chance to multiply your fish, thus it becomes impossible when the mother fish eat them unreasonably. For that reason, we want to give you some information about why this happened.

Moreover, this article might be an excellent guideline for some people who experience this problem and want to know more about the said situation. Therefore, we listed some details below to give you some exceptional understanding. So, join us and explore this great content.

Reasons Why: Eating the Fry

This section contains the possible reason why a particular fish eats its fry. Considering this information can help you to know what you need to do to avoid them from happening. It includes the following;

●     Mistaken as a food

Some fish species have obvious parental concern for their fish babies. The best example is the Guppy. Guppy is known for being a great parent for their fry. They are taking care of them and helping them to grow beautifully. Thus, there are some instances that some of them become aggressive after giving birth.

They sometimes mistake their fry for their food. But, as you know, fishes are tiny and swept away by the waves of the water. Similar to the food that you are giving your fish pets. As a result, they accidentally eat their babies. Sad, but it’s the reality.

Proper timing to know where your fish will get pregnant and give birth is vital for the owners. That is the only thing that you must do to separate them apart. It is an excellent idea to keep your tiny little fish safe and secure from their parents.

●     Stress Behavior

Because of the mother’s irritation upon giving birth, they become stressed and can’t control their instinct. This stress factor turns into cannibalism. As you know, one of the nature of the fish is cannibalism. They consume smaller fish. It is a life cycle that remains even in the wild or in a systematic community made by humans, like the aquarium.

Because of the waves inside the aquarium, small fishes can’t control their bodies. As a result, the parent fish might think that some other fish are teasing them. That is why this situation happens.

●     Low Survival Rate of Fry

Being weak is a common situation when it comes to offspring. It happens because not all fry can survive the system around the environment, especially when the baby fishes are in the same tank with other larger fishes. As a result, they become the prey of most of the matured fish in the tank.

Thus, it becomes the same situation when their parents are around them. If their parents think that they can’t survive in the environment and have a weak system, then that is when they become a portion of food.

Therefore, lacking survival traits is why they need to eliminate the fragile specimens for the others. It can provide help for others to build a more vital attribute for themselves.

●     Replenishing the Mother’s Fat Storage

Giving birth is not easy for fish. That is why they need to refill their body with enough nutrients to regain their strength. Thus, it is also a great help to make themselves ready for producing dominant offspring. And the weak specimen is an excellent help for them.

Consuming their vulnerable fry can provide them with unique nutrients and fats. It is also an ideal method to claim self-preservation and keep alive for the future breed.

Conclusion

Knowing this situation is also excellent knowledge to understand your fish pet correctly. Therefore, even though it is a sad case, it also contains the way to survive. However, having an aquarium is not easy as it may be.

Thus, proper safety and security can help to avoid this kind of event. That is why it is necessary to acknowledge the things that might affect your fish breeding, especially for the future breeders that you may have.

Thank you, and we hope that you achieve your preferred aquarium cycle for a great environment. Enjoy breeding!