Weird Ancistrus Brooding Behavior

Has anyone ever heard of a male BNP picking up & moving eggs in and out of their breeding cave.
I have a V shaped tree stump in my 45 high the right stump is hollow and thats where all my BNP breed. I just got a new adult male german super red on wedensday. He bred with my female on friday night because saturday morring he was sitting on eggs. I did a 85 to 90 % water Saturday after noon. When the water levle wnet down past the hole in the stump My male hit the road. I looked... with a flash light and there were no eggs in the stump hole. As I was refilling the tank and the water level rose above the entrance to the stump the male went back inside and sure enough he was sitting on eggs. Now I maybe crazy but I know 100% he was sitting on eggs before the water change and there were no eggs left inside the stump hole when he jumped out of the stump hole. Only to finding him sitting on eggs when he went back inside. The only thing I can think of is that he carried the egg mass out of the stump hole when the water levle was too low and carried them back into the stump hole when the water level rose high enough for him to enter the stump hole, Even if I had another female breeding size which I dont we are only talking 2 min or less from departure to re entering the stump hole.

I'd say you missed them or they shifted to a spot you couldn't see. I've never seen BNP's move eggs. Males guard and rear, but I've never seen them move eggs.

I know I been breeding them for many years, Nothing for me to miss. The hole in the stump is not deep at all. I've never seen BNP's move eggs either in all the BNP's that I have produced. That's why I titled the post Weird Ancistrus Brooding Behavior. You be surprised how many animals have behaved out of the norm.

I keep and breed a lot of different species of Malawi Cichlids . They are mouth brooders . The female is the one that holds the eggs. I have seen more than one video of males picking up the eggs and brooding them. Look at all the different ways fish species reproduce. This was not a spontaneous occurrence. It took many years of evolution to get to where they are today. I'm sure it was only one fish that did something different and it worked . If that behavior was locked in its hard wire then that behavior would be passed down to some of the offspring. If there is anything I learned in my 48 years of fishkeeping and breeding is don't put nothing passed what abnormal behavior these fish can be capable of doing.

It is possible that the whole egg group detatched from the cave wall/ceiling and he used his mouth to move them. It's not impossible, just very improbable.

I've had males reject a batch of eggs and kick them out of the cave.

chriscoli said:

I've had males reject a batch of eggs and kick them out of the cave.

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Yes that's very common this on the other hand was weird