Small julies chasing and eating fry

[TaffyFish]

I've a load of neol.leleupi fry in a fry trap in my Q tank. I syphoned approx half the spawn from the leleupi's flowerpot in the community tank because the leleupi are novice parents and have lost two previous spawns in just a few days.

There are leleupi fry all over the community tank - the calvus will catch one very occasionally, the catfish will hunt them down as best they can (probably responsible for the previous overnight wipe outs!)
However, the other cichlids will not bother them at all, some leleupi fry actually live in the julie cave where the julie parents seem ciontent to look after them as their own.

Behaviour is very different in the Q tank however - I let a few fry drop from the fry trap into the Q tank with small brichardi, cyps and julies just to see if they would all get along and I could remove the fry trap altogether. But the small julies immediately chased down the leleupi fry and ate them.

So why do the small julies hunt the leleupi fry in the Q tank but not the community tank? Have they learned toleration of other species from their parents?

 

[Managuense]

i dont know how to 100% answer this, but i would assume that in your community tank the julies dont have the "feed" response b/c the leleupi were already IN there.

when you introduced some fry into the Q tank the julies may have sparked more of an interest in eating them.... sorry, i know this is purely anecdotal, but its all i can think of.
M

 

[TaffyFish]

Not sure I understand that reply Managuense but thanks all the same.

The leleupi fry came along well after the julies, so why wouldn't the feed response have sparked off in the community tank too? Then the small julies would have learned the feed behaviour from their larger siblings.

The leleupi fry from 2 spawns continue to shelter in the julie cave, with julie fry of various sizes. The male julie hates the adult leleupi and harrasses them a lot, he never seems to give a second thought about the fry though except to protect them as his own from the calvus and synos.