they layed the eggs. i have 4 dirth fish with the parents in a 40 gallon tank. i came home and some of the eggs dissapeared. now i only see tiny tiny spots in place of the eggs. today there are only the tiny tiny dots left and very few. it could be my terrible eyesight but im not sure.
If you have really aggressive dither fish that have eaten the eggs or fry, they would have to be something beyond the normal choices for dithers.
More likely is that the eggs have hatched and the parents have hidden the fry. If you start peering around to see the fry, and spot them, the parents will just move them again, trying to find a spot you can't. It's usually less stress on everyone if you keep your distance. The parents' color and behavior will be a solid bit of evidence that they are guarding fry that you can see from as far as across the room without freaking the parents. The videos below give you an idea of what color changes are possible.
I remember visiting someone's apartment. When I walked in I could see a 55 gallon aquarium on the far side of the adjoining room, and I said right away, "Oh, you have baby angelfish!" I couldn't see the fry , which were three or four weeks old, but I could see two adult angels in the middle of the tank and every other fish in there pasted to the tank ends and studiously looking away from the two angels. You will probably notice the dither fish keeping their distance from a certain part of the tank, and if you wanted you could set up a camera and take some videos that could end up showing the fry and the parents. Cameras don't seem to bother them nearly as much as something lurking around that has two big eyes and a bigger mouth!
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com
The thing is if you start counting the fry too soon, the parents will dig deeper holes in the substrate to hide them in, and then the danger of a cave-in increases.
