could somebody please tell me why my so called pregnant female has decided to make her eggs vanish and dig like crazy.she is in a tank all by her self and has not eaten for a couple of days now. she doesn't look like she is brooding anymore.the last female i did this to brought on a lovely batch of fry. please help cos i am very puzzled by this. sorry............
the breed in question are malawi's
many thanks
darren

I have that problem alot. I think it's due to the stress from being caught and moved. I've had some spit their brood into the net, still undeveloped. I've also made successfull moves, then come to find out they disappeared. I found it's best to leave them in the tank until you can look into the mouth and see fry. Then pull them out. The eggs could have not been fertilized enough either. Or the fry could have been sucked into your filter. Let me know if this helps at all.

My guess is that the eggs didn't get fertilized. Its possible it was the stress of being moved around, but most likely the first reason.