Do Plecos Eat Their Own/kins Eggs Or Fry?

I have a pair of albino bushy nose plecos that had just spawned. For some reason, the male does not guard the eggs all the time. He goes off wandering around all over the tank and eventually he returns for a moment and goes off again. He does this throughout the day.

I do have other bushy nose in the tank and a few times a saw another bushy nose go inside the cave and I had to drive her out. A few days later, I took out the eggs and placed them in a separate tank for them to hatch, but I noticed that some of the eggs were only empty shells.

Did the fry hatch out already and the adults ate them or did some of the adults eat the eggs in the cave?

Today, I finally noticed 1 fry hatch out, the rest should be hatching soon.

 

I have a pair of albino bushy nose plecos that had just spawned. For some reason, the male does not guard the eggs all the time. He goes off wandering around all over the tank and eventually he returns for a moment and goes off again. He does this throughout the day.

I do have other bushy nose in the tank and a few times a saw another bushy nose go inside the cave and I had to drive her out. A few days later, I took out the eggs and placed them in a separate tank for them to hatch, but I noticed that some of the eggs were only empty shells.

Did the fry hatch out already and the adults ate them or did some of the adults eat the eggs in the cave?

Today, I finally noticed 1 fry hatch out, the rest should be hatching soon.

I have personally never heard of bristlenose plecos eating their own fry. The males protect the eggs. Maybe your male is an inexperienced parent and still learning? I know fish like angels and some African Cichlids will eat their young if they don’t think they’ll survive, but I doubt it was anything like that.

 

Bristlenose I'm not sure of but most egg layers do eat their eggs. Usually from inexperience but also if there duds.

 

Well, I was not saying that the dad pleco ate the eggs/fry, my question was will other BN eat other BN's eggs/fry.

 

Yes, other bns will eat any eggs they can find, even if they laid them. The male needs to learn to protect them (the male will eat any duds as well).
Males will invade another male's cave and destroy or kick the eggs out to be at the mercy of everything else in the tank. Any fry that perish soon become food, any fry that are too slow or otherwise damaged can be eaten, even by siblings.