good question bigfish. normally the female wont stay too long. the males are the ones that will guard and stay on the bed the longest. take note that the female doesnt normally spawn once. she wont squirt all her eggs at one bed. the female will normally squirt 2-4 times at different beds. so im guessing from when the female is attracted to the male, and as soon as she lays her eggs, thats when she will be on or near the bed. the females dont give a crap about the eggs, the male does. once she squirts shes gone. hope this helps.