He more than likely spit them out. I didn't get any fry out of my male til about the 4 spawning.

I corraled the male into a net and when I started to lift it out of the water, he spit all the fry out. Now mind you, I never acutually got to take the net out of the water, he spit them out before that.

I think next spawn I'll have to tape that, it was really cool to see.