L260 unusual egg laying location?

[MarcW]

I put a few of the best looking eggs into a small pot of methylene blue, hoping the small bit of fungus on them may have been killed off.

It doesn't seem to have worked the fungus still appears to be spreading!

The eggs are still yellow 3 days or more after being laid, but there are no changes in appearance, could they be infertile and yet to change colour to white, or would the fungus have killed them off as soon as it occured stopping any development?

[Jobro]

Too bad, Marc

On me, they mostly manage to hatch the fry, and then suddenly, the dad leaves the cave and all I find is dead corpses of newly hatched fry...

[bekateen]

Sorry Marc, Keep trying, don't give up. Maybe stronger aeration? I've lost track of what all you've done, so maybe you already tried this.

Regards, Eric

[MarcW]

Thanks Eric, I do have a sponge filter in there as well as the external canister. When trying to hatch the eggs they are mostly in a floating breeding ring which has an airlift into it, enough to keep the eggs moving around.

I think my best bet is to change things around to try and have a male look after the eggs rather than kick them! I might add some more current too.

[MarcW]

During a water change today I found another fish in the tank! I guess its about 2 weeks old, and seems to back up previous observations that the dad is much better at looking after eggs than I am!

So far it's just one youngster I've found hopefully there are a few more somewhere!

[Jobro]

Congrats Marc
Once they are settled in, the parents should keep spawning all year round. You will have plenty of these little guys to come, soon.

[bekateen]

Good news, Marc!

Cheers, Eric

[MarcW]

Thanks! I'm not going to disturb them too much in case there are more not quite ready to leave a cave, its very clear they are better in the cave than with me looking after them !

[MarcW]

As I went in to feed tonight, after the room had been dark for 30 mins or so, I noticed at least 4 young, all seem to be at the point where the yolk has been fully absorbed, so hopefully they will make it, and I'll find some more soon!

[Jobro]

Sometimes 4 is almost a whole spawn for these With 15 being a really big spawn. But maybe it's different for yours.

[MarcW]

From the eggs I've seen kicked out in the past 15 maybe up to 20 seems a normal size clutch for my female. Actually looking at the picture earlier in the thread of the eggs in the floating ring there appears to be ~25 there.

I suppose this latest spawn could have been the young female, who had been injured in what seemed a breeding attempt some time ago, but she has grown a lot and is almost the size of the others. I'd expect her to have smaller clutches as she isn't fully grown yet.