sea-community
10-05-2009, 7:33 PM
after the female has laid her eggs does the male have to come fertilize them like chickens do. my mom now just brought that up, anyway it got me worried because the male died about a month ago and just today i found 3 white eggs with tiny brown spots on them i pu them in a seperat container but i the the same cage. so is this pointless what im doing are there actually life i those eggs? or does the male need to be there during the whole process?
Vicious_Fish
10-05-2009, 8:37 PM
No, they have to mate first before the female can lay fertile eggs. Just like how chickens do it. ;) There's a very good chance the eggs are fertile.
Chris Anderson
10-05-2009, 10:13 PM
Fish and Amphibians perform external fertilization like you described. Birds, reptiles and mammals all perform internal fertilization. Females of some species, including many chameleons, are able to retain sperm and fertilize a number of clutches from a single breeding event. Your eggs are likely fertile as even if your female didn't mate just before your male died, she could have mated previously.
Chris