Angelfish eggs keep turning white

[ponderingky]

Since the tank has a divider in the middle to separate the 2 breeding pair I was afraid the water on one side might not get filtered well enough so I put a filter on each side. I considered flow might be a problem so once when I say them laying I shut off the filters, it still didn't work...

This was my first guess - I have had 3 pair in a three way divided 55 and all did fine - I had 2 large sponge filters on each end and an emporer 400 toward the middle but my dividers were the plastic grates used in overhead lights so they allowed good water flow between the divided areas. What type of dividers are you using? Also - what is in the other side of the 55? Do the parents seem distracted by the other fish they can see? Are they aggressive toward the fish through the divider? The male might just be too distracted to fertilize at the correct time. Since you have had good spawns in the past you know the males are fertile - so it has to be something in the new set up. Don't give up - I had a similar problem in my hatchery several years ago and finally figured out that the water holding tank I was using (non-food grade trash cans) was causing the problem.

Keep asking questions - you will find the answer,

 

[johney66]

What type of dividers are you using? Also - what is in the other side of the 55? Do the parents seem distracted by the other fish they can see? Are they aggressive toward the fish through the divider? The male might just be too distracted to fertilize at the correct time. Since you have had good spawns in the past you know the males are fertile - so it has to be something in the new set up. Don't give up - I had a similar problem in my hatchery several years ago and finally figured out that the water holding tank I was using (non-food grade trash cans) was causing the problem.

Keep asking questions - you will find the answer,

The divider I bought from PetSmart, the fish do see each other through it and sometime skirmish at it but when they were in the same tank without a divider they fought and still fertilized their eggs...
I have cut back from using two filters to one.
The males seem to be following right along behind the females as they lay the eggs and also if I pull the eggs then not as many turn white, which makes me think something in the tank is the problem. When I first set it up I did have some plastic tubing I bought from Home Depot in there but I removed it thinking it was the problem. I have done a few partial wc's since then but it still happens. That's why I treated the entire tank with MB but it still happens. I just don't get it...
It's not that I'm trying to be a breeder or anything but since they are pairs and laying I would like to see their efforts come to fruition.

 

[Subvocal]

Hi everybody! I've gotten so much good help here and now unfortunately I need more...

So, I had a couple pair of angels laying eggs in the planted community tank and they were always good viable eggs. Only a few would turn white and the rest would hatch to wigglers but the angels would terrorize all the other fish so I set up a 55gal with a divider and moved the angels.
Since moving them every time they lay, the eggs always start turning white about 24 hours later then fungus grows if I don't remove the white ones.

Once I removed some eggs a dipped them in MBlue and a few hatched. If I leave them in the tank and pick off the white ones as they turn (because the parents don't) no fungus grows but the others still turn white little by little.
If I leave them alone all the eggs turn white and fungus.
I tried treating the entire tank with MB added to 3ppm, I let that set for about 5 days then did a 25% WC and returned the carbon. The instructions on the bottle weren't very good and didn't say on how long to leave it or anything... No luck! The eggs still turn white.
I even tried putting in some live plants to see if that will help, again no luck.
Water parameters are all good.

Any advice???

 

[Subvocal]

I'm having questions about this as well. These eggs are 48hours old. No fungus. Doesn't look like there are wiggles inside. And slowly they are all turning white. Could this be because I haven't got a male?

 

[fishorama]

I don't think you don't have a male, amber eggs are fertile & those look almost 50% to the good! I've had 2 females spawn, all eggs are white...infertile snacks. Are your pairs very young? There's a learning curve sometimes especially w/males. What's happened to your clay cone? Has it been thoroughly water logged/disinfected lately, could there be air in the clay? High(ish) current may blow the male's sperm away from the eggs rather than fertilizing them.
Do the parents tend the eggs? They "should" ,IME, pick off the white infertile eggs & tend the amber good ones.

 

[Subvocal]

I don't think you don't have a male, amber eggs are fertile & those look almost 50% to the good! I've had 2 females spawn, all eggs are white...infertile snacks. Are your pairs very young? There's a learning curve sometimes especially w/males. What's happened to your clay cone? Has it been thoroughly water logged/disinfected lately, could there be air in the clay? High(ish) current may blow the male's sperm away from the eggs rather than fertilizing them.
Do the parents tend the eggs? They "should" ,IME, pick off the white infertile eggs & tend the amber good ones.

Hey thanks for the reply!
I've had this pair in my tank for about 8 months. They were about as big as a quarter when I bought them. So... That's all I know about age.

They have been in a community tank the entire time and this was the first time I attempted to salvage the eggs. They've laid eggs at least 4 times. All the other times they laid eggs, they would fan them and watch over them but after a couple days would eat them.

This was the first time I've seen all eggs become white however. I may have hurt them when I moved the ceramic cone from the the community tank to the isolation tank. I did something kinda dumb. I pulled the cone from the tank and ran downstairs with it. So the eggs were exposed to air or they had no water for about 20 seconds. Maybe a bit more.

The cone was new and I had it sitting in the tank for at least two weeks before they used it.
I'm not sure how I would disinfect it.

I'm going to leave the cone in the community tank in a small isolation container this time to rule out the other tank having issues and to keep from moving them without having water surrounding them for those seconds like last time.
Any other recommendations or suggestions are very welcome (and needed)
Thanks again.

 

[Subvocal]

So another batch yesterday. Left with parents this time. About 20 hours old now. They are fanning. Both of them. Still a lot of Amber eggs but I didn't see the "male" do his part at all yesterday. And today they are doing this strange behavior. Included a vid. Can this behavior help me figure out if they are a pair or ? I've never seen them do this before.

 

[Subvocal]

I guess o can't upload the vid but essentially they are locking mouths together and pushing each other. Looks very aggressive.
Anyone?

 

[fishorama]

IME lip locking is a pre-breeding behavior. It may be that 1 parent is not doing it's share of care or is trying to eat eggs & the other is trying to "correct" that.