C'mon you stupid eggs!!

[Watcher74]

I found a batch of Cory eggs in my tank last Tuesday. I believe it was a large water change I did on the preceding Sunday that caused them to spawn.

I've had them in a breeders net since wednesday and they still look exactly like they did when I found them. Everything I've found says that it take 3-5 days for them to hatch. These are now 6-8 days old.

I read that if they turn white they are unfertilized but if they stay opaque then they are good.

How opaque or how white are we talking here? Solid white like chicken eggs? Like where you can't see through them at all or what?

 

[OrionGirl]

Solid white is bad. You should be able to see the dark spot of the embyro within the egg, which gradually darkens and grow, until you can see the outline of the fish and a dark eye spot--this is just a few days before they hatch. Using a flashlight to look at the eggs may help--holding it behind the eggs should allow to to detect movement within, as well.

What's your temp? Lower temps = slower incubation.

 

[Leopardess]

Yup. You should definitely be able to see something white/brown within them at this point, if they are fertilized. I have some cory egg pictures progressing over a few days...I'll look for them.

In the future, add one drop of methylene blue per gallon with the eggs. This is common practice to prevent them from fungusing, which they are very prone to doing. When my cories spawned, I didn't have any onhand and they were "ruined."

EDIT:

This is about 10 seconds after they were deposited on the glass:

This is something like 12 hours after, you can see "things" developing inside:

Please forgive the picture quality...

 

[Watcher74]

Oriongirl,

They are clear in the center but tend to fade to whiteness around the edges, but that seems like it's just because you are looking at them lengthwise on the edges. I don't know if that makes sense. Pretty much the opposite of the second picture leopardess posted.

The temp, well this is weird. I have two thermometers: One that sticks on the outside of the glass on the right side and a floating one that stays floating in the left front corner right next to the breeders net. Last week the sticker one read 80 and the floating one read 79. Just now the sticker read 80 and the floating read 75. I have one heater on the left side of the tank and lots of circulation in the tank. No sunshine anywhere near the tank from windows. Odd. Room temperature stays around 75.

Leopardess,

Methylene blue you say? I'll have to remember that next time. I'm afraid this is going to be a no go.

Thanks for the help both of you.

Can I take them out of the water for a few moments for a closer inspection? Would that hurt them if they were good?

 

[Leopardess]

You can take them out if you can do it very carefully without smooshing them. They get damaged sort of easily. However, since they're older they should be able to handle it fine - especially since I don't think they're going to be succesful

 

[Watcher74]

I pulled them out and they were perfectly clear. Not even a hint of anything in them, no dark eye spot, nothing. Oh well. No harm no foul. All part of the learning process. I'll know better next time.

Thanks.

 

[Leopardess]

I suggest you try again

Feed them good food for a few days, high in protein.

Know how I got mine to spawn? By accident, when I moved...

The three "key" factors are:

Lower lighting
Large water change
Lower temperature

When I moved, my lights got screwed up and I went from 160w down to 30w on my 55g for a week or two.

I also, obviously, had to get rid of a fair amount of water. I'd say it was about 70% new water when I set it back up.

I forgot to plug the heater in, and the tank temp went down about...1 or 2 degrees.

All that ended up in some rather randy little bronze cories Just thought I'd share in case you wanted to try some of those moves to get your little guys and gals amorous

 

[Watcher74]

Thanks Leopardess. I'll keep that in my notes but I'm not going to try right now. I'm probably moving half way across the country in a couple months and will be getting rid of my fish to the best local LFS I frequent. No reason to put babies through a stressful move to a new aquarium.

I'll try it when I get to Texas.

 

[snakeskinner]

I wonder if they were fertilized? I really have no experience with eggs but I'm starting killi's and have a mop in my rainbow tank just in case they feel like it. Kyle