preventing egg eaters

[cutecotton]

my last two spawns have ended with the father eating the eggs a few hours before they hatch it is very very disappointing, and i'm wondering if there is a way to prevent this? i have tried to feed the male but he wasn't intersted in the food at all, he just ignored it and moved on

 

[nibbles]

once the eggs are laid, just take him out.. no sense in risking it.. the fry will still hatch from the eggs in the nest, so at least you will get some fry

 

[cutecotton]

actually i tried that, fungas got to the fry. I believe a parent is needed to tend to the nest becuase the movement of the fins, and with dad moving the eggs around and stuff fungas is greatly prevented

 

[nibbles]

too bad... maybe if you stuff him with food for a week before you put him in there to breed .. im just trying to think of things that sound logical, but maybe he will always be an egg eater who knows

 

[cutecotton]

this is his 2nd spawn adn his first one went perfect i just dont' understand why he decided to eat this one i'm goin to leave him in there, but i don't see any more eggs in the nest

next time i think i may try leaving the female in and see if she will tend to the nest has anyone else done this with sucess?

 

[shrks1fan]

If he's eating them, and you've tried taking him out only to have the eggs fungus, that tells me the eggs weren't fertilized and that's why he's eating them. Which is exactly what he's suppose to do.

My steel spawn that I wrote the journal on a while back, I removed what was left of the eggs and put them in 1 inch of water to see if they would hatch, and some did. So they can hatch without the parent, it's just tougher for the fry to survive, and also keep the good eggs clean (bad eggs will fungus and it will spread to the good eggs and fry without the dad to stop that). BTW, there are still 3 surviving fry from that steel spawn, hehe.

Linda

 

[cutecotton]

hmm, interesting (congrats on the 3 fry btw )

i dont' know of a way to tell if eggs are fertilized or not, and i know the daddy is supposet to eat all the unfertilized one, but of all the eggs that they layed, NONE were fertilzied?! i saw htem wrapping too, it seemed like they were doing it, very tight and lasted very long i don't know how not one of them will be fertilized

how do you keep the good eggs clean? you can't tell if they are feritlzied right? (until the fry hatches of course)

 

[shrks1fan]

It's possible he or she is not fertile. Is it the same pair each time? With the eggs I removed I just eye droppered out any eggs I noticed that were getting fungus on them. I've heard there is some way to tell if eggs are fertilized, but I don't know if it's true, if it is, I don't know how, I can barely see the eggs to begin with, hahaha.

Linda

 

[slamster17]

i agree with shark the only reason i can think of is that the male or female is infertile.

 

[cutecotton]

no, both are fertile as they've had babies before

 

[shrks1fan]

Hmm, no clue then, how old are they? Possibly too old? (Just trying to think tank through this problem )

Linda

 

[cutecotton]

hmm i don't know their age as i didn't get htem from breederes, but i just spawned the pair about 2 weeks ago

 

[shrks1fan]

If you just spawned them about 2 weeks ago, try giving them more of a break, 2 weeks is awefully quick, especially for the female. You really want to give the female at least 3 weeks if not a full month before spawning her again. Possibly that is the problem.

Linda

 

[cutecotton]

but what does the female have to do with the male eating eggs?

 

[fourplayfishy]

well think bout it if u think of her like a normal female... stress can cause them to be infertile B) id say maybe give her extra time to calm down