12 Days Post Spawn (2/5/14) - Egg Collection
Based on the design used by @Dr. Schell, I started building my egg tumbler last night - all the bits gathered together :)
I decided that if I was going to collect the eggs then tonight was the night - we are currently at 12 days post spawn - last time he made it to 16 days (before eating the eggs) but I was interested in documenting as much of the egg development/hatching as I could.
So, I changed the timer so the lights turned off at 7.00pm and left the tank for an hour or so in darkness - I had read that if you do this and then quickly turn the lights on full, the fish are temporarily blinded and you have a chance to catch them. Whilst I was somewhat dubious, it does actually work and I was able to catch him relatively easily.
Now, to get the eggs. From my reading, it seems that on most occasions the male will spit the eggs as soon as it is in the net - mine did not. One suggestion is to pick the male up gently by the tail and dip it in and out of the water and he will release the eggs - mine did not. Another suggestion is to gently pry open the mouth with something like a paper clip and dip the fish in the water - the backwash is meant to dislodge the eggs - that didn't work. After about 10 minutes I still hadn't managed to dislodge the eggs
I continued these various methods and eventually a few eggs come to the front of his mouth and then he spat them all out - success :)
So, this is what we have - I count approximately 30
Similar to the clown fish fry, I am amazed at how soon in the egg development the eyes are pretty much fully formed.
I am pretty excited at the prospect of trying to get these through the next 3 weeks.
I decided that if I was going to collect the eggs then tonight was the night - we are currently at 12 days post spawn - last time he made it to 16 days (before eating the eggs) but I was interested in documenting as much of the egg development/hatching as I could.
So, I changed the timer so the lights turned off at 7.00pm and left the tank for an hour or so in darkness - I had read that if you do this and then quickly turn the lights on full, the fish are temporarily blinded and you have a chance to catch them. Whilst I was somewhat dubious, it does actually work and I was able to catch him relatively easily.
Now, to get the eggs. From my reading, it seems that on most occasions the male will spit the eggs as soon as it is in the net - mine did not. One suggestion is to pick the male up gently by the tail and dip it in and out of the water and he will release the eggs - mine did not. Another suggestion is to gently pry open the mouth with something like a paper clip and dip the fish in the water - the backwash is meant to dislodge the eggs - that didn't work. After about 10 minutes I still hadn't managed to dislodge the eggs
I continued these various methods and eventually a few eggs come to the front of his mouth and then he spat them all out - success :)So, this is what we have - I count approximately 30
Similar to the clown fish fry, I am amazed at how soon in the egg development the eyes are pretty much fully formed.
I am pretty excited at the prospect of trying to get these through the next 3 weeks.
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