Infertile eggs

[Potaqua]

Any tips how to reduce the number of infertile eggs?

I have notice that my CPDs eggs are turning out infertile. There'll be 2 fertile eggs for every 10 eggs.

[jwcarlson]

I had the first spawn with my CPDs and almost all of them were fertile.  All of several subsequent spawns were total failures.  I wish I had an answer.  It might help to know your setup and how you spawn them.  And how many males vs females.

[Potaqua]

Im starting to run into that problem too. The first spawn was great, I had 10 fertile eggs that hatch and are healthy. All the other attempts have been very little fertile eggs and lot of unfertile. 

Here's my setup. I have a java moss in a plastic container in the back where they spawn in. Every morning I would take it out and grab the eggs. I also have a heater that keeps it 72F-75F.

I have 7 CPDs, 2 Males and 5 Females. 

[jwcarlson]

Guppysnail helped quite a bit with troubleshooting (see my CPD thread in signature).  Mine have made a few extra community spawning, but I think I have 2 females and about 8 males.  Once I am done spawning sterbai corys, I will give the CPDs another try.  I don't understand how it could go bad like it did for me.  But it was about the same time our youngest squirted flea and tick meds into their tank.  Maybe that had something to do with it.

Edited November 29, 2023 by jwcarlson

[Potaqua]

Interesting,

I might increase my male count because I don't think have 2 males are doing their job. My females are definitely laying great number of eggs. 

[jwcarlson]

On 11/28/2023 at 10:09 PM, Potaqua said:

Interesting,

I might increase my male count because I don't think have 2 males are doing their job. My females are definitely laying great number of eggs. 

I think the consensus is more females than males.  Have you watched this video?

 

And

 

 

 

[Potaqua]

Yes, I have watch these videos 🙂. I actually watch these before getting CPDs. 

The videos are nice, but it just doesn't give me the answer of why they arent having fertile eggs. Great information about setup though. 

[jwcarlson]

I hope someone can help us.  My first batch of sterbai eggs almost all hatched.  Second batch of about 40, all infertile.  Got another 30 or so the last couple days and look infertile as well.  I don't understand.  

[Potaqua]

Im crossing my fingers that another breeder can share their advice 🙂🤞

[jwcarlson]

I'm wondering if I'm not cleaning out my egg hatching boxes well enough and causing problems that way.  I'm far from experienced, but to my eyes the eggs from subsequent spawns seem to look fertile and then the embryos seem to die when they're very small (and still inside the egg).  I think that's what is happening, once I got my CPD spawning setup tweaked a bit, I got a huge flush of eggs.  Something like 60 or 80.  They looked like they had the fertile look and then typically they just end up looking melty or maybe even disintegrating.  When I clean the boxes I get them in the sink and with lots of hot water scrub it out with my nylon brush.  I'm wondering if there's not some bacterial/fungal carry over (even with methylene blue) that wipes out the next batch before they can hatch.  And I also wonder how much that might be because of my relatively high pH (8.2-8.3) being more apt to allow for rampant bacterial growth.

I think today is the day that this next batch of sterbai eggs should hatch.  I glanced at them this morning and a few looked viable still.  I'm thinking that I'll probably find that none of them look good tonight.  So I'll tear down that box.  I might even clean it with dilute bleach soak and then rinse the snot out of it.  I cannot for the life of me come up with another reason that a first spawn will be good, but the subsequent spawns are total losses with no viable fry whatsoever.

[jwcarlson]

What do you normally do for hatching container cleaning, @Potaqua.  I just got a really good hatch from my CPDs after bleaching and scrubbing.

[TheSwissAquarist]

I got this a lot with my tetras & Cories. Meth blue works ok, but really I think the key is regular spawning of the parents to prevent a build-up of infertile eggs in the female. Everyone probably has an opinion on the matter 😅