Rice fish don't like my mop.

[CT_]

I've got 7rice fish and one of them is making 3ish eggs a day.  when this started looked up what to do and threw in a mop because there wasn't any plants (this is a temporary tank until it warms up outside).  After 10 days i inspected the mop and found 0 eggs but threw it in a tub with an airstone just incase.  I also made a second mop and put that in with the fish.  It's been 12 more days and no hatches, and I don't see any eggs in the new mop either.  I'm assuming she's dropping them on the substrate but they'd be impossible to spot there because of the mixed color gravel. 

Are there other mop designs or some other way i could go about this?

[kammaroon]

The eggs are attached to a sticky thread and the fish rubs against plants to attached the eggs. Sometimes, they do not stick too well and drop to the substrate.

Do you have a clump of moss or floating plants with long roots (water lettuce or amazon frogbit) you can throw into the tank?

My fish have been spawning almost nonstop for the last two months. I just leave the eggs in the tank now and scoop up any fries I find.

[CT_]

I had water lettuce with the first batch that I moved over.  I guess I should have said I didn't have any plants that I thought would be good to lay in.

 

If I transfer all my extra water lettuce I have to that tank in there is that enough to protect fry until they're big enough to spot?  How can I be sure they're fed until then? right now I'm feeding the parents BBS and flakes.

[kammaroon]

I find eggs attached to all sorts of plants, even occasionally on the small roots of salvinia and on Amazon sword leaf.

The fry like to stay near the surface, so the water lettuce should offer good protection and they are very easy for you to spot. I feed mine Hikari First Bites and seem to work well because the food stays on the surface where the fry hang out. Flakes crushed into tiny bits should work too.

[Streetwise]

Water lettuce seems like nature’s spawning mop.

[CT_]

Thanks guys!  I'll swap out my spawing mop and salvia for the surplus water letuce I have now.