RE: Egg colour!!

["Beaudry, Kyle : SEN" <KBEAUDRY@SEN.PARL.GC.CA>]

I have an A. cacatuoides harem in my 55g.
Both females have lost three clutches of eggs in my tank in the last four
weeks.
Every time they lay the eggs are a red-orange colour with a sort of opaque
coating.
They are both very vigilant in their guarding of the eggs and cave, only
coming out to feed.
And even then they don't eat very mych.
In one case the eggs got fungus bad and she either spit them down to the
subtrate or ate them, can't be sure which.
However, I am a little reluctant to think she ate fungused eggs.
At any rate, the first time both females laid eggs the clutches ranged from
20 to 30 eggs.
On each subsequant clutch, for each female that number increased
significantly.
Now, each of their last clutches contained approx. 50 - 60 eggs.

As for hubby, same situation, mine live in a peaceful dwarf community and
dad seems to love nothing but chase other fish. My suspicions lead me to
beleive that the eggs are not getting fertilized, in that each clutch only
lasts three to four days at most. However, I am now going to try and lower
the temperature on the tank to about 76-78 F. It is currently 81F and has
been stable there for all of the previous batches of eggs.

Lastly, you didn't ask but I will mention that the lower the pH the higher
the likelyhood of geting more female fry if they hatch successfully.

Best of luck in future attempts.
Kyle




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