Re: snacking viejetas

["John McCrone" <j.mccrone@btinternet.com>]

[Mike Wise]
I don't know if I have an answer for this. Dead, unfertilized, eggs usually
fungus very quickly, even in soft & acid water. In fact in blackwater areas
fungi do most of the organic decomposition that normally is done by bacteria
in
more bacteria-friendly waters.

It does appear that your eggs were fertile but something stopped their
development. I can think of 2 possible reasons. One is that something in the
water or the tank have poisoned the developing larvae. This could be metals,
like my zinc example with trout, or some organic compound. The other
possibility
is that your 'pair' are not the same species. Crossing very different
species
commonly produces nonviable offspring. Sometimes this occurs as infertile
spawns, but can also be seen in arrested fetal development.

[John McCrone]
The eggs still stuck to the pot have fungused (lightly). So all normal there
;-).

Poisoning is an interesting possibility but probably unlikely despite the
fact that tank is in my office. I've had viable spawns of a few different
species including rams (even though the buggers ate each spawn after a day
or two free swimming).

Pair would likely be same species because they looked like a batch of
siblings bred together. But I'm not expert enough to really know if the
female is a viejeta (male is textbook).

So I'll let them spawn again and then pull the whole spawn next time just to
see if they develop. Thanks for your thoughts on the matter.

Cheers
------------------------------------------------------------
from John McCrone




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