egg eating

[pzo316]

can any1 help i hav a pair of aggies who in the hole seem 2 get on female lays eggs every couple of weeks for past few months no fry apear and eggs disapear can any 1 shd some lite on situation

 

[Apistt_ed]

hello,

are they young fish?
if they are young fish, then give them some time to get more experienced and they'll eventually get it right.

How big is the tank that they are in and what tankmates do they have with them?
if the tank is too small or too over crowded, they could be eating the eggs or whatever fry they may have due to stress. If you have other fish in there that could be predators, they may be eating the eggs also.

** Most Importantly**
What is your water parameters?
if the water does not mirror that of their natural environment or optimum for them, the eggs may never develope and just fungus up and that may be why you don't have fry. For aggies, I have found it to be best for me, to have water ph 6.5, and filtered with a little peat moss.


I hope this has helped shed a little light. cheers. john

 

[pzo316]

thanx could u explain on ways 2 lower ph u mention peat as i liv fairly close to felds where peat is picked to burn in fires way out here in scotland

 

[Apistt_ed]

the most efficient ways of lowering the ph of water if you do not have soft water is peat moss, but I'm not sure of using naturally growing peat that one can harvest and put it into their water. But I guess it should be ok. Here in the US, we use Sphagm peat moss which you can buy from gardening stores. All you need is a large holding bucket or tub and you fill it up with water and drop in a stocking full of peatmoss into the water and add aeration of some kind (I use a large air stone). leave it in for a few days and test the water's ph every day or so till it gets to a stable reading. We also make use of R/O water. If you don't know what they are, it is Reverse Osmosis water which has been filtered and treated and then essentially nitrate free water. Here in the States, you can get it at super markets and if your budget allows, you can purchase a R/O unit that you can link up to your tap water along with a holding tank, it will make R/O water. I have found it to work well with the peat moss instead of water out of the tap. If you can, one other option is also collecting rain water. Rain water is naturally soft because it in a sense has gone through the osmosis process in nature. if you can, get a tub or large container and collect fallen rain water, as it also works fine. I hope this helps a little. There are also chemical means of lowering ph, but as more people in here has said in the past, chemicals mess around with the conductivity of the water, which harms apistogrammas. I hope this has helped a little... john

 

[blueblue]

can any1 help i hav a pair of aggies who in the hole seem 2 get on female lays eggs every couple of weeks for past few months no fry apear and eggs disapear can any 1 shd some lite on situation

Just curious, are you sure you have a male and a female aggie?
Plus, do you disturb them a lot after they have laid eggs?

 

[KenL]

Where abouts are you in Scotland? In general here the water is soft enough out of the tap but the local authorities do add chemicals to raise the water to an alkaline pH. After a while this dissipates and the water becomes acidic.

I have successful spawns from a couple of pairs of aggies in the Edinburgh tap water. I have added a small amount of pH lowering aquarium products to get the pH below 7 but a more natural peat method would be better.

You can buy peat at garden centres, just make sure it is free from fertilisers ans pesticide additives.

 

[nightowl1350]

Could you try to hatch on their own? I do with blue rams and angels. An airstone, anti fungus meds and heater is all I use.

 

[Z Man]

You could try raising the fry yourself. If you only get wigglers and they die, at least you know you have a good pair. My good friend "Big John Wubbolt" always said he took the first batch of eggs from a new pair. He then would look in the tank and say, "This first spawn is mine; the rest you can have!"

 

[nightowl1350]

LOL Z Man...I've said the same to many of my new angel or ram pairs It is so true, when you have fish that make poor parents most of the time, you steal the first spawn just incase there are no more.