How can I tell if my eggs are fertilized?

[David1972]

I have a pair of turqs. The female has layed eggs several times but the eggs never last more than a day because the female eats them all. However, I have noticed that the male often pushing her away from the laying more eggs and pushes her away from the breeding cone. Each time I've seen eggs appear the eggs are orange yellow tint to them. Does that mean the eggs have been fertilised?

David

[Dogvet06]

i think u may find answer here link

[Larry Bugg]

You can't tell by looking at them right after being layed. Only way to know for sure is when they hatch.

[joenaustin04]

i think u may find answer here link

I read through the above thread and couldn't find out anything specific about telling if a pair laying eggs is in fact two females? I have not been around to see them lay but the eggs are turning white over a period of two days. No fungus or hair present. If the eggs were simply infertile, wouldn't they all turn white at roughly the same time? Its been my experience in the past that infertile eggs usually are all white thus confirmed infertile within 24 hours. After 24 hours there are roughly 6 out of 150 eggs that are white but the next 12 hours roughly half are white and by 48 hours they are all eaten. I thought it was due to water flow diluting the chances of fertility so I lowered my filtration flows in the tank considerably, but no luck. These are pretty young fish spawning on 9 day cycles. Approximately 14 months old and 10cm and 12cm. Meth Blue hasn't been attempted with this pair but that is likely my next step. Water parameters out of tap are at 6.8ph, very low hardness. The pair have tried to successfully spawn on everything in the tank from Mopani wood to terracotta pots and even the glass. How many spawns would you wait before throwing a known male into the tank to see if there is the possibility of a trio?

[nc0gnet0]

If you truly want to know if they are indeed fertile, why not pull a batch of eggs, place them into a seperate small, sterile heated tank with a tds of approximately 30-40 ppm, treat with a bit of meth blue and wait two days and see if they hatch. Even if the current in the breeding tank is a bit strong for good fertilzation, you should still get a few viable eggs that hatch. It only takes one wiggler to confirm, and from there in future batches (if they confirm) you can decide how to improve your hatch rate.

Rick

[DonMD]

Or put a screen over the cone that the eggs are on so that the parent can't eat them, and just wait to see what happens.

[nc0gnet0]

Or put a screen over the cone that the eggs are on so that the parent can't eat them, and just wait to see what happens.

That works for the original poster yet, my reply was more geared towards post number 4, in which the eggs were not getting eaten but turning white. In this case it is either the eggs are not fertile, or the water is not right.

[Cosgrovb]

If they make it 24 hours, do not turn white and a black looking spec appears inside the egg. Bingo.

Am I crazy, I think I can see the difference once fertilized and 24hrs passes?

[nc0gnet0]

Nope, not crazy, although it depends a lot of the strain, some show the black dot easily (brown based fish etc) others not as well (white based or albinos).