Eggs not being fertilized in new tank

[dazdrums]

Hi everyone,
this is my first post.

I have a pair of Red Melons that were happily spawning in my community discus tank (6x2x2). They got to the point of having free swimming fry, but the fry got eaten because of the community environment.

I've since moved them to their own tank, and they are happily laying eggs regularly. The difference is, since moving to this tank, the eggs keep going white within 24hrs..the whole batch each time, approx 50eggs?? The water parameters between each tank are identical other than PH (the community is 6.8, breeding tank 7.2).

Any thoughts? The pair are getting on together fine, going through all the usual motions. The female, especially, is a champ. Very maternal.

Darren.

[Eddie]

Welcome Darren!

How much water movement is in the tank? If there is too much flow from a filter or something, the males milt won't get on the eggs. One way to help this is to put the spawning site away from any current. What type of filtration is running?

Eddie

[dazdrums]

Thanks for the reply Eddie. Water current is low. A sponge filter at the other end of the tank.

[Eddie]

Thanks for the reply Eddie. Water current is low. A sponge filter at the other end of the tank.


Hmmm, okay, whats the TDS reading?

[dazdrums]

TDS?

[Eddie]

TDS?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_dissolved_solids

It can affect fertilization. You can buy a cheap TDS for around 20 bucks.

[hironobu]

Try adding an airstone, sometimes lack of oxygen will kill the eggs quick. Happened to me once when I transfered the pair and the eggs to the breeding tank.

p.s. To save myself the trouble with water I just used the water from the community tank. Works thus far with two generations going strong.

[alexfl73]

im curious to see what you find. I have a very similar situation. I had a pair in a breeding tank with substrate. I Removed the substrate and now I end up doing very small daily water changes to siphon out the junk that is now evident in the bare bottom. Weekly water changes use to keep my water in the high 6's. Now i stay in the low 7's They have gone as far a free swimmers before removing the substrate. Now they continue to lay eggs but turn white within 12 hrs! My TDS out of my tap is 90. Gonna run TDS test on my holding tanks to see. Ill keep you posted as well.

[dazdrums]

Thanks for the info everyone. Sorry for the delay in reply..I was away for a few days. They have since repeated the same pattern for the last couple of days. I was wondering if the male is even doing runs over the eggs. I haven't seen them lay. The female is much more interested than the male, so maybe he's not even doing his bit.

I was wondering about separating them for a while?

I'm looking into a TDS meter.