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Ok, I read the sticky at the top of the page, but am still uncertain on if the eggs I have are fertile or not. About 36 hours ago, I noticed cory eggs on the walls of my tank, I scraped them off and have them floating in a container in the main tank, with an airstone in the container. The sticky at the top of the page says that if the eggs have a white center they are not fertile, and will turn completely white. Mine have the white center, but have not turned completely white. They are more an off white color. Are they fertile?

I only have 2 peppered corys in the tank (I lost 6 in the last 2 weeks due to a columnaris outbreak) so to be honest I would be very surprised if these are fertile. However, it will be great if there is some chance that I ended up with a surviving male/female and do now have fertile eggs.

Thanks. I attached some pictures, not the best, but hopefully give an idea, the problem is you can't see the white center in the pictures.

It is sometimes difficult to ascertain Corydoras egg viability during the first 24 hours. Within 48 hours you will surely know which eggs are good or bad. C. paleatus eggs usually hatch at approximately 4-1/2 days.

Thanks. The eggs have been there now since Friday, and do not appear to have changed at all. I think I will give it until tomorrow evening (would have then been 5 days) and if no change would think its safe to assume they are not viable.

Dead eggs mold, so if they do not mold, I would assume they are fertile

If they do mold however be certain you remouve the molded eggs, as they can infect their neighbours

I had read that they will turn moldy (white and fuzzy looking) and so far none of mine look like that. I guess I had expected by now to have noticed some change? But, since its the first time I have bothered to pull the eggs from being eaten I really have no idea what I am looking at.

Is there anything I should be looking for to tell if the eggs are fertile / developing? or just leave it a few more days and see if they hatch. Should I be changing the water in the container that they are in? or again, just leave it as is.

abcdefghi wrote: Is there anything I should be looking for to tell if the eggs are fertile / developing? or just leave it a few more days and see if they hatch. Should I be changing the water in the container that they are in? or again, just leave it as is.

I would say that as long as the eggs aren't going foosty, you've nothing to loose by leaving them be.

I've found that the eggs can take as long as a week or 10 days to hatch. Not sure why, but I imagine temperature, O2 concentration & water chemistry may all affect the rate of development.

The photo below shows C. paleatus eggs. ( & is probably a good example of how not to save the eggs ) .
However, it shows clearly the difference between the infertile, white eggs and the fertile ones.
You can also make out the shape of the fry developing inside the fertile eggs.

Martin

Martin:

That is an absolutely AMAZING photograph! You can actually see the pepper's spots through the shell!
Thanks for taking the time to put it on the forum.

Joe

Comparing my eggs to the picture Martin posted, mine are infertile. They had also all turned fuzzy by the time I got home from work, shame really, would have been a nice way to re-stock! I did see some more eggs stuck to a leaf last night, but they were gone by this morning.