I have a pair of Fp. (gardneri) (sp) CI-2010, very nice fish, similar to an N'Sukka location.  Eggs from one of my pairs are developing very slowly, same water temperature, ph, and hardness as another pair of same fish.  1st pair a little older (> 2 years old), are producing eggs that develop very slowly, water incubation has been taking 8-10 weeks.  The other pair (< 1 year old) water incubation is the standard 2-3 weeks as one would expect.

Any thoughts, any direction would be greatly appreciated.

Jim Langan, AKA Webmaster

I'd try the slower eggs at higher temp. 8-10 weeks seems excessive.

Eggs hatched at 9-10 weeks, fry vibrant...

I had a similar problem with my gardneri species. It was not just one species , but all of them. (5 species)Eggs just remained clear for months, with no visible development, I tried everything imaginable like temperatures and water makeup and nothing helped. This went on for over a year. I finally with great difficulty dumped all of my gardneri. Many fish went down the drain. I purchased a couple of new gardneri species to see if I still had the problem. The new fish were  kept in the same conditions as the old fish and laid eggs that developed and hatched in 14 days just like they are supposed to. Still have no clue as to why my  old gardneri fish had such a problem.

I had been keeping many species of gardneri for years and then began to have a similar problem. The eggs would remain clear and never develop even after months. I kept my Aphyosemion species in the same conditions and water and did not see the problem with them. Never could solve the problem after many attempted solutions. Finally just dumped all of my gardneri species which was a lot of fish. I am now starting over with them to see if I will still have the same problem.