I have pulled peat from my nothobranchius tanks, and they had eggs in the peat. Exact counts not sure, but at least 10-15. I dried the peat to a slight moistness and then bagged for 10-14 weeks. After the 10-14 weeks (eggersi) I could not find any eggs visually in the 3 separate pulled batches. I soaked peat and after 3 days nothing. Re-dried, waited 3 weeks and did again. Nothing. What can I be doing wrong? I spent a lot of time looking for eggs before second wetting and found nothing. Can the eggs mold up and disappear? Any help would be appreciated.
Tell us more about the peat. Sometimes very acidic peat causes eggs to die out. Also, how are you searching for the eggs? A "light board", basically, a translucent tray with light below it can be really handy for seeing eggs.
What temp were the eggs incubated at? The article on Nothobranchius here: https://aka.org/!area_Public/publicLibrary/publicLibrary.html says 10-14 weeks for Eggersi at 74-75F, might be if your eggs were stored cooler than that, they’re not yet ready.
Hello,
Eggersi can develop in as little as 3 weeks. This is more of a problem when the peat is damp and kept warm (above 76oF). How were you incubating the eggs?
The best route to success with Nothos is to check the eggs at least every 4 weeks for development and then hatch the eggs when you can see a gold ring around the eye/iris.
It is not uncommon for eggs that have eyed-up to die after a while in the peat.
Please tell us more about how your incubate the eggs.
Hello,
The eggs are much denser than the peat so while the peat spills out of the glass, the eggs should remain.
How are you preparing the peat? I prepare peat in bucket. I take the peat and pour boiling water over it, covering it and stirring, and then let it settle. The peat is then rinsed just before use. I use Jiffy 703 pellets or coco coir peat.
I spoon the rinsed peat into a tub and fill the tub with water to the brim. Once settled I put a lid over the tub and sink it into the aquarium so the peat doesn’t spill. If you are using a glass, you could just put some plastic film over it.
Using more peat is better than less, especially if you are working with long-incubation species.
Online you will find estimates on incubation times but I find that incubation times varies greatly with the keeper. Being able to monitor the eggs keeps guessing to a minimum and improves success. Once you know how long a certain species takes to incubate under your conditions then you can just bag peat and set a reminder in your calendar to check at a certain date.
Try to keep snails out of the peat. They can indeed foul the peat and kill the eggs.
I prepare the peat similar. I mix with coir and boil, drain and then squeeze out excess water through a nut milk bag.
