anyone got pictures of good and bad eggs?

hi all,

my pair finally spawned about 24 hours ago and it seems they were a browny colour when laid, some have stayed that colour and some have gone a creamy colour. i wouldnt say white but a dirty white. is this normal?

thanks in advance.

No pictures, but the creamy ones are probably infertile.
Fertile eggs are translucent, whilst infertile ones turn an opaque creamy white colour.

is there something i have done wrong or is it the males fault? will the male get better over more spawns or should i replace with anohter male?

Don't worry, they can take a few tries to get things right, I have had males being too busy trying to keep me away that he didn't fertalise any eggs.

There are a huge number of reasons why eggs are infertile, to give just a few...

male too young
male not paying attention (too busy definding territory from other fish for example)
water quality
health issues
diet
temporary infertility due to recent treatment
there are many more besides!

In most cases patience is the answer, and even if you have to wait for half a dozen or more attempts, eventually they get it right!

If you haven't done so, do check your water quality, if your water is particularily hard and/or alkaline that can reduce the hatch rate, and gradually lowering the pH to about 7 or 6.5 can often make a big difference.

i know the water is bang on 6.8 PH and i keep it that way all the time ok i guess ill let them try a few more times thanks again

I have often found that the first time a pair spawn or after a long break that the infertility rate is higher, sometimes all of the eggs are infertile. I am coming round to the opinion that maybe the eggs are old in some way or at least not fresh because in every case the next spawn only days later have always been absolutely fine.

Give them time and they should be fine. I tend to keep my breeding pairs in RO water and have had better results than when I used to keep them in my tap water which is 7.5 or higher. Once they spawn and the fry have grown to about a five pence piece body size I remove the parents to another tank and gradually do water changes with tap water.

That allows me to then sell them to local shops which mainly use local tap water.

Good luck,

Trevor