<font color="red">"Over the years I have formed a particular routine, to start with it will depend on how many eggs have been laid. As a rule of thumb, if there are 20 eggs or less I will remove the eggs and put them in a container and if it is a first spawning I will float the container in the spawning tank. Once I have successfully raised that particular species and noted the details I put the hatching container on a shelf made for the purpose. In both cases the containers will have 3 - 4 of drops of Meth Blue in the water and an air stone. After a day I change about 30% of the water to reduce the strength of the Meth. Blue, using water from the spawning tank, this is repeated on the second day and a small clump of Java moss added, this helps to keep the water sweet and to give the emerging fry some security.
The way I remove the eggs is dependant on the nature of the adult fish. If they are prone to eating their eggs then I will remove them quite soon after they have been laid, the trouble here is they are very delicate and are easily damaged. Cory eggs are stickiest when they are first laid and are best removed with a razor blade, to which they will stick to, they are then easy to gently pick of and put into a hatching container.
I find the hatching rate of of eggs remove straight after spawning can be quite low. There are some species that their eggs are a tough as old boot and no matter what you do to them they all hatch out, but for this discussion I am referring to species like C. sterbai seeing as they have been the topic of discussion in recent posts.
If the fish do not seem interested in eating their eggs I will leave them where they have been put by the female, then at the end of the third day after spawning I will tease the eggs into a hatching, by this time they are less sticky and will roll of the glass or leaf easily, the hatching rate of these egg is usually quite high even as high as 100%.
When I have spawnings where larger numbers of eggs have been laid it is my practice to remove the adult fish and treat the water with meth blue. If the adults are prone to egg predation they will be removed straight after spawning has stopped, if not I will leave them until the end of day three. For those eggs that in both cases were left until day three no Meth. Blue was used and again in both cases the hatching rate was higher. Obviously the Meth. Blue has a slight adverse effect but without it the results are very poor."
/ Ian Fuller</font id="red">
