help,,,eggs,,,,or not !!!!

[ozone]

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hello everybody,,i am new here so be gentle please,

i recently purchased 35+killi eggs, nothobranchius melanospilis machimboni tan 98/2...the eggs duely arrived and i know have them in a container which is floating in my 6ft tank at a temp of 26c, they have a peat substrate and about 2-3'' of water and a very very gentle airstone floating on the surface.

now my problem is that having given the peat a little stir today (curiosity) i can see nothing that remotely looks like an egg of any description anywhere. could somebody please tell me what ,if anything, i should be able to see.

i have successfully bred various other breeds of fish but this is my first killi attempt and its not looking to good so far, i have had the eggs now for about 5 weeks.

have i done something wrong here please,

thanks,
john

[ozone]

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sorry,,yeah,,,had the eggs for about 5 weeks in total. they arrived in a sealed bag inside a foil sealed wrap. i have kept them at a warm temp for 3 weeks, then i put them in a floating container ,still in the sealed poly bag,,but some water must have seeped in because the peat got wet,,then about a week ago i put somepeat into a container added some mature tank water,let it stand a while and then emptied the contents , peat and eggs!, into the peated container..what have i donr wrong, or it it still early days yet!!!,

thanks,
john

[stormhawk]

John, the eggs should be kept in the peat in a container or a bag. It should not have been floated in the tank. Most people in temperate countries like the UK usually use a styrofoam box incubator with a thermostat to measure temperature. Here's a link:

Ricardo Nuno Santos's killi page

Go to the DIY Projects link and you'll find his DIY annual egg incubator.

[timebomb]

John,

For some strange reason, beginners in the hobby always have problems finding the eggs although they're fairly large. I couldn't find them too when I started but after seeing my first one, it wasn't a problem anymore finding the rest. With certain Killies, their eggs are very small and with others, the peat sticks to the eggs thereby rendering them practically invisible. But Notho eggs are easy to spot. Here's a picture which shuold give you a good idea of its size.



Loh K L