# Just a bunch of eggs ...



## jerrytheplater (Apr 11, 2007)

What fish are they?


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## someoldguy (Feb 26, 2014)

Rivulus cryptocallus . Been keeping them going since somewhere around 1980 . 
Usually I just let them pop out young in the tank , but I found I was down to 1 female so had to set them up and get a bunch of eggs . Shame to lose them after all this time . The circulatory system is just starting to develop in these eggs , most of which have , I guess , about a week or so before hatching . If you look carefully at the middle egg on the right in the first pic. you can see a small reddish artery beginning to form . I had a bunch that were about to hatch , but were too opaque to get a decent shot of the heart and blood circulation .

( Actually maybe they're not Rivulus … the genus got split a few years back into 5 or 6 pieces. Might be Anablepsoides . But that was last month . Might be something else now . But everyone still calls them Rivulus)


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## Acro (Jul 7, 2012)

Those are great photos! Please post more updates!


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## someoldguy (Feb 26, 2014)

Thanks . The pix came out pretty good considering I was just fooling around. I haven't done any egg images for a real long time , back to the bad old days of film , and then with a camera/microscope combination rather than a camera/super macro lens /focusing rails/tripod. Most of the images were taken at between 3X and 4X life size . At that magnification , depth of field goes out the window . You've got about a total of 1mm. in focus . Everything in front , or in back of this area blurs out . There's a way out by taking shots with different areas in focus , and combining the shots to achieve one image that's totally in focus , but at the magnifications I'm working at ,it involves moving the camera only about .5mm between shots , and my gear isn't that accurate. Think I've got a workaround , but it'll take me a while to make the thing I need.


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## someoldguy (Feb 26, 2014)

So , a couple of more non-egg pix . 

Anubias Flower Spathe [email protected]/6 , ISO 800 , 100/2.8 macro , tripod , no flash










2 images of Aplocheilicthys macrophthalmum . [email protected]/60 , ISO 1600 , handheld , no flash , 100/2.8 macro . These things don't have color on their own , but rely on reflected light to make them 'pop'


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## Krtyr26 (Oct 24, 2015)

That is a gorgeous fish, I wish i knew where to purchase these beautiful guys


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## someoldguy (Feb 26, 2014)




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## randym (Sep 20, 2015)

Great pics, thanks for sharing.

I wonder what those fish look like to each other. Fish can see colors we can't.


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## someoldguy (Feb 26, 2014)

Put together a microscope adapter for my Canon a while back . Finally got a chance to play with it some . The adapter consists of a Pentax M42 microscope adapter of ,probably ,1960's vintage
coupled to a Canon EOS to M42 adapter . Both off eBay , cost less than 50 bucks for the 2 counting postage . The adapter assembly connects my Canon 7D to a Unitron microscope I got when I was an undergrad back in the late 60's/early 70's . Focusing view is on a 24"monitor via the Canon Eos Utility that comes on CD with the camera .Shutter release is also done on-screen via the utility. The camera was set to aperture priority , aperture via the iris below the microscope stage . Exposure around 1/60 , ISO 400 . Initial magnification of 20X , plus some cropping . All eggs are of Fundulopanchax gardneri Makurdi ...










Above is a near ready to hatch egg . Actually it popped a few hours after taking the shot . I did a B&W conversion in Photoshop in an attempt to bring out more detail . Didn't work too well as the egg was pretty much filled with about to hatch fish .










Above is a much younger egg , probably just a few days old . Already a basic circulatory system is forming ( look for the red lines in the image ) Not much of anything else in the egg ,but that will change soon enough .










Finally , an egg that's not doing so well . It's infertile and has been attacked by fungus ( the long filaments ). Usually addition of a drop of acriflavine into the egg dish will prevent fungusing , but I got lazy and let it go . B&W conversion to bring up contrast . Theres a wormlike thing that was lurking around this egg . Look at 12 o'clock . Don't know what it is , probably didn't damage the egg , was just passing through when I shot the image .


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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

Those little fishies with the blue eyes are cute, bunch of them swimming in a community tank at the LFS down the road.
Too pricey for the sizey though over here. But I did fall in like with them instantly. Congrats with the eggs, I have to steal a bunch of eggs from my angelfish in the morning. The male is in no condition to guard a nest. He did eat a bit last night though, which was encouraging.


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## someoldguy (Feb 26, 2014)

Yeah , they're pretty neat . I found mine maybe 2 years back in a shop in NYC . Picked up 6 or so and got them to breed . Got maybe 18 in a 20 long now . Tiny eggs , tiny fry . Microfoods to start for the first few days . Grow slow , too .


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## someoldguy (Feb 26, 2014)

So ..... there's these things that have decided to take up residence on some floating plants (frogbit) in one of my aquariums . Don't really want them there , but they don't seem to bother anything . Anyway , this morning I decided to try to get some pix of them and see what they really look like . Used my 5D2 and a Canon MP-E set to between 1X and 2X to get the picture . Cropped a bit . Hand held at f8 , 1/90 , ISO 5000 . Some noise reduction via Dfine . The biggest bugs are MAYBE 1mm.
Looks like there's actually more than 1 species . Maybe this weekend , if I get bored , I'll set up the camera on a tripod and focusing rails and see if I can get a REALLY good image as to whats going on here....


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## jerrytheplater (Apr 11, 2007)

You've got Springtails. I had them once and added some Endler guppies and they all got eaten. I get them in my emersed Cryptocoryne jars. I have not tried anything to kill them there. Maybe beneficial nematodes would work.

Class Collembola - Springtails and allies - BugGuide.Net

You can tell for sure if they are Springtails by watching if they jump up when disturbed. I think almost all of them do.

Aphids will not jump.


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## someoldguy (Feb 26, 2014)

jerrytheplater said:


> You've got Springtails. I had them once and added some Endler guppies and they all got eaten. I get them in my emersed Cryptocoryne jars. I have not tried anything to kill them there. Maybe beneficial nematodes would work.
> 
> Class Collembola - Springtails and allies - BugGuide.Net
> 
> ...


Thanks for the reply ! Great bug website ! Spent some time yesterday getting some better pix , this time at 5X . They don't particularly jump , preferring to just crawl around on the plant leaves . Anyway , washed them down the drain . Hopefully they didn't leave eggs behind . No fish in the tank yet , won't be for a few weeks at least , save for some cories in the next couple of days . Here's some pix from yesterday ...


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## Acro (Jul 7, 2012)

Those bug photos are really great!

They are true insects, you've got different life stages going on (not different species) and the gray skinny ones are shed skins. 
The aren't springtails, but they kinda remind me of aphids, although I don't think they are. Looks like some other sort of plant-juice-sucking bug. It seems, that in the 1st and last photo, you can see the proboscis (sucking mouth part) piercing the leaf.

Bug in the middle and far right:









Bug on top left (above the shed skin):









Again, thanks for posting these photos!


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## WaterLife (Jul 1, 2015)

Amazing macro shots!

If you find any of the bugs remaining, try and take a pic of their underside to see if they poses the "springtail" prongs.
So many varying species out there of aphids, springtails and other insects, I have no idea what the correct ID may be.


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## someoldguy (Feb 26, 2014)

@Acro ... Thanks for clearing up what the grey things are . I'm thinking they're some kind of aphid , or related , bug .
@WaterLife ..... As of this morning , the tank's bug free . If they return , I'll see if I can get a pic of the underside . They're real small , and mobile , so I suspect I'll have to isolate one in a petri dish and lightly chill it to slow it down , then flip it over to check it out .


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## GrampsGrunge (Jun 18, 2012)

Aphids are like Daphnia, they don't need to be fertilized, (parthenogenesis) to give birth to young. Which is what makes them such a nuisance in gardens.

Most surface feeding fish love Springtails and Aphids, my 85 gallon stock tank/pond will get enormous populations of Springtails in the Spring and Summer months. Enough that the White Clouds will start jumping at them above the meniscus line where they congregate. Free live food for the fish!


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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

Actually they don't but they do....

They recently ran a study into why we have sex.
They used daphnia which can also reproduce asexually.
The cost is very high morbidity in offspring compared to when there is an exchange of genetic material.


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## jerrytheplater (Apr 11, 2007)

After looking at a lot of globular springtail photos, I believe I am wrong when I said so confidently that they are springtails. They are looking a lot like aphids. Most of the Springtails I saw had a distinct "neck" between the head and body. I don't really see this in your macro photos. 

Not all springtails jump either.

From BugGuide on Aphids:

"Identification
Aphids may be identified by two tubelike projections on the posterior, called cornicles or siphunculi. These appear to function as a means of chemical defense, emitting pheromones to alert other aphids about a predator nearby. They also offer mechanical protection, as the fluid emitted can gum up the mouthparts of the predators. Species may sometimes be identified by the host plant, but several aphid spp. may infest the same host."

Post 15 second photo looks like a few of them have these two projections. I didn't see them at first.


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