Removing your own

Among species that care for their eggs, the tending parents will usually pick out and consume unfertilised and compromised eggs. However, in the absence of loving parents as many fish eggs are, it is up to us aquarists to do the dirty work. You might also want to move the whole batch to a separate container (or an egg tumbler), especially if you want to apply a chemical treatment.

Removal of individual eggs is made easier with the use of one of several tools. A small pipette or eyedropper from the pharmacy can be quite selective in picking out unwanted eggs, and are otherwise very useful tools when dealing with the day-to-day tasks of fry rearing. Otherwise a small bit of airline tube acting as a siphon works quite well too, especially if you can get some rigid airline on the end. I’d caution to get a slow flow going to prevent excessive tumbling which might damage the eggs.

A careful hand and a razor blade can be used to carefully separate eggs from hard surfaces, such as rocks or the aquarium glass. The edge is thin enough to get between the egg and the sticky mucous, without damaging the eggs themselves. A very shallow angle works well here. Be sure to have a container underneath the batch to catch the falling eggs as you work.

In a much simpler way, eggs that are laid on objects such as stones, pots and plants may be moved alongside said objects. It is preferable to keep both the object and the eggs submerged during this process.