How I incubate the eggs of the Nothobranchius

 

The right dryness would be when the outer edges of the peat turns brown in colour. The peat should not stick to your hand if you run your fingers through it.

I hope you have been paying attention to the peat in the last picture and notice the difference. If you have been distracted by the peat, I mean girl, click here to see the wet girl again. Err, I mean wet peat, of course.

Shucks, Christina can be very distracting, don't you think?

 

To bag the peat, roll up the newspaper to form a funnel and insert the opening into a thick plastic bag. Hit the newspaper gently and let the peat drop through the opening. Always check for eggs that may be stuck to the newspaper after all the peat has been bagged.

Do not use ziplock bags to store the eggs as moisture will escape through the thin plastic and the peat will become too dry.

 

Give the plastic bag a good shake to break up any clumps in the peat and then roll it up like a "poh piah" (spring roll). After a few days, there will be condensation on the insides of the bag. Keeping the peat close to the plastic is to keep the moisture close to the peat, thereby preventing it from becoming too dry.

Use a scotch tape to hold the bag in its rolled up position.

 

 

Put the bag holding the peat into a ziplock bag and label it accordingly. Mark down the species, the date the peat was collected and the expected wetting date. Do not use markers to write on the plastic as there is a risk that the alcohol from the marker's ink will seep through the plastic and poison the eggs.

Store the bag in a styrofoam box where it is dark and cool. Check the peat once every 2 weeks by opening up the plastic bag. If there is a lot of condensation, it would mean the peat is too wet. In such a case, dry the peat again by leaving it between several sheets of newspapers. If the peat looks too dry, drop a small piece of wet paper into the bag before rolling it up again. The moisture from the wet paper will spread through the peat and keep it moist.

 
Opening the plastic bag and fluffing the peat once in a while is good for the eggs as fresh air is allowed in. Eggs cannot develop if they are deprived of oxygen.

Egg development time depends on the temperature the eggs are stored and the dryness of the peat. At 29 degrees Centigrade, Nothobranchius eggs should be fully developed in 6 to 8 weeks.

Ronnie Lee, my good friend in Singapore has his own method of collecting and storing peat. Click here to see how Ronnie does it.
Alternatively, you can also store your peat inside plastic containers. Plastic containers have an advantage over plastic bags in that they are very air-tight so no moisture would be lost. They take up much more space though.
As with plastic bags, always remember to label your containers with the name of the species, the date the peat was collected and the expected date of hatching.