Discus egg fertilisation

pwnell · Post by **pwnell** » Mon Dec 30, 2013 4:34 pm

My Checkerboard Pigeon Discus just laid eggs again, and I manage to steal one (and got bitten in the process - they are very protective). I did not consider this to be wrong as I knew there were exactly zero chance for any of the eggs to hatch as the neon tetras always eat these eggs within 1 week of them being laid. At least now I can immortalize one.

It was very cool to see the sperm on the egg once I got up to 40x and 60x. The process is simple... The female discus lay a row of eggs on a leaf, then she is immediately followed by the male coating the eggs in sperm. It is like a dance, and really beautiful to see. It took about 4 hours to lay about 50 eggs.

20131229-DSLR_IMG_0035-Edit.jpg by pwnell, on Flickr
Discus egg, 4x*2, DF, HF B

20131229-DSLR_IMG_0303-Edit.jpg by pwnell, on Flickr
Discus egg, 10x, POL, HF B

20131229-DSLR_IMG_0391.jpg by pwnell, on Flickr
Discus egg+diatoms + cyanobacteria, 10x, FLUO-C4

20131229-DSLR_IMG_0395.jpg by pwnell, on Flickr
Discus egg+diatoms + cyanobacteria, 10x, FLUO-C6

20131229-DSLR_IMG_0268-Edit.jpg by pwnell, on Flickr
Discus egg+sperm+diatoms + cyanobacteria, 60, DIC, HF C

20131229-DSLR_IMG_0183-Edit.jpg by pwnell, on Flickr
Discus egg + sperm + diatoms + cyanobacteria, 60, DIC, HF B (1,1) + C

20131229-DSLR_IMG_0236-Edit.jpg by pwnell, on Flickr
Discus egg+diatoms + cyanobacteria, 60, FLUO-C4, HF C

20131229-DSLR_IMG_0250-Edit.jpg by pwnell, on Flickr
Discus egg+diatoms + cyanobacteria, 60, FLUO-C6, HF B

20131229-DSLR_IMG_0268-Edit.jpg by pwnell, on Flickr
Discus egg+sperm+diatoms + cyanobacteria, 60, DIC, HF C - crop

harisA · Post by **harisA** » Tue Dec 31, 2013 1:28 am

Waldo these images are really unique.However i see some vignetting in the corners of some images.I recall your thread about low magnification olympus plan apos and loss of details in the corners.Is this the same issue with 60x plan apo olympus objective on an aps sensor?
I'm asking because i also have some "issues" with nikon plan apos.....

Happy new year

Haris

carlos.uruguay · Post by **carlos.uruguay** » Tue Dec 31, 2013 7:08 am

Impressive document!!

Jacek · Post by **Jacek** » Tue Dec 31, 2013 9:35 am

pwnell · Post by **pwnell** » Tue Dec 31, 2013 11:21 am

harisA wrote:Waldo these images are really unique.However i see some vignetting in the corners of some images.I recall your thread about low magnification olympus plan apos and loss of details in the corners.Is this the same issue with 60x plan apo olympus objective on an aps sensor?
I'm asking because i also have some "issues" with nikon plan apos.....

It has to do with the way I mounted my APS-C camera. I am using direct projection - no intermediate lenses are used, so the size of the image circle from the trinoc head is slightly smaller than the APS-C sensor size, and I dislike cropping when it is not really needed.

harisA · Post by **harisA** » Tue Dec 31, 2013 11:59 am

pwnell wrote:
harisA wrote:Waldo these images are really unique.However i see some vignetting in the corners of some images.I recall your thread about low magnification olympus plan apos and loss of details in the corners.Is this the same issue with 60x plan apo olympus objective on an aps sensor?
I'm asking because i also have some "issues" with nikon plan apos.....
It has to do with the way I mounted my APS-C camera. I am using direct projection - no intermediate lenses are used, so the size of the image circle from the trinoc head is slightly smaller than the APS-C sensor size, and I dislike cropping when it is not really needed.

Do you mean that there is no optics between your objective and camera sensor?This is unlikely to happen.
Your objectives are infinity corrected.The trinocullar head is containing a 180mm tube lens which forms the image on camera sensor.

pwnell · Post by **pwnell** » Tue Dec 31, 2013 12:21 pm

harisA wrote:Do you mean that there is no optics between your objective and camera sensor?This is unlikely to happen.
Your objectives are infinity corrected.The trinocullar head is containing a 180mm tube lens which forms the image on camera sensor.

No optics beside the built in optics in the trinoc head. I was referring to the coupling between the trinoc head and the camera - I have no projection lenses in between the two therefore I have no control over the size of the image circle.

harisA · Post by **harisA** » Tue Dec 31, 2013 2:19 pm

Thank you Waldo for the clarification.I have similar problems with some objectives from nikon and olympus even in smaller sensor (4/3").Please let me know if all your olympus plan apo behave the same.
Happy new year.

pwnell · Post by **pwnell** » Tue Dec 31, 2013 2:36 pm

harisA wrote:Thank you Waldo for the clarification.I have similar problems with some objectives from nikon and olympus even in smaller sensor (4/3").Please let me know if all your olympus plan apo behave the same.
Happy new year.

Most of them do, but some are slightly worse than others. I'd say my 20x and 40x are the best in this regard. Happy new year to you too.

PS: The vignetting is a much lesser evil when compared to the drop in image quality I had when I tried to use various projection optics. I have a PDF I wrote to the manufacturer detailing the issues if you are interested, I'll PM it to you.

hayath · Post by **hayath** » Wed Jan 01, 2014 12:10 am

Absolutely wonderful! Have seen many fish breed in the aquarium but watching the chemistry behind it is fascinating

PS: Hope it's ok if I share the post's link with the fishy folks

pwnell · Post by **pwnell** » Wed Jan 01, 2014 1:41 am

hayath wrote:Absolutely wonderful! Have seen many fish breed in the aquarium but watching the chemistry behind it is fascinating

PS: Hope it's ok if I share the post's link with the fishy folks

Go for it.

NileRed · Post by **NileRed** » Wed Jan 01, 2014 8:06 am

Great! First two shots look like Mercury or hidden part of the Moon. I also enjoyed fluorescence ones.

Roman