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The third spawn is a no-goer. I don't know if dad got disturbed when I shone the light in the cave (I didn't know he had eggs, I was checking on the previous fry) or if this would have happened anyway, but later on in the day after discovering the eggs, I found three eggs outside the cave. All fertile. So I rescued them and put them in a breeder trap. One was starting to hatch the next day but overnight they fungused and died

I did, however, discover that dad was still guarding little fry in his cave so all is not lost (I thought they were gone too!). A couple of days on and those fry are now out in the tank and dad has moved caves again.

So, let's hope they're on a roll and will spawn again soon! Fingers crossed!

Next time resist temptation
Did you have an air stone in with the eggs? That helps with a lot of species.

I didn't have an airstone but it was directly under the spray bar (the same as I did last time) which gave it good, gentle circulation - the water defintely circulates but it's not so strong that the eggs fly around. I think it was just one of those things. I do have methylene blue, but have never used it! Maybe next time, if I have to foster eggs again, I'll give them a little soak first in Meth Blue, just to be sure.

Or you could put a snail or two in with them. They are superb at keeping the eggs clean. The common little pond snail. It was talked about in a nother thread, and I belive more people than me had had good experience with it.

Yes, snails helps you if this happens again. I have good experience with snails and bad without them.

I did put a baby apple snail in with them but he never came out of his shell! And I discovered a baby ramshorn in there too. Just one of those things I guess! Last time I did the exact same setup, without snails, and had no fungus problems. This time, I did. Go figure!