Egg identification?

Sammik

Sammik

New member
Hi team, I noticed a bunch of eggs floating around our tank and I'm a little lost as to how this could be? One of the fishes nibbled at the clump before I could grab it and for now I have put them in the Fuge in a plastic bottle with flow coming through. I have a 500 litre tank with:

Blue tang
Sailfin tang
Clown fish pair
2 royal dotty backs
Cowfish
Foxface
Cleaner shrimp

Otherwise loads of coral.

My guess it could be from the cleaner shrimp and they are unfertilised as there is only 1! The only logical pair is the clown fish I think, the dottybacks done tend to go near each other. Please find the attached pictures. It looks like there might be eyes in there and I was just wondering if any of these fish could conceivably have bred?

Thanks for any help!
 

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Those look like baby clowns that have hatched and died because they don't have the proper food. Keep an eye on your clowns and if they laid another batch of eggs, then the male would be next to them the whole time.
 
Thanks a lot! Really appreciate it, the only other one I could think of was maybe hermit crab eggs? We have a few
 
If it's and egg mass then it's from the dottybacks. You can hatch them in a bottle or glass with a little bubbler inside.
I did that all the times with my marine betta and dottyback clutches. I would syphon them off the day they should hatch and place them in a glass inside the larva tank. I used an airhose to blow some water on the eggs to keep them supplied with oxygen and aid the hatch of the larva.

Oh, and those were close to hatching - you can already see the eyes. Usually they get silvery close to the hatch.
Though the white indicates that they may be dead - alive they should be either dark colored or transparent
 
Last edited:
ThRoewer said:
Though the white indicates that they may be dead - alive they should be either dark colored or transparent
Click to expand...

Yes,the embryos died soon before hatching.That´s why the parent rejected the egg mass which lately became buoyant,due to decomposition.
 
Awesome this is amazing info thanks both! :) great to hear they might be trying to breed, shame it didn't quite work out this time! The big dottyback was chasing my hand today so might have some more eggs somewhere?! Thanks!
 
Royal dotties are P.pacagnellae?.Remarkable if so,as this is an aggressive species notoriously hard to pair off.:cool:
 
Luis A M said:
Royal dotties are P.pacagnellae?.Remarkable if so,as this is an aggressive species notoriously hard to pair off.:cool:
Click to expand...

I would start with two small or better a medium and a small.

I formed a pair of fridmani (which is among the easiest because you can easily tell male from female by the tailfin and body shape) but the female was initially slightly larger than the male and wouldn't accept his dominance. By now he has outgrown her and she is always full of eggs. Though I'm not sure if they have spawned yet as she is still reluctant to follow him into his cave.
 
So I think my pair bred again as I can see another egg mass under our hammer coral and the male is pretty protective flying into my hand if I'm ever around there. Just wondering if anyone can help tell me how long eggs take to hatch so I can try and keep an eye out for the lil guys. Don't think I have much chance of saving them as there are a number of fish who will probably pick them off unfortunately but would like to try all the same. Thanks!
 
Sammik said:
So I think my pair bred again as I can see another egg mass under our hammer coral and the male is pretty protective flying into my hand if I'm ever around there. Just wondering if anyone can help tell me how long eggs take to hatch so I can try and keep an eye out for the lil guys. Don't think I have much chance of saving them as there are a number of fish who will probably pick them off unfortunately but would like to try all the same. Thanks!
Click to expand...
For clowns it will take 7-10 days to hatch. You will notice the eggs become shiny a day or two before they hatch.
 
There are ways to try to save them. There is a guy who makes a larva collector that might catch some before the fish pick them off. Many things in nature (not sure about your dotties) are program to hatch or release right after dark. Do you watch your tank? what are the odds you will be there close to when they release? If you can see they are getting ready to hatch you can stay up or ease your timer back some before hand. But you'll probably need some micro algae and some copepods or rotifers. Do you have those things?
 
Sammik said:
So I think my pair bred again as I can see another egg mass under our hammer coral and the male is pretty protective flying into my hand if I'm ever around there. Just wondering if anyone can help tell me how long eggs take to hatch so I can try and keep an eye out for the lil guys. Don't think I have much chance of saving them as there are a number of fish who will probably pick them off unfortunately but would like to try all the same. Thanks!
Click to expand...

If you can see them and reach them I would syphon the egg mass off before they hatch and incubate them inside the larva tank. Ideally you want to wait with taking the eggs out as long as possible. They get close to hatch when you can see their eyes getting silvery.
Though I would record when they spawn and how long it takes for the eggs to hatch without interference. That way you will know when to take them out the next time.
The best to incubate them in the larva tank is a small separation funnel (250 to 500 ml). If you go with plastic you can cut off the narrow neck to make it easier for the hatched larva to get to the water surface (they have to break through the surface to fill their swim bladder with air).
Also it is best to use upward water flow instead of air bubbles to keep the egg ball suspended in the water and well supplied with oxygen.
 
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