possible mystery wrasse spawn...

[ctenophors rule]

I have a single mystery wrasse in a tank with two percs, and one watchman goby.

I also have porcelain crabs, turbo snails, and two seacucumbers.

Tonight, as i was collecting clownfish fry, the water very suddly became full off very very tiny balls. they are very reflective. they are bouyant, but dont float well. and i would have to say 300-600 um. its hard to tell with only a magnifying glass, my microscope isn't working right now.

the only thing that i could thnk off would be the mystery wrasse. would a single wrasse attempt to release eggs even without a male? and if so, could it...she...have been doing this for a while? how can i go about getting a male?

anyway, I will be at school monday, i will bring some and look under a microscope then. how can i preserve these bizarre balls?

thanks guys...tommy

 

[billsreef]

It could be the wrasse spawned without a male, but it's more likely the sea cucumbers spawned. For preserving the eggs for later study, I'd go with 5% buffered formalin if you can get it. Next best would be alcohol, 10% to start with, as a higher percentage will rapidly dehydrate the eggs and change the dimensions.