identity crisis

[yellowjacket171]

Hi, Its been so long since I have visited this forum as everything has been going well. About two weeks ago I found something in my tank. We thought maybe they are fish eggs. They are tiny, round, pale clear in color, and after examining them with my magnifying glass the appear to have a tiny black circle inside it. They are on the fake plants I have in the tank and and various other places. Nothing new has not been added to my aquarium for over 9 months, no fish or plants and my last fish death, a platy, occured Feb 18, 2004. Water tested out fine and I did a good cleaning after his death. I figured his death was caused by my male swordtail who is in love with the only female platy. He also killed off a male guppy two months before. My tank has been peaceful and water quality excellent. I just did a good cleaning last night. Throughly checked all my fish after the cleaning with my magnifying glass and they all appear healthy with no growths, torn fins. Just very healthy fish. Please tell me this isn't some other form of life redising in my tank. I would appreciate any advice on what these could be.
29 gal fresh water tank with 4 cory cat fish, 1 male swordtail and 1 female platy

 

[Menagerie]

The only egg laying fish you have are cory cats. I am not familiar with how there eggs look.
Hopefully someone will pop on to give more help

 

[flipz]

Possibly snail eggs? Do you have snails but just left them out of the list assuming it wasn't them? Then again, if you haven't added anything (not even plants) for 9 months, then they more than likely would have breed a million times by now.

So just like menagerie said, hopefully someone else can help. :?

-brent

 

[webmoose]

I guess you will know if they are cory eggs in 72 hours.. Sounds like cory eggs to me.. There is a good chance that this isn't the first time they have done it maybe its just the first time you were lucky enought to see them before the eggs became fish food. The only way I've been able to get them to live past the egg stage is by settting them up in a tank away from everyone else...

 

[yellowjacket171]

I have no snails in my tank and never have. Hopefully they are cory eggs. Any advice on how to keep them alive when I remove them from the tank? I have a clear plastic hangon breeder box I can put in the tank. Will they need air bubbles or would that be too strong for babies? Or should I just leave matters alone and let nature take its course and see if any survive? My boys are excited to see eggs and are hoping some will live.

 

[webmoose]

The trick to these eggs sometimes is that if they are not eatten they sometimes has fungal issues..

The best way is to have a seperate tank or jar with an airstone and some type of Fungicide in it like methyl blue to prevent fungus.

If you try the breader trap thing watch closely for any fuzzyness and remove the eggs that get fungus so it doesn't spread to the other eggs (seeing how you wouldn't want to put methyl blue in your regular tank.

If you just leave them in the tank I suspect they will be consumed. Mine always are without some intervention.

Good luck. Cory fry are great.. Remember if after 72 or so hours they don't hatch they may not have been fertilized by a male and can just be disposed of.

 

[yellowjacket171]

I took a silk plant leaf with eggs on it and put them into the plastic breeder tank. It is 6" X 7" in size with about 5 !/2" of water inside. In the breeder tank I added the aquarium water they came from and put an air stone in with light aeration and nothing is at the bottom. The breeder tank hangs inside the tank so it will stay 80 degrees, the same as the tank. I looked at them later this day and noticed some are moving on the leaves. One minute they are there and then gone. When I check back they are back. Are they able to move being so tiny and round? Not sure if its the water current but they were moving before I added the air stone. They are a darker brown in color then the light tan of before. Does the setup I have OK for now? When do I feed them? I have dried brine shrimp I could grind up and wet so it sinks and I have very fine guppy food. If I feed them, when and how much? I searched the internet for information but haven't found anything too helpful. I hope I'm not trying to raise some unknown creature instead of baby fish. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks