HELP! Not sure what these eggs are and what to do now.

MFTJohnson123 · Dec 12, 2015

Found some eggs today, they seem to have been moved now or fell to another location. I would like to identify them and protect them if need be. If you can help that would be great.

Wrassemussen · Dec 12, 2015

Can you provide a list of fish and inverts in the tank? That and a clearer picture would help with identification.

If I had to guess I would say cardinal eggs. If they are fertile your best bet is to get them gently tumbling in an egg tumbler.

MFTJohnson123 · Dec 12, 2015

Cant get another pick they have disappeared. I do have cardinals,yellow tangs,damsels,chromis,and clowns. The eggs were on a rock and are missing now.

Lrood · Dec 13, 2015

From those fish listed, cardinals are the only possibility, but the color is wrong (could be the lighting).

MFTJohnson123 · Dec 13, 2015

Ok thank you i will do some research on it. They are gone now so i will just wait and see

TheEngineer · Dec 13, 2015

Cardinals are mouthbrooders. I'd be surprised if it was them. They are usually smaller and more of them in my experience.

reefwiser · Dec 13, 2015

damsels,chromis,and clowns are the only egg layers in this group of fish in your tank. What pairs of fish do you have is the other question.

Wrassemussen · Dec 13, 2015

icecool2 said:
Cardinals are mouthbrooders. I'd be surprised if it was them. They are usually smaller and more of them in my experience.

While most cardinals do have many small eggs, Bangaii cardinals produce small clutches of unusually large eggs. Your pair of cardinals could be inexperienced, or could have gotten interrupted during spawning. I posted a video below that shows an incomplete egg transfer at around 40 sec. It's possible your female wasn't able to eat the eggs that the male missed.

Either way, they'll eventually get the hang of it and you should have some babies on your hands soon!