Whats growing on my frogspawn skeleton?

[BeachPlease]

Hi! Does anyone know what these flat white things are growing out of the side of my frogspawn skeleton?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Snail eggs of some variety, but not the standard CUC snails. What snails do you have in your tank?

 

[BeachPlease]

A few tiny to small Ceriths, a tiny Nassarius, and a conch

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

A few tiny to small Ceriths, a tiny Nassarius, and a conch

If that's all, then it's definitely the conch. What species do you have? Any pics of it?

 

[BeachPlease]

Meet Hannibal. Aptly named because when I first got him he ate anything he could catch.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Meet Hannibal. Aptly named because when I first got him he ate anything he could catch.

Cool crown conch! Yeah, those are definitely her eggs.

 

[BeachPlease]

Thank you! Glad I asked before I removed them

 

[BeachPlease]

Any idea on how to give them their best chance at survival?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Any idea on how to give them their best chance at survival?

Setup a larval rearing tank and offer some high-quality feeds of various sizes when they start to hatch (in the field, hatching takes place after 18-30 days).

I'd recommend offering some oyster for sure (probably some small chunks and some very tiny, grated pieces - the fresher the better) and probably something like TDO Chromaboost Type A (possibly with some tiny grated NLS Marine Fish pellets too) to start.

The juveniles/adults do well on oysters, so I'd assume the larvae would too in this case (not an assumption that should usually be made with marine larvae), but the larvae have for sure been documented feeding on detritus, so the TDO(/NLS pellets) would emulate that as a backup for the oysters.

For the larval-rearing tank:

For a very simple larval rearing tank, take a container, put saltwater in it, add an airstone/gentle sponge filter, and - if needed - a heater that is blocked off by a fine mesh (preferably less than 40 microns).

Some larvae may need more than just room-lighting/ambient lighting too, but, IIRC, I don't believe these do.

For an example of a simple larval rearing setup:

Breeding Palaemon Elegans (Mediterrane Rock Pool Shrimp) Guide

Hi, Im going to post a breeding guide of palaemon elegans shrimps here. Two females are preparing for spawning so if you are interested you may want to stick with me. This breeding guide will be interchangable for every kind of shrimps but i stick elegans because: - With cleaner shrimp we are...

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[BeachPlease]

Thank you for the information! Before I dive off into this I am concerned these eggs aren’t even viable? I’ve had her for a year and she’s the only conch. Everything I’ve been reading indicates that she needs to mate in order to fertilize the eggs?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Thank you for the information! Before I dive off into this I am concerned these eggs aren’t even viable? I’ve had her for a year and she’s the only conch. Everything I’ve been reading indicates that she needs to mate in order to fertilize the eggs?

Yeah, she'd need a male to mate with to produce fertile eggs.

 

[BeachPlease]

Dang. So no chance that she’s been hanging onto these fertilized eggs for a year and just decided to lay them? Lol

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Dang. So no chance that she’s been hanging onto these fertilized eggs for a year and just decided to lay them? Lol

Ah, good reminder for me - they can store sperm and fertilize eggs at a later date, but I don't know for how long. So, there's a chance the eggs are fertile, but I don't know how much of a chance it is.