Snail Spawn, ID?

I noticed these in my seahorse tank this week. But didn't have time to really look at them closely. 

Under 21x mag I can clearly see "eggs", probably about a dozen in each. What is strange, at least to me, is that they aren't placed in a small area but rather in long lines about 1/4 to 1/2" apart.

I have two species in the tank, nassarius and cerith. Any idea who's the daddy?















These are on the side glass, looking from the front:

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I'd guess Nassarius

Chad Penney - MBI Council
Agis quod Adis

After thinking a bit, I have more species that I thought. I have 2 different types of nassarius, the really small ones with light colored shells and larger ones with darker/brownish shells. I also have two astrea snails, I forgot about them.

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

My guess is Nassarius, also.  I have cerith's laying eggs in display on a somewhat regular basis.  The cerith eggs are attached and laid in a pattern right next to each other.  However, with that being said, you could have a different cerith species.

Any other guesses? 

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

hrmm  depending on Nassarius different types of masses occur, with the ones I'm working on it's a capsule laid up against the glass, these appear to be attached to the glass but sorta "flapping" in the water column if you will (assumed from the side shot).  If thats the case I have no clue! 

Might be good to get some shots as they develop!    

Pelagically yours,
~J      

The ones on the side do seem to be attached in only one spot. Since the sides are painted I can't get that view of the ones on the front.

I'll see if I can get some better pics as time goes by.

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

The "eggs" look pretty much the same. Close up each little "sac" looks like it has 6-10 eggs in it, is that right?

Here are pics of one of the snails:



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In the last pic it had just fell out of the clam shell. It was in a big hurry and tumbled over the top.

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"Making captive breeding easier."

This looks like the snail in the last pic, N. maragritifer: http://www.conchology.be/?t=66&family=NASSARIIDAE&species=Nassarius%20margaritifer

Still not sure where the eggs came from though...

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

mm sexy little snails definately a mudsnail of some sort and I'd agree on your quick diagnosis.

It's entirely possible that those snails are your culprit.  Though I can easily bow out and say... never seen the species nor those types of eggs in real life!!

lol that said... can you get me a shot of the snails apical whorl from the back?

Pelagically yours,
~J      

I'll work on that tomorrow.

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Is this the angle you wanted?







I have to work on the tank tomorrow, I'll pull one out and take a few more.

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

hmm close!! a little more to the side from the rear so I can see how that first whorl developed, trying to see if it's bumpy or smooth that will tell us a lot about whether or not it has a planktonic stage (bumpy typically means development in the column whereas smooth means development within the egg capsule)        

Pelagically yours,
~J      

Ok, I'll try again...

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

lol nah that last one should do, I just gotta have the time to really observe it this evening

Pelagically yours,
~J      

I got some more snail pics from this tank. Not sure if these are the seme ones or different but they are more developed. These range in size, the largest being ~1.5mm, this is 21X magnification.

 







 

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

They look like Collonistas, but I doubt they'd be big enough to create the egg packets from your first post. I've never seen them that far out of the shell, though.

--Andy, the bucket man.
"Not to know the mandolin is to argue oneself unknown...." --Clara Lanza, 1886