Who's the daddy

Its mystery time as to who did the deed.  I found these on the glass of my reef tank today

 

 

 
Im inclined to think that they are chromis eggs, but there are a few things that don't add up.
1. They look different, less elongated than normal and quite white rather than cream
2. The chromis are not guarding them
3. They are on the front glass, no where near where they normally lay (back or side wall)
 
Tank inhabitants are
1. bunch of Tangs
2. Clown Pair
3. Blue Green Chromis pair
4. Anthia group
 
There are a few other randoms, but these are the only pairs.
In terms of inverts there are Snails, small starfish, worms, Mysis and other things I dont know about etc
 
Anyone got any suggestions of what they could be?
 
I have left some in the tank, put some into a container with still water and some into a tumbler.
I collected them by scraping them off of the glass with a cut straw and some air line.
In taking the photos quite a few of them twitched if I bumped the plastic that they were on so I think that they are ok at the moment.

Benthic eggs?

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

I measured the eggs today, length 0.75mm width 0.4mm.
They were laid in a patch of algae on the front glass of the aquarium about 200mm x 100mm with eggs less than 2mm apart, lots are touching.  No pattern or grouping, just scattered.  Estimate of 1000+ eggs
 
Pics of some more development

 
Video shows heart beating and blood flow.  Its at the limit for what my camera can show.

The eggs sink when removed from the glass and sit on the bottom of the still container.

1000s of benthic eggs, not guarded but developing quickly looks like a snail job to me.
Keep us posted.

Anderson.

if they were attached to the glass, I would say more than likely snail with what you have listed.

RLTW

180 Gallon Mixed Reef

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" Isaiah 6:8

 
Agreed!

Snail was my first thought.

Those are just odd. Some of the photos look like vertebrate development around a yolk. Others look like snails, but they don't look like veligers at all. I'm sure interested.

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

Some more pics for those playing at home.
 

 
Looks a bit like a snail or a curled up fish

 
And some more info.
 
One of my chromis seems to be hanging out intermittently around the eggs, but not really guarding them.  The same one is also doing some swooping, but at the other end of the tank, this is normal pre and post spawn behavior.

And some video, this makes me question the idea that its a snail, it looks to elongated and more like a fish.

New pictures and video, other than looking a bit more developed, no radical changes  
The video makes me think that its a fish of some sort rather than an invert with the movement and shapes.
In the photos, I think I see snail's.
Basically, Im no help and dont know what they are.
 
Of interest, all of the eggs in the tumbler appear to be no good and are milky white in appearance.  95% of the eggs in the containers look to be good.
All of the eggs were scraped with a cut straw with air line tube and suction. The the contents were then randomly separated across the three containers with several batches to each.
 

 

Do you see a spinal column in there? I don't. But it does not seem to be developing a veliger shell, either. I would lean invert at this point, though.

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

You might want to do a search on starfish larvae: http://bio.rutgers.edu/~gb102/lab_7/701fgm-bipin_larva.html

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

I went back to look at my photos of P.hepatus eggs/prolarvae. The spine was not visible until the day before hatch (about 12 hours before). So I don't think the lack of aspine is conclusive.

The starfish in the tank are all very small, micro starfish, about 3-4mm across the body. I don't think that they could lay eggs like this (size and quantity).

If they're chromis they'll be hatching pretty soon...my C. viridis hatched out as prolarvae.

Its funny, I was going to ask you how long yours took to hatch, but then I went to take some more photos of the egg development ... we have an answer!
 

 

 
Im thinking that these are  Chromis viridis prolarvae.
 
To me it looks like they dont have a spinal column as yet, just soft tissue.
My only other experience with prolarvae is with the P.hepatus.  These guys make the P.hepatus look slow and bumbling.
 
They are fast and aggressive swimmers in comparison, to the eye they look like a clear pipe filled with 4 white balls

The grid matting is 10mm square so that makes the prolarvae about 2-2.5mm long.
 

Looks like you have fish! Take a look at Deb's Chromis journal here: http://www.mbisite.org/Forums/tm.aspx?m=34101

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

Nice snail ! lol Weird eggs for me, I have to say.

Anderson.

I think Ill call these lightning snails (you know like turbo snails but quicker)

LOL

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

Looks like you got your answer.  I'd say those are C. viridis.

More development

 
The eggs in the reef tank have not all hatched (about 1/2 have).
Those in containers under a light appear to have all hatched with 24x7 lighting.
 

Im going to stop updating this thread and provide updates in my Breeding Journal for Chromis viridis http://www.mbisite.org/Forums/tm.aspx?m=63956

Well, there you go. Congratulations!

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

So...Chromis can stick their eggs to the glass??

Oh, yes.  They did it all the time when they were spawning in my 210 gallon tank.  Usually on the back, but sometimes the side. 
 
The male then becomes an apoplectic berzerker, and generally makes life a living hell for every other fish that comes within 3 feet of those eggs, which pretty much means all of the other fish in the tank.

I have only ever seen them lay on the glass or power head where there is algae.



Yup this is the norm, crazy little b@&^@&d. This time however for some reason the male wasnt so nuts, which I think is what confused me off on the type of eggs.  Plus the whole "Who's your daddy" game was fun.