Egg Detective Help Requested

Crime scene:
Someone's been very happy lately and laying many sacks of eggs about the
aquarium. Before the currents carry them off or they get eaten, they
usually appear overnight at the top of the tank. The egg masses about
0.2 cm in diameter, come out in white masses that slowly turn
burgundy-pink in 12 hours, in grape bunches of a 6-12, massed in white
snot below the water line.

It's a big, wildly overfiltered, tank with soft water, kept at 78 F and
zero nitrogen waste products, oxidized or reduced.

The tank recently had a temperature drop to 68 F when some big dummy did
a 50% water change and didn't plug the water heater back in overnight. I
know this triggers spawns in many of the fish in the tank, like the corys.

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The Usual Suspects:
6 Cardinal Tetras (3 mo old)
3 Albino Cories (6 mo old)
3 Otos (6 mo old)
4 Zebra Danios (1 mo old)
2 White Cloud Minnows (1 mo old)
10 Neon Tetras (1 year old)
5 Harlequin Rasboras (1 year old)
5 Silver Hatchet Fish (1 year old)
1 5 inch Apple Snail, named Petunia Pig (1.5 years old)

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Red Herrings and random speculation not completely based in fact:
I'm betting on the AppleSnail, but from the pictures I've seen in places
off the net, those egg masses are dark burgundy red bunches of grapes
laid above the water line. Petunia has been the lone snail for a month,
since Ms. Pig thinks it's great sport to bite her fellow Apple Snails to
death. From info from off www.applesnail.net, I'm also under the
impression that Apple Snails are sexual. Also, there's no place for
Petunia for to lay eggs above the water line and the lack of mates would
mean Petunia's been storing the ova and sperm for a while, or the
zygotes are held for a while before being released. I haven't been able
to find enough info on Apple Snail biology to confirm this. And yes,
it's an Apple Snail- Pomacea bridgesii (effusa). It has the signature
snorkel and shell curve geometry.

The corys are buddies in a big way, but the tank conditions are
supposedly all wrong, and they're too young.

The rasboras are chummy, but again, the tank conditions are all wrong.
Hell, they'll swim with anything, that's not even a clue.

All the other fish are either not buddies or just too young.

Cories lay eggs singly, stuck to leaves, rocks, etc. Cardinals and neons
require very soft acidic water to spawn, otos rarely or never spawn in
captivity. Danio, rasbora, and white cloud eggs sink. I'm not sure about
hatchetfish, so that leaves them and the snail.

Limnophile

"John Thomas" wrote in message ...
Crime scene:
Someone's been very happy lately and laying many sacks of eggs about the
aquarium.

...and Hatchetfish are notoriously difficult to spawn, so that leaves the
snail (which typically leaves egg pods). Check out applesnail.net and
compare egg descriptions and colours to see if you have a match.
--
www.NetMax.tk

"Limnophile" wrote in message
...
Cories lay eggs singly, stuck to leaves, rocks, etc. Cardinals and
neons require very soft acidic water to spawn, otos rarely or never
spawn in captivity. Danio, rasbora, and white cloud eggs sink. I'm not
sure about hatchetfish, so that leaves them and the snail.

Limnophile

"John Thomas" wrote in message
...
Crime scene:
Someone's been very happy lately and laying many sacks of eggs about
the aquarium.

"NetMax" wrote in message
...

..and Hatchetfish are notoriously difficult to spawn, so that leaves the
snail (which typically leaves egg pods). Check out applesnail.net and
compare egg descriptions and colours to see if you have a match.

Yep, sounds like the snail to me too! According to my Mystery Snail/Apple
Snail info.

Congratulations.

Oz