What Is Up With These Eggs?

[This Old Spouse]

Longfin pepper cory eggs, dropped yesterday in the java moss. I was taking a closer look, and realized they're, well, just not right. Any ideas what the heck is up with these??
 

 

[betta fish]

Do you have sand in your tank? I can only assume small grains of sand have got stuck to the outside of the sticky eggs somehow.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Yes, I have sand, but that's not what this is. It appears to be growths coming off  the eggs. Same color, transparency, consistency. So weird. I thought maybe someone had seen something like this. I'm kind of trying to decide whether I should destroy the eggs or see what happens.

 

[frapadoodle]

Could be fungus.

 

[This Old Spouse]

It's not fuzzy. Plus, they're only a day old. They look like the balloons you make when you blow up a surgical glove. Sort of.

 

[frapadoodle]

Second guess, infertile.

 

[Lunar Jetman]

Same color, transparency, consistency.

It looks a different colour in your photograph..

I'm kind of trying to decide whether I should destroy the eggs or see what happens.

I can't see what harm it will be if you just see what happens. I would have thought the worst is that they won't hatch.

 

[frapadoodle]

Well what happened?

 

[This Old Spouse]

Still there. The two separated and one fell down about an inch. A shrimp is cleaning off the upper one.
 
Speaking of shrimp, I saw a funny thing the other day. A shrimp was grooming one of the peppered cory, and the cory seemed to enjoy it. Hmmmmm.....

 

[frapadoodle]

I wouldn't expect much then. My latest batch, laid about the same time have hatched. I shall have to see if any survive. The two week olds have taken up station at opposite ends of the tank. One still in the Java Fern, the otheron the Amazon Swords.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Well, I just looked and the eggs are gone. Now the search for fry ...

 

[This Old Spouse]

No fry that I can see. Ugh.