Yellow tail damsel eggs

[AHarp]

Hi all! I'm thinking I have some eggs. The larger of my yellow tail damsels is spending all his (I'm guessing male) time around one of the rocks, chasing everything else away. My wife noticed some growth that look a lot like eggs to me. Can anyone confirm? And then if they are eggs, is there a chance to take care of them or are they pretty much likely to be eaten/caught in filters/etc?

 

Eggs pic 1

 

Eggs pic 2

 

Not happy with me taking pictures.

[Yachaq]

I have no experience with damsel breeding but those definitely look like eggs. Congratulations!!! That probably means that your damsels are well care of and happy. Most likely the eggs will hatch and the fry will be food for other fish in your system. In my case I have clowns laying eggs constantly. Half of the time they hatch while the other half the pincushion or tuxedo urchins discover the "stash" before hatching and help themselves to a hefty amount of caviar.

Having said all this, raising the fry was a rewarding experience that required a lot of reading, learning and preparation way before there were eggs in my tank.

[Origami]

Damsels are in the same grouping as clownfish, so I suspect that rearing them would be similar. However, it appears that the hatchlings are considerably smaller than most clownfish, so you would have to start with a smaller food to have any chance at success. 

[Yachaq]

Interesting. My guess is that rotifers should still work for them though. Probably using one of the smaller species.

[AHarp]

So since this post, the eggs that were there hatched and a second brood was laid and also hatched. Or at least they disappeared. We never saw anything come out and move around, but we were able to see the eggs grow and develop growing black dots. So that was cool! Reading up, I don't think I have the ability at the moment to really raise fry, so I'll take it as a win that the fish are happy and healthy! Yay for me. Thanks all!

[Cris]

That's pretty cool-congratulations