Anyone know what these dots are?

So I've had this 45 gallon tank for a couple of months now, and last week I got late Christmas gifts from my aunt's of African cichlids and yesterday and today I noticed that some of them would go into the spot between my heater and my circulation pump for like 30 seconds staying vertically then leaving, so I check there and this is what I see, I've never seen this before in my tank. Is it eggs gone bad, or is it something else?

They look like eggs. The tan ones are fertilized, the white ones aren't.

LyraGuppi said:

They look like eggs. The tan ones are fertilized, the white ones aren't.

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When should I expect them to hatch? What should I do in preparation?

Sorry, I don't know enough about African Cichlids to answer. Hopefully someone else will input.

Those shouldn't be eggs, because African cichlids are mouth brooders (they carry the eggs and young fry in their mouths) Can we get pictures of the fish?

Upon closer inspection, the white specs look like fresh water limpets. Not too sure why the ones on the black part are tan, but they might be limpets too.
When the dominant African in my tank is being rude and chasing the others, sometimes the victims hide between the filter intake and heater in a vertical position. Do you know what species you have? Few Africans can get on very well in a 45, usually a 55 gallon is the minimum tank size.

I'm almost sure that's algae. I have the same algae on my tanks.

Doesn't look like any algae I have ever seen. Do you have any snails in your tank? They might be snail eggs.

StevenF said:

Doesn't look like any algae I have ever seen. Do you have any snails in your tank? They might be snail eggs.

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It a tough picture. But that was my thought as well.

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No snails in the tank and I make sure of it. Never had any in the tank. There's 2 of the orange ones and 2 of the blue ones.

Yep thought so, all of those fish are mouth brooders. There's zero chance that the specs are eggs. They must be some sort of algae or fungus growing. Also, all those fish are still pretty young and will start becoming very aggressive as time goes on. A 45gal african cichlid tank is doable, but you will have problems once the fish begin to mature. First of all having only 4 africans is not a good idea. Over crowding is something that you almost need to do with Africans or else less dominant individuals can be bullied and killed by the others. I have 15 in my 55, and they are relatively peaceful. If I only had 5 then I bet my tank would be in chaos.

I recommend doing some research about properly stocking Africans. The two orange fish are known as zebras and can be very aggressive compared to other species. You have a red zebra and an orange blotch zebra. The blue one that's facing head on is hard to tell, so idk what that one is. The blue one with black stripes in an elongatus of some sort. I have the same species and even with one usable eye he's the dominant male in my 55gal.

As a heads up, don't keep any other fish with African, except other Africans of the same class (mbunas, haps, victorians etc.) You have all mbunas (rock dwelling) species so only keep other mbunas with them. Also their natural habitat consists of rock piles and tons of places to hid. Providing a couple of rock piles on either end of the tank will certainly help curb aggression and allow places for anyone getting bullied to hide.

Apologies for giving the wrong information, I'll do more research next time!

You could buy a bunch of these to use as caves they cost up to $10 each for the large ones where I come from.



Or you cal use clay planter pots.