Are these baby clownfish??

ThRoewer

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They're so small! This was the best I could do for pics. Tbh I think they're too small to be clownfish fry but idk for sure
Those are most likely hermit crab larvae. They look like mysids but behave and swim differently. Mysis usually swims head forward while shrimp and crab larvae usually drift or swim rather tail first. Also, the abrupt swimming pattern fits hermit crab larvae. Also, the reef Mysids you find in our tanks usually stay on the ground and in the corners and rarely get into the water column like larvae.
 
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1Meshy

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Those are most likely hermit crab larvae. They look like mysids but behave and swim differently. Mysis usually swims head forward while shrimp and crab larvae usually drift or swim rather tail first. Also, the abrupt swimming pattern fits hermit crab larvae. Also, the reef Mysids you find in our tanks usually stay on the ground and in the corners and rarely get into the water column like larvae.
I just looked up what hermit crab larvae look like and they do kind of look like them too.

If only I had a microscope.. Then I would've been able to figure out exactly what they were!
 

DaJMasta

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I agree it's probably some sort of invert larvae, but hermit crab larvae I've seen have been fairly energetic, move in sort of pulsed movements, and very commonly bring their tail under their front (sort of curled into a ball), so I wouldn't immediately expect those. They don't have the spike on the front, so probably not porcelain crab, and they don't paddle around more calmly like a kind of lysmata shrimp. They also don't appear to have smashing appendages or anything, so not mantis shrimp. Maybe a different type than the blue leg/red leg hermits I keep is possible, the shape and energy level is about right.

I would not guess fish of any type, they don't look like clowns, and your other fish are either pelagic spawners or spawners that lay their eggs on a surface to have them fertilized - since you've only got one of each, even if the eggs were laid, they wouldn't able to be fertilized afterwards (and they likely wouldn't hatch in such a coordinated burst as an invert shooting out babies).

Did you start with live rock? What inverts have you added? Do you have a pistol shrimp?
 
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1Meshy

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I agree it's probably some sort of invert larvae, but hermit crab larvae I've seen have been fairly energetic, move in sort of pulsed movements, and very commonly bring their tail under their front (sort of curled into a ball), so I wouldn't immediately expect those. They don't have the spike on the front, so probably not porcelain crab, and they don't paddle around more calmly like a kind of lysmata shrimp. They also don't appear to have smashing appendages or anything, so not mantis shrimp. Maybe a different type than the blue leg/red leg hermits I keep is possible, the shape and energy level is about right.

I would not guess fish of any type, they don't look like clowns, and your other fish are either pelagic spawners or spawners that lay their eggs on a surface to have them fertilized - since you've only got one of each, even if the eggs were laid, they wouldn't able to be fertilized afterwards (and they likely wouldn't hatch in such a coordinated burst as an invert shooting out babies).

Did you start with live rock? What inverts have you added? Do you have a pistol shrimp?
I did change my aquascape last year with new live rock, but as said that was over a year ago.

I currently have blue, red and zebra hermit crabs, a pistol, cleaner and blood shrimp (added the cleaner and blood shrimps about a week ago).

I also have a few turbo snails and nassarius snails too.
 

DaJMasta

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If the pistol is new, or if you have more than one, there's a chance they were pistol shrimp larvae. Otherwise maybe a hermit I'm not familiar with or maybe mysids - if they are mysids, you can probably find a small colony of them in your sump or rear chamber - they've gotta be coming from somewhere.
 
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1Meshy

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If the pistol is new, or if you have more than one, there's a chance they were pistol shrimp larvae. Otherwise maybe a hermit I'm not familiar with or maybe mysids - if they are mysids, you can probably find a small colony of them in your sump or rear chamber - they've gotta be coming from somewhere.
No, I've had the pistol alone for over a year now. I did add some new hermits about a month ago but other than that I haven't added anything else.

The only other thing I can think of is that I bought a bunch of corals from a coral farm a couple of weeks ago. Maybe they hitchhiked on them or something.
 
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