Hi AnimalHouse36
So at the moment I'd love to populate a 55 gallon with some home grown pandas.
You mean like this:
Actually, C. pandas are not particularly difficult corys to breed. Compared to many species, they are fairly easy to get them to spawn and their eggs and fry are large which gives them advantage over the tiny fry of some species. The trick is in having some mature fish that are living in an appropriate environment and that have been well nourished in preparation for breeding.
The secret to successful breeding is in knowing that they do not breed quite like some corys which periodically deposit large numbers of eggs across the glass where they are easy to see. Pandas are egg eaters and to prevent this, the females deposit their relatively small numbers of eggs in hidden places. Since they are in captivity, you must control where they are placed and this will enable you to retrieve the eggs and hatch them in other containers.
This is one of my spawning groups that I kept in a 10 gallon tank. Every few months I'd take different fish out of my big tank and put the then active group back in it to give them a rest.
The thermometers are there to provide them hiding places for their eggs. Since there are few other possible hiding places, they find the thermometers and use them.
As far as raising the fry, they are no different from raising other species of corys. Generous feedings and lots of fresh water changes are the most important factors.
Edit: I just noticed that this tank has no filter. Of course, it normally had a box filter running but I had pulled it out to take the picture.
