Possible Cross Breeding?

I came to my classroom today (Monday) and found fry (baby fish). The look like Pleco?

In the tank we 1 plecostomus, 1 asian algae eater (I think), and some Rosy Red Minnows.

The algae eater has been laid eggs twice in the last month but nothing happens.

I put the Rosy Red Minnows in the tank last Friday afternoon.

That looks like a corydoras to me....can I have information on your tank and fish?

trash.binh91 said:

That looks like a corydoras to me....can I have information on your tank and fish?

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Thanks. I looked up Corydoras and it does look like our fish. Here's the tank history.

September:
Another class wanted to get rid of tank. I adopted all their fish into my 25 gallon tank.
I already had 1 tiny algae eater (corydoras), 1 pleco, 2 large goldfish.
I inherited the 1 large goldfish and the algae eater (corydoras) and the pleco in the picture.

Mid Sept:
Removed the goldfish.
My original small algae eater (corydoras) and the original small pleco were nowhere to be seen. So, I now have the current fish in the tank.

Early/Mid Oct:
Algae eater (corydoras) laying eggs all over the tank two different times. The second time the leaves that it laid the eggs on rotted.

Last friday:
In my 40 gallon tank the Rosy Red Minnows were picking on my new ghost shrimp so I moved them into the 25 gallon tank.

Monday (10/24):
Went to clean tank and saw the 5-6 Fry (in the picture).
The fry look like the Pleco. But the Algae Eater (corydoras) was laying eggs earlier.
So which is the female?
Did they cross breed?
Were the fish eggs fertilized in September and they just hatched?

Thanks!

Your tank is not correctly stocked. First of all, corydoras are a schooling fish and need to be in groups of 5+. Second of all, can I have a closeup of the pleco to find out what kind it is?

No, they are not hybrids, as this isn't possible with cory x pleco. And to be totally honest, I don't really know how the eggs got there.

Corydoras are not algae eaters. They are omnivores which need meat as a well as vegetable matter. To do well they need to be fed a sinking food which contains both meat (usually fish) and vegetable ingredients. And a shoal of at least 6 of the same species - there are hundreds of different species of cory.
And cories are south American not Asian.

From reading your posts, I suspect your original 'pleco' is still in the tank; the fry are definitely not corydoras or minnows, plus all those fish species need two parents present in the tank (unlike some livebearers, whose females can store sperm), and none of them will hybridise, they're not even in the same families.

You should sort out exactly what fish you have. I see no corydoras in the photos in post #1. The fish in the lower left photo is a Chinese Algae Eater.

To me the lower left photo looks like a cory, probably a bronze cory overexposed or too brightly lit.
And the photo above it looks like cory eggs, though they look too white to be viable - but that could be due to the photo making them look whiter than they actually were.

essjay said:

To me the lower left photo looks like a cory, probably a bronze cory overexposed or too brightly lit.

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That could be; I saved the photo and then expanded it, and while blurry it does now show me a thicker fish. That dark green tint through the bottom of the fish makes it harder to see too.

essjay said:

And the photo above it looks like cory eggs, though they look too white to be viable - but that could be due to the photo making them look whiter than they actually were.

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I think the eggs are loricariid, so likely the pleco and there must be two of them or these are infertile. Cories to my knowledge never place eggs together like this, but I won't argue if a cory expert says differently. My Farlowella lay eggs like this, only more in vertical rows, but in one spot, and they are white for a few days before turning clear then black. And I don't think there is any doubt that the fry pictured are loricariid. My Farlowella look very similar.

trash.binh91 said:

Your tank is not correctly stocked. First of all, corydoras are a schooling fish and need to be in groups of 5+. Second of all, can I have a closeup of the pleco to find out what kind it is?

Click to expand...

trash.binh91 said:

Your tank is not correctly stocked. First of all, corydoras are a schooling fish and need to be in groups of 5+. Second of all, can I have a closeup of the pleco to find out what kind it is?

Click to expand...

Byron said:

You should sort out exactly what fish you have. I see no corydoras in the photos in post #1. The fish in the lower left photo is a Chinese Algae Eater.

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Yes. When I purchased it they called it a Chinese Algae Eater. I was corrected earlier and told it was the other type of fish.

fluttermoth said:

From reading your posts, I suspect your original 'pleco' is still in the tank; the fry are definitely not corydoras or minnows, plus all those fish species need two parents present in the tank (unlike some livebearers, whose females can store sperm), and none of them will hybridise, they're not even in the same families.

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I'll sift through carefully and look for the other pleco. Thanks

Referring to post #10 wherein I mentioned loricariid eggs and fry, here are some photos of a spawning of my Farlowella showing the eggs (white are new, black are older as there were two females and one male in this tank and the male will often spawn with both females at the same time if they are ready). Also a photo of the fry hatched but still in the stage of absorbing the yolk sac.

mrmathk said:

Yes. When I purchased it they called it a Chinese Algae Eater. I was corrected earlier and told it was the other type of fish.

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Yes, essjay and I have looked at this and it may well be a cory, the photo is at an odd angle.