Eggs?? Now what??

I have one spotted Cory, 3 flame tetras and 2 neon tetras. I did a big tank clean yesterday and today I see little round white spheres throughout the tank, which I’m guessing are eggs (see pictures)?? It’s a 9 gallon heated tank that’s been established for about a year, and stable with these occupants for about 8 months. I have no idea whose eggs they are and what to do with them now. None of the fish are acting protective or aggressive. The catfish was unusually active all day yesterday before the tank cleaning so I’m wondering if that was why? The eggs didn’t appear until sometime this afternoon. They are about as big as those tiny decorating sprinkles you use on cakes or cookies. Help! What should I do now?

My guess Tetra eggs congratulation I just found a red eye tetra fry in my tank a couple of days ago. Once they drop their eggs they forget them-no protection in fact they may eat the eggs or the fry. Just verifying you have no snails?

They are most likely Corydoras eggs, however if you only have one they won't be fertile. Just leave them and see what happens.

Corydoras do best in groups and if you have space, yours would love some company.

Retired Viking said:

Just verifying you have no snails?

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No snails. Do I just leave them be or should I worry about separating them from the adults? How long do they take to hatch, assuming they get fertilized? And what are the chances they will even get fertilized? The 3 flames came from the same original tank, as did the 2 neons. So many unexpected questions!!

Colin_T would know more than me when it comes to eggs and cory.

Colin_T said:

Corydoras do best in groups and if you have space, yours would love some company.

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Is my tank equipped to handle one, or even two more spotted corys, in your opinion? I will establish something live plants first, but don’t want to add too much fish for the environment.

EDIT: did not add my response before accidentally hitting ‘post’

I went through a rough patch in the beginning with this tank and corys. The tank had cycled and I’d taken water to my small, but reputable, LFS a few times to test the levels before putting fish in. Even so, I lost a few corys within the first couple months which made me feel terrible. This guy (or gal?!?) was the lone Cory survivor so I focused on just keeping the balance and keeping the fish I had thriving.

I’ve been worried about adding any new fish so I’ve just left the tank as is for the past 8 months or so and everyone has been doing great! I know they like company, but our small LFS has since closed and the big chain pet store told me it’s probably best just to leave everything as is since it’s been doing well.

A 9 gallon bow front heated tank with a mixed media filter... do you think I’d be ok to add another spotted Cory? (I’ve read they do best in multiples of 3 but I don’t want to overtax the environment...)

Water quality is going to be the issue. Are the plants live of plastic? Live plants can help with water quality, floating plants like hornwort are good too. Do you do weekly water changes of at least 30%? The smaller the tank the greater the effect a change like adding a fish has. You will need to do water test for ammonia to stay on top of it. You may have to do water changes more often if you add another fish.

I know your trying and care about your fish so I hate to bring this up but I have tetras and they also are shoal fish and should be in groups of 6 or more of their own kind. I would not suggest that many fish in your 9 gallon tank just making you aware of it.

Retired Viking said:

I have tetras and they also are shoal fish and should be in groups of 6 or more of their own kind.

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First off, I was to say THANK YOU for being kind in what you’re saying. People sometimes forget that others are still learning and that is why they come to forums in the first place so I genuinely appreciate your insight and how you present it.

At one point I was told 6 tetras as long as they are similar, so I had 3 and 3, but I’ve since learned that was misinformation. I lost one of the neons to an injury after it jumped out of the tank during a cleaning ‍ and this was back in the beginning of the tank when I was having trouble with the corys too so I just left everything be at that time and stuck with 5 total.

I do a 30% change every week and wipe down the ‘plants’ and hiding areas, change the charcoal media once a month and the ceramic disks every 3 months or so. The plants are fake, but I will definitely look into getting real ones now that everything’s been good for awhile. I’ve just been afraid to make ANY changes!

I do test before I clean to make sure everything where it should be so I feel like I have good handle on that. I think my next step will be getting some real plants established and then add another spotted Cory. At this point should I add one more neon so there’s at least even numbers or??

Again, THANK YOU for your time and sharing your knowledge.

With a small tank with 6 small fish you may be able to add a few more but if it worries you, don't. Adding plants will really help with the water quality.That is what I would concentrate on before adding any more fish. Floating plants are easy to care for and good for the water quality. I would look at a larger tank in the future if your are going to try and have 6 of each type which would be 18 fish. I have a 55 gallon tank with 9 neon, 5 ember and 6 red eye tetra plus two cory. I am planing on add a few more soon but do not want to go over 30 total. I am also trying meeting the basic guidelines when it comes to fish shoals.

Paprikakitty said:

Is my tank equipped to handle one, or even two more spotted corys, in your opinion?

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What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?

Paprikakitty said:

I do a 30% change every week and wipe down the ‘plants’ and hiding areas, change the charcoal media once a month and the ceramic disks every 3 months or so.

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Increase the water change to 75% each week. Gravel clean the substrate every time you do a water change.
Make sure new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

You don't need carbon (black granules) in a filter unless you have chemicals or heavy metals in the water that needs to be removed. Find a sponge form another brand of filter and put it in the filter instead of using carbon.

If you have ceramic discs or beads in the filter, these do not get replaced. They hold beneficial filter bacteria and will last as long as the filter. If you want to clean them, put them in a bucket of tank water and swirl them around, then re-use them.

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If you do get new fish, quarantine them for a month before adding them to the main tank. You can use a plastic storage container for quarantine purposes.

Colin_T said:

What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?

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14”x12”x12”

Colin_T said:

Increase the water change to 75% each week. Gravel clean the substrate every time you do a water change.
Make sure new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

You don't need carbon (black granules) in a filter unless you have chemicals or heavy metals in the water that needs to be removed. Find a sponge form another brand of filter and put it in the filter instead of using carbon.

If you have ceramic discs or beads in the filter, these do not get replaced.

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Ok, so I do a deep clean once a month or so meaning 80% of the water and cleaning the substrate in addition to cleaning everything else in the tank. I check the substrate (sand) every time I clean to make sure it’s not overly dirty, but I don’t clean it every time because the Cory rummages around there for additional food and I don’t over feed the rest of the fish so it doesn’t get too gross an a weekly basis. I do test weekly for ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, etc. Things have been going good, but should I be doing a deeper clean every time? Or are you saying IF I add additional fish- that’s what I’d need to do every week?

The filter I have is a sponge with additional compartments for bagged carbon and bagged ceramic disk ‘inserts’. I never rinse the sponge, but I do change the other media because that’s what the tank instructions said to do “for optimal tank health”... Our water is not hard. Should I ditch the carbon all together though and replace that compartment with ceramic disks?

The tank is probably a bit small for more Corydoras.

If you have sand on the bottom and it is remaining clean, then just increase the amount of water you change each week. Change 50-75% of the water every week.

I would remove the carbon and put another sponge in its place.

I agree with Colon_T don't use the carbon cartridges anymore. I have around 10 new ones still in the plastic bags sitting in a box. Live plants do so much more for your water quality.