Bronze cories spawned!!

10 and 11 days old, still have 18! *please please don't let that tempt fate!)

Half pint, the stunted runt of the litter still hanging in there somehow


See him? There's four normal sized fry in the above pic, but on the right side, there's a tiny pint sized fry, probably less than half the size of all the others who are all roughly the same size at the moment.


Pint sized with his bigger siblings again;


And again he's so teeny! But he's hanging in there, swims well enough, so we'll see. Hang in there, Half Pint!



Not the best photos today, was in a bit of a hurry, but logging their progress nonetheless

That one is so tiny? I hope they all they continue to do well!

I would love to see a picture of those fry when they are free swimming. You are right about the water changes inducing spawning. That happens with many species. (Oops ! Just saw the pictures)

Back in the fold said:

I would love to see a picture of those fry when they are free swimming. You are right about the water changes inducing spawning. That happens with many species. (Oops ! Just saw the pictures)

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I'll be spamming lots more pics as they grow, never fear on that front! I worry I'll bore people with spamming pics sometimes, but I like seeing progress photos from others, so thought some others might like it too.


Sadly, one of the fry is deformed
Noticed it a few days ago, but thought maybe it was just sitting weird, or looked distorted through the glass and plastic kritter keeper, but nope, saw him side on again today, now they're bigger, and he has a pretty severe bend in the spine, so his tail points upwards

Hoped I'd never have to deal with this with cory fry. The adults who produced him are unrelated too, so not in-breeding, just bad luck.

I've never to kill/cull before, and not keen to start now, but with guppies it's easy to separate by sex to prevent future breeding, but cories being community spawners and needing company, makes it tougher...

If he/she makes it, perhaps I can keep him or her with my sterbai's, so it'll have company, but not likely to interbreed.

But the fry are still very young, never know which ones may make it yet even, so I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

@AdoraBelle Dearheart Let the fry cull themselves. Some will grow and thrive, others will not. I know a Killifish breeder who keeps all his fish, even the belly sliders, because he doesn’t want to end up with no breeders. And please do post plenty of pictures.

Back in the fold said:

@AdoraBelle Dearheart Let the fry cull themselves. Some will grow and thrive, others will not. I know a Killifish breeder who keeps all his fish, even the belly sliders, because he doesn’t want to end up with no breeders. And please do post plenty of pictures.

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For sure, thank you!

If it makes it (and I know that's a big if, lost 11/18 fry last time, although *touch wood* a better ratio have made it further this time), then I'll figure out something so it can stay with me, and it doesn't breed. I completely understand why culling via euthanasia is often necessary, and feel strongly about not passing along the dodgy genes by allowing any deformed ones to breed, but if a fish seems otherwise functional and not likely to be suffering, then I like to let them live out their lives with me if that's possible. It would be trickier to figure that out with a sociable and less easily sexed fish like a cory, but I can figure something out if it comes to it.

But it's still really early days! They do have a high mortality rate when they're so small, and nature often takes care of the weak, sick and deformed.

Back in the fold said:

@AdoraBelle Dearheart Let the fry cull themselves. Some will grow and thrive, others will not. I know a Killifish breeder who keeps all his fish, even the belly sliders, because he doesn’t want to end up with no breeders. And please do post plenty of pictures.

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Your kilifish breeder friend, bellysliders? I haven't heard that term before, meaning they're not great?

So he breeds from the deformed/weak ones?

AdoraBelle Dearheart said:

Sadly, one of the fry is deformed

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Oh no!

AdoraBelle Dearheart said:

I worry I'll bore people with spamming pics sometimes

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Who could ever get bored of pictures!!!? If they think it is boring, they don't need to follow your thread!

Half Pint, the little half sized runt of the litter sadly passed away. Was expecting it though, there was obviously something wrong that kept him so much smaller than the others.

The remaining 17 though are looking healthy and active, and growing like cory-shaped weeds though! Even the one with a bent spine, so far. Will try to get some photos when I do their evening clean.

Sorry about Half Pint But I am soooo happy for you that all the others are well!

OliveFish05 said:

Sorry about Half Pint But I am soooo happy for you that all the others are well!

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Thank you!
Poor little guy, but it happens, not all of them are gonna make it. Just a part of nature, and it's why they lay so many eggs, knowing that not all with hatch, not all will develop properly, and in the wild, a lot will be picked off by predators.

But I have the seven healthy six month old young from my first batch, and I'm happy I managed to raise seven healthy young cories from my first ever, completely unexpected batch of cory eggs

And *touch wood* so far, more of the young have made it longer than most of the previous batch. By this time with the first batch, I only had eight fry left. Ten out of the 18 that hatched passed away in the first week, then one passed away at three months old, leaving me with seven total. But this time I had 20 hatch, and still have 17 left two weeks after hatching. If I can get more survivors this time round, I'd call that a success

Just because a fish has a deformity doesn't mean it is genetical. It could be from the egg being moved or damaged in someway. We don't tend to to cull out humans that are born with deformities, so we shouldn't with fish. I had a tank that I would put those guys so that they could live out their natural lives.

itiwhetu said:

Just because a fish has a deformity doesn't mean it is genetical. It could be from the egg being moved or damaged in someway. We don't tend to to cull out humans that are born with deformities, so we shouldn't with fish. I had a tank that I would put those guys so that they could live out their natural lives.

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I didn't say it was genetic. It could be any number of things, including potentially me damaging the fry when moving the eggs or fry.

Culling fish doesn't equate to culling humans, not even going to touch that ridiculous statement. Culling (whether by euthanising or moving to a different tank to prevent breeding) does not equal eugenics... just as selective breeding to improve domestic livestock or pets isn't the same thing as eugenics in people.

I also said that I've not had to put down a fish because of deformities before, and that I would find a solution for this one if it survives so it can leave out its life here. But it's also important not to breed fish with issues like this in case it's genetic and could be passed on.

AdoraBelle Dearheart said:

Half Pint, the little half sized runt of the litter sadly passed away. Was expecting it though, there was obviously something wrong that kept him so much smaller than the others.

The remaining 17 though are looking healthy and active, and growing like cory-shaped weeds though! Even the one with a bent spine, so far. Will try to get some photos when I do their evening clean.

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Awww, so sorry.

I just went in and found ths. Lost one yesterday too. Not sure what’s going on at this late stage. He was fine at noon feeding. Going to do a large water change.