A Cory Question

[Akasha72]

Hi everyone...

Well I now have 4 cories - 2 bronze and 2 peppered. I plan to increase those numbers over the next few weeks/months

What I want to know is how do you tell the difference between the males and females? My bronze pair are showing signs of spawning so they must be a boy and girl but I can't see any obvious signs of difference between them.
I'd like to know as I'd like to sex the peppered ones if I can

Thanks in advance

Akasha

 

[fluttermoth]

Cories are quite hard to sex. The best way is to look at them from above; females will be broader just behind the gills.

 

[fee de mer]

Males are have more prominent dorsel fins as they tend to be pointier, females are slighly wider and their dorsel fins are more rounded, could you post some pictures of them,?

 

[Akasha72]

thanks. I'll try and get some pictures but they're arn't the easiest to photogragh. The peppered blend too well into my substrate and my bronze pair are just forever zooming round.

I'm guessing from what you said about the dorsal fins that one of the peppered is male as he has an elongated bit at the front of the fin. The other one is still a baby (only got him/her today) so I'm guessing that kind of thing won't be so obvious.


The only difference I can spot in the bronze pair is one is longer in the body than the other and the gap between the dorsal fin and the tail fin is shorter if that makes any sense. It's their behaviour that makes me thing they are male and female pair.


I'll see if I can get some pictures

 

[fee de mer]

As far as the bronze corys go I think that the longer one will be the male as females tend to be stockier and I bought two babies yesterday and can sex them maybe yours are younger.

 

[soybean]

They'll all still be young so it's tricky, but eventually the bronze female will be larger and more egg shaped when viewed from above. She'll also be the one getting chased...

Peppereds I find a bit more tricky, I have five and they're always spawning but I never see them do it and all the adults look the same to me.

In terms of group numbers the ratio of makes to females doesn't really matter, not like with livebearers.

 

[Akasha72]

I've managed to get some pictures of the two peppered but I've not uploaded them yet so it's hard to say if they are any good yet.
The 2 bronze are hiding out and resting up. That's normal for this time, they normally come out to play later on in the evening so there maybe a chance for a picture later.

Now I have this new peppered it's more obvious how much the first one has grown - he's a good 5 or 6 centimetres now - fully grown I think?

Regarding the ratio - I'd like a group and had I of stuck with one kind then I'd be going up to 6 but as I've got 2 different types I'm aiming for 3 of each. I'm not sure my 110 litre tank could take more than that

 

[Akasha72]

okay. Picture one is pepperpot my first peppered cory. I think it's male ... ?

this is the one I got today, I'm not certain of sex. It would be good if it was female as I have a name in mind that's girly lol

the bronze pair are still in hiding for now

 

[soybean]

Cannot possibly tell from those pics. The differences at this stage with the young one so small will be tiny.

Call it whatever you like, it won't mind!

 

[Akasha72]

it was going to be Rosemary. It would've been my Mum's 70th birthday today and that was her full name (she hated it but hey-ho)

 

[soybean]

Then hello to Rosemary. If it's a boy it will never know

My goldfish Alan turned out to be a female. She didn't mind either.

 

[Akasha72]

okay, managed to get a picture of both bronze cories ...

cory 1

cory 2 (picture not as clear)

And I thought I'd share these two aswell cos they've now become inseperable

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

I suspect (but could very well be wrong) that your have a male and female Peppered, possiblly even a male Corydoras longipinnis (CW003), because of that extended dorsal fin only shown by males.

 

[soybean]

I think that high dorsal fin is because you have a long fin type. None of my pepperereds have that long fin and I definitely have a mixed sex group.

Time will tell what you have, doesn't really matter unless you want to breed them

 

[Akasha72]

I don't mind whether they breed or not it would just be good to be fore warned if I'm going to be getting baby cories!


Out of interest how many cories could my tank hold comfortably? I would like to up the numbers but I don't want to over-do it

forgot to say Soybean ... I changed the name of the new cory last night. It was sat at the front of the tank looking at me and I just said 'hello freckle' it just came out so that is now it's name