Breeding Cories, I Give Up!

[Fishkeeper2004]

Ok.. My tank currently contains,

8 Bronze
5 Julli
4 Pandas

They have all been settled in my tank for over a year now, with the bronzes bought around 1 1/2 years ago. Within a few months of them settling in, I started to change 50% of the water monthly, and replaced it with water 5-6 degrees cooler than the original. Aswell as this, I have been feeding them tablet food, microworms, and various frozen foods. My tank is heavily planted with a large piece of bogwood and a cave, and I believe it's a good setup for breeding cories..

Now I have done hours on end research on breeding these little beauties, and have followed each instruction carefully. I have not had any deaths in the tank in the last 4 months (or maybe a little longer!), and I throughly search the tank daily for any breeding activity, or any freshly laid eggs.

But what do I find? Absolutely NOTHING! To be honest, I bought them because I was extremely interested in them, so breeding them would just be a bonus. But after so much learning and preperation, it's kind of annoying that I still haven't seen any results..

I suppose this is more of a rant than anything, because I doubt other members have had so much trouble. So what I'm asking is, I have tried all the 'fool proof' methods to breed them, so has anyone else done anything different to get results?

To save a little time, I know for sure that I have at least 3 bronze females, 2 Julli females and 1 panda female. And they are all fully grown and definately sexually mature. I am also confident that they are not too old to breed. So come on, if anyone knows where I'm going wrong, or if you can offer me advice, post.

Thanks alot!

 

[jayjay]

Well just an idea, try doing water changes every few days about 10% with cold water.

For foods, try a good catfish pellet, bloodworm, blackworm and whiteworms. That will be a good diet to condition them with.

 

[Fishkeeper2004]

Thanks.

Just a thought, I have seen many people have successfully bred cories in smaller tanks, yet I am keeping around 17 in a 40" long tank (180 litres), could it be possible that the size of the tank is too large? I doubt it would be, but better to ask!

 

[Tolak]

I've seen cory breeders using 10's & 20's, nothing bigger. Cold water change means cold water with corys, not just cooler. Float some breeding mops, and check them daily. Get an old plastic cup or other container, and drill some holes in it. Scoop out some water a few times daily & make it "rain". Fresh bbs helps as well.

I've never bred corys, but hang out with a few guys that do, this is the sort of things they do to induce spawning.

 

[Fishkeeper2004]

I've seen cory breeders using 10's & 20's, nothing bigger. Cold water change means cold water with corys, not just cooler. Float some breeding mops, and check them daily. Get an old plastic cup or other container, and drill some holes in it. Scoop out some water a few times daily & make it "rain". Fresh bbs helps as well.

I've never bred corys, but hang out with a few guys that do, this is the sort of things they do to induce spawning.

Ok thanks alot for the advice. When you say 'cold not cool' do you mean cooler than 5 degress each change?

 

[Tolak]

Straight cold from the tap, 10%. If the tank is at 75F, and you do a 10% change at 65F, the tank will drop by 1F, 55F water will drop it by 2F. My tap water is around 45F to 65F, depending on the time of year. I don't think twice about doing 5% changes with water that is 20F cooler on breeding pairs of angels. A couple of days of that, plus some heavy feeding does the trick.

Here's a good link to an article that has a few tricks used to induce spawning; http/www.aquarticles.com/articles/breedi...%20seasons.html

 

[Fishkeeper2004]

Thanks alot for your help Tolak, I shall keep you updated on my progress.

 

[Coryman]

Try a species only tank, say a standard 18" x 10" x 10" (45 cm x 25 cm x 25 cm) with just a thinn layer of fine smooth grained sand (Play sand from B&Q), add a medium sized sponge filter and a clump of java moss.

Initially fill it with water from the tank that the fish are housed in at the moment, set the temperature at around 24º C (74ºF). Then select one female and two or three males from your group of C. aeneus and put them in the tank.

Feed a variety of foods including live if available i.e. Blood worm, Daphnia, Tubifex, alternatively frozen if live is not available. Alternate these with a quality tablet food, Tetra tabimin, Aquarian catfish tablets or JBL catfish food. Once the fish have settled into the routine, give them a week, start making 50% waterchanges every week. To start with the new water need only be a couple of degrees cooler, it is only if there is no responce that I would use colder water, but give them a chance to respond things don't always happen instantly.

The most valuable requirement is patience, these fish won't be rushed.

Ian

 

[Tolak]

Thank you Coryman, and welcome! Thank you for joining TFF, I think you could be an incredible asset here.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Fishkeeper2006

I can imagine you're disappointed, especially after seeing so many posts about other members having unexpected spawns in their tanks! Coryman is right, you can't hurry nature, and you can't force them to breed if they aren't ready to. What you can do however, is simulate the natural conditions and hope for the best.

I see that you have other fish in your tank beside corys. If this is the case, perhaps they are eating the eggs right after they are spawned. It might also be the case, especially with the pandas, that they are hiding their eggs. This problem will be eliminated, or at least reduced, if you set up breeding tanks. Then, since the bronze usually make big spawns, you can just remove the fish and leave the eggs to hatch undisturbed. With the pandas, you will be able to see the small groups they give and easily move them to another tank to hatch and raise.

I've bred both the C. aeneus and the C. panda. Neither one takes a lot of effort once they are ready. The most I've ever done to encourage them is to do good water changes and unplug the heater if there was one in the tank.

I've noticed that the pandas do especially well in their own tank. A year ago I moved to a new apartment and moved them up to a 29 gallon. They were spawning regularly. Then I added a few of another species and they stopped spawning. I tried several species with them, but as soon as I moved them back to the privacy of their 20 gallon (with just some C. pygmaeus) they resumed spawning and have continued giving me eggs. I think they stress easily and just don't like bigger corys in their tank.

Here's a picture of my panda tank. They spawn on the front of the thermometers and think they are hiding their eggs.

I've noticed that both species seem to like active water. They love having their water changes and swim against the current when I fill their tanks. They also like to place their eggs where the water coming from the filters will flow around them.

Please don't give up on breeding these great fish. You will be well rewarded for your efforts.

 

[Sp00ky]

Try this fishkeeper, do DAILY 50% cold water changes straight from your tap ( and conditioned of course). Give it a week and if you still see nothing up it to twice daily.

This is based on the fact that your corys are in the tank alone as other fish may not withstand this sort of temperature drop.

I feed mine up on frozen bloodworm and tabimin and also make sure you have some microworm on the go ready for the little ones.

Check out the pics of my breeding setup tonight in this section. I say tonight as i have just upgraded my hatchery to a larger tank so will need to take new pics.

I have also added you to my msn if you want to chat

 

[Fishkeeper2004]

Thanks for all your comments! And Inchworm, I think I may have realised something. Would it be possible that they are laying their eggs in a cave? It's around 10" talk and 6" wide, but inside it is hollow and all the Corys spend there time in their (Unless their feeding!). I am setting up a small breeding tank today.

Can I just remove some of the filter pads of my large filter and place that in the filter in my breeding setup? Would that create an instant cycle?

 

[Sp00ky]

Can I just remove some of the filter pads of my large filter and place that in the filter in my breeding setup? Would that create an instant cycle?

u can clone the tank that way yes. also take some of the water out of the tank as well and add it to the new tank.

If they are C.aenues they will spawn ANYWHERE and EVERYWHERE. This is generally all over the glass sides of the tank. Now, if this is the case and they have spawned and other fish or the other corys have eaten them, then you will say traces of the eggs on the tank sides... look like little white shadows of the eggs kinda thing.

Hope that helps.

Sp00ks

 

[Fishkeeper2004]

Can I just remove some of the filter pads of my large filter and place that in the filter in my breeding setup? Would that create an instant cycle?

u can clone the tank that way yes. also take some of the water out of the tank as well and add it to the new tank.

If they are C.aenues they will spawn ANYWHERE and EVERYWHERE. This is generally all over the glass sides of the tank. Now, if this is the case and they have spawned and other fish or the other corys have eaten them, then you will say traces of the eggs on the tank sides... look like little white shadows of the eggs kinda thing.

Hope that helps.

Sp00ks

Thanks alot spooky. I am keeping my breeding tank a good 6 degress lower than the tank the Corys are currently being kept in. I am going to move a group of 5 jullis into the breeding tank shortly. Is there any difference in difficult in spawning the bronze as opposed to the Julli, or are they about the same?

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Fishkeeper2006

It could be that the pandas are placeing their eggs in the cave or in small clusters on the undersides of the plants. The bronze are much more likely to put them, in several patches, right on the glass. You won't be able to miss them.

It's likely to look like this batch I got from a pair of wild caught corys. They are in a bare bottom tank because they were in quarantine while being treated for a bacterial infection they arrived with. When I simply changed the medicated water for fresh water they spawned.

I would suggest you start with breeding the bronze corys because they are easiest of any of the three species you have. Once you have had success getting them to spawn and raising their fry, you can then apply your experience to working with the ones that are more difficult.

Yes, you can quickly cycle a tank by taking enough filter media from an established filter. The number of fish it will be able to support immediately will be in proportion to the amount of media used. I do this all the time. Usually I use 1/4 to 1/3 of a tank of water from the established tank, not for the bacteria in it, but because it helps keep the number of bubbles that form on the glass down