Breeding Pandas

[AlexAndCarmen]

What is the favorable water ph, gh for breeding panda cory's? And how old are they before they breed? How big are they before they breed? We have 5, 3 from one LFS and 2 from another They swim around in a big group up and down the glass. We also have bronze corys that spawn aprox every 10 days, so have lots of bronze fry B) The ph in ours is 7 and the gh is 9. Is this water too hard for the pandas? We have 0 nitrite and 0 ammonia and 20 ppm nitrate. We'd appreciate any input, thanks guys

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Alex'sandCarmen'stank

I have raised both kinds of corys, and have no idea what my gh is. Unless yours is unusually high or low, I don't think it matters too much. C. pandas are fussy about their living conditions, and if they are doing well for you, they will probably spawn too.

C. pandas, unlike C. aeneus, usually need to be fully mature to spawn. If yours haven't spawned yet, it's possible that they are just not ready. They are slow growers too, so try to have patience. I've also found that they spawn more reliably if they are in a tank by themselves. Mine stopped when I added other corys and started again when I moved them to their own tank with only a few of the little C. pygmaeus with them.

Pandas are often egg eaters too, so they might be eating their eggs before you notice them. Some people use spawning mops and I use hang on the side thermometers, and remove them to another tank to hatch and raise the fry.

If you feed them heavily on live blackworms or frozen bloodworms, they will give you a small number of eggs every few days once they begin spawning.

Good luck with them. Please let me know if they eventually spawn for you.

 

[AlexAndCarmen]

Thanks Inchworm. You say the Panda's are a bit fussy, so what ph, gh do they like? I've got ph7 and gh9 ,temp 79f/26C ,I've got them in my community 50 gal filtered with Eheim2236 20-30% water changes weekly. Tested the water last night, Temp 26C Ph7 KH3 GH9 Ammonia 0ppm Nitrite 0ppm Nitrates 20ppm . I've got Pair of Rams and angels in the tank so i was thinking of dropping the PH down a bit.

 

[AlexAndCarmen]

3 Of our lovely panda corys. They are the youngest of the 5.

 

[bottomdweller]

Your water should be fine with regards to pH of 7, GH of 9...Mine are very happy with pH 7.6, GH 7-10. Your temp is higher than mine by several degrees, I keep my pandas in a fairly cool tank now. Their barbels start to erode with poor tank conditions and they will not spawn. The substrate needs to be kept clean and Nitrates should be kept in order. Other than that, I find lower temps keep them in better shape, less prone to fry deaths, mouth fungas and barbel erosion. In the wild pandas live in water which is anything but warm.

All in all, my panda tank is 22 celsius, 72 fahrenheit.