Bronze Cory Breeding Group Ratio?

[DiddleBug]

Ok, so I have 2 10 gallons, and I know 10 gallons are small for bronze corys. I have 5 males and one female right now.  I wasn't planning on that many males lol.
 
Would 3 males and one female be best or something like 2 females to 6 males?  I don't want to have many infertile eggs, so I was thinking 3 males per female would be good.  (Mine had 250 her last spawn.)  It would be cool to have 2 females, but since I'd need lots of males would that be too many for my tank?  

 

[eaglesaquarium]

2m:1f is usually best...

 

[DiddleBug]

I think I'll stick to 3 males though, lots of eggs fungused when I just used 2m:1f.  So how many corys-useing the 3m:1f or 2.5m:1f ratio-for a 10 gallon? 

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Bronze are fairly big... 2 f, 6 m would be a bit more than I'd put.  1f, 3m - would be my answer.

 

[DiddleBug]

Would 2f and 5m be better?  Or is it good to have just one female?  Would they always lay their eggs at the same time?  I had pygmys and 2 females spawned a day after the first.  Do bronze do this?

 

[snazy]

Sometimes, all females spawn together. Sometimes just some of them spawn.
I'd imagine that you want at least one more female, because otherwise the single one will get fairly stressed while spawning, being chased by so many males.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I'd go with 2f:4m, for me... - or better yet with a bigger tank - 20G long would be ideal for bronze.  I'm thinking of using a 10G for pandas - and going 2f:4m.

 

[DiddleBug]

Do you leave the eggs and take the adults out after spawning?  I was hoping to use this method; that's why I wanted to know if the females would spawn at the same time.  (Because if I was to leave the eggs in there I couldn't wait a day for a late female to spawn.)
 
Have you had good fertility rates using 1f:2m?  Could you guess what percent?

 

[snazy]

Have you had good fertility rates using 1f:2m? Could you guess what percent?

 
The hatch rate depends on many things, but certainly not only on the ratio between males and females. 
When you say fertility rates in relation to the number of males, what exactly do you mean?
The female always draws sperm from a male before she releases the eggs between her fins. Unless you have an infertile male or just your group is not mature enough, then you should achieve as many fertile eggs with 2 males, as with 3 or 4 males per female.
 

lots of eggs fungused when I just used 2m:1f. 

 
This has nothing to do with the male to female ratio. Infertile eggs turn white within 24 hrs and will only fungus if you live them in there longer. Yours just didn't hatch properly, that's all. Try to find a better way of hatching the eggs if that's a regular problem.

 

[DiddleBug]

Do you guys leave the eggs and take the adults out after they spawn?  What's your method?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I've never intentionally spawned them, it just happens, so I leave them.  I think the standard is to remove the adults or remove the eggs if you want a large number of fry.

 

[DiddleBug]

So how do you know the ratio of 2m:1f works best if you never kept the eggs?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Planetcatfish and Ian Fuller say that, plus my original stocking was 1f:2m.  I now have 13 of the little fish with no effort from me. 

 

[snazy]

I collect the eggs.
 
To answer your original question, it does not matter whether you want 1 female to 3 males or 1f to 2m. Do what works best for you.
The point is a 10G tank is too small for a permanent home for a school of bronze corys and it's also way too small to raise the fry, at least you'll have issues when they grow up after a few weeks, not 250 corys at once anyway, not even 50.

 

[DiddleBug]

Yeah, I know. I'll try and get rid of them when they are fairly small and also put some in my other tank. It's hard to just ignore all those eggs when my corys spawn though and I really like breeding fish. Ther aren't any other fish that I'd get a good price for that would fit better than bronze. My parents won't let me get another tank.