Bronze Corydoras Catfish

[2day]

Just a couple of questions that woud be appreciated if answered. I have bought four bronze cory's. They are all fine swimming round happily but:

1. How can you tell if they are pregnant. And if they are, where would they lay their eggs?

2. How long do they carry their eggs for?

3. Will guppies/swordtails/clown loaches/ bristlenose/balloon mollies/bettas or cory's eat those eggs?

4. If i was to collect them from being eaten, what is the best method of doing so?

Thanks guys and gals. This will help me a lot!

 

[dwarfgourami]

Congrats on your new cories! Lovely little fish, aren't they?

1. How can you tell if they are pregnant. And if they are, where would they lay their eggs?

They don't get pregnant as such, obviously, as they are egglayers, but they will quite often spawn in the aquarium, particularly if conditioned on live foods. WHen spawning they start swimming around excitedly in the tank, then the female and male will get into the X position, with her head burrowing into his side. She lays a few eggs into her clutch (made up of her ventral fins) and then immediately swims around looking for somewhere to lay them. Usually plant leaves, or the glass of the fish tank. Often two males go with the same female. It is a totally peaceful procedure, nobody will fight or get hurt.

2. How long do they carry their eggs for?

See above.

3. Will guppies/swordtails/clown loaches/ bristlenose/balloon mollies/bettas or cory's eat those eggs?

Yes!

4. If i was to collect them from being eaten, what is the best method of doing so?

Cut them off with a razor blade and syphon them up. They need to be kept in a tank with good aeration to hatch.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Choc

Do you know if you have both male and female corys? If you do have both, and if they are mature, they will probably spawn for you at some time. Bronze corys particularly like to spawn on the glass, so you will probably see them.

A better idea, if you want to raise some fry, is to move the corys into a breeding tank where they can spawn. When they have finished you can move them back to the community tank and raise the fry right there. This way you will avoid the possibility of damaging the eggs when they are moved.

 

[love_fish]

^Hey inchworm, do you need to put 1 male and 1 female in a breeding tank, or is there a certain ratio to go by?

 

[Inchworm]

Hi love_fish

The usual ratio is one female to two males. This insures that most of the eggs will be fertilized. But, since corys are sociable fish and since it's most likely that only one female will be spawning at a time, (although this is not always the case), I always put them all in the spawning tank.

It's fun to watch them all get excited when there actually is a spawning going on. Everyone gets involved in it by either participating or at least inspecting the eggs. C. aeneus don't usually eat their eggs if they are fertile, so there isn't too much risk.

 

[love_fish]

OK sounds good. Can i put 4 bronze cories in a 10 gallon?

 

[Inchworm]

Hi love_fish

Four or even more would be fine.

You will want to make sure it's cycled for them, of course. You can do this by either starting a box filter in your main tank a few weeks ahead of time, or by putting part of the filter media from your tank into it with some filter floss. When they have finished spawning and you put the fish back, you can put the media back too.

 

[love_fish]

Yea, its cycled, but itll have to wait until i get my babies out of it in like a month or so. Cant wait though. Currently, im trying to condition them in the main tank, and ill raise them in a breeders trap for a little while, until they're big enough to escape my guppys and platy babies.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi love_fish

Currently, im trying to condition them in the main tank, and ill raise them in a breeders trap for a little while, until they're big enough to escape my guppys and platy babies.

That's going to take some time. Cory fry are a lot smaller when they first hatch than any of the livebearer fry. I once thought I'd save some guppy fry that were born in my big tank and put them into a tank with 3 week old corys. It was a big mistake. They attacked the little corys. Even new guppies are quite fierce compared to corys.

 

[love_fish]

Hmmm, maybe ill just keep them in the net for a long time until they're big enough to get away from the guppys. I can add a few caves for them too. Maybe i could keep them in the net for a month? What i would need to do is keep them in a net in the fry tank, so i can put the airstone in the net, since my community tank has lots a plants and i dont want to add O2 to the tank.