Cories Insisted Update: Baby Eats Adult Food!

[jollysue]

I'm guessing that the babies are bronze, but the virginae were pretty randy--chasing the Aeneus Mama around with eggs dripping off her belly.

SO i got up one night and there they were on a two inch plastic plant. Just a little clutch of clear eggs floating around, while the cories watched me.

I put the air stone in and went to work.

Next day or so the eggs were opaque. Another day or two there were little black dots. I really expected that with my lack of materials and experience they wouldn't hatch.
I fed them Atison's First Bites for Betta.

I tried several times to get Liquid Fry Food. But I was unable to locate some.

So they get First bites and some liquid from a fresh jar of ZooPlankton. I seems to be working so far. I am having some trouble cleaning the tank. All I have is an eyedropper which I am using to drop the daphnia liquid and suck up some of the leftovers. I have not been able to find my kitchen utinsils, so I don't have a baster yet.

Synirr is sending me some microworms. I will try to find frozen baby brine shrimp. I do have freezed dried baby brine shrimp but I wouls like to keep the spoiage foods to a minimum.

They are about 5-days old. I can see the areas of contrast. It almost look like ther is a white stripe between two dark bands.

So far so good.

There are only about 7 or 8. It was a small clutch.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi jollysue

Congratulations on the fry!

What kind of tank set up do you have them in?

 

[jollysue]

They are just in a Eclipse 3 with about 2 -3 inches of water without the filter or a heater. I believe the temp is staying constant in the low 70's. I have a 3" air stone and that's it. I am going to swipe the turkey baster from work tonight if it isn't too greasy. I used an air tube to suction (yuk!) the water tonight. I sucked up all the babies and had the devil of a time to put them back. I don't have much time to spend on them--run in, run out. I am surprised that they are getting along so good.

On the other hand I have lost 3 recently shipped cories. Two were about done for when they got here, one melanotaenia was dying suddenly on the bottom of the tank tonight. about four or five days later. I'm not shipping anymore in winter or summer.

I have been unable to set up the new 50 usg because I can't move stuff by myself. I may have to just set it up and worry about placing it where it should be later. I'm concerned that some tanks are getting too crowded. I had planned on having another tank set up by now.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi jollysue

Why haven't you filled their tank with water? It's only a 3 gallon tank to begin with, isn't it? And what's up with the turkey baster? These are fish not poultry.

If you fill the tank, you can do water changes by dipping out some water and replacing it with fresh. Corys spawn in a river and aren't going to drown, but they do need very clean water. The more of it there is, the easier it is to keep clean and safe for them. Anything large enough to float can easily be taken out with a net.

Take your time getting unpacked. If you get the fish taken care of first, the rest will get done a little at a time. I understand how frustrating it can be, but you can only do so much by yourself. Some things just take longer than others.

I don't know what to tell you about your melanotaenia. Since your tanks have recently been moved, that might have had something to do with it too. These do not seem to be the easiest fish to keep either. I've had trouble with them too and all of mine have come from the lfs. They seem to just not thrive and tend to die off, one at a time, for no apparent reason. It's the only fish I have that consistently does that, even after they seemed to be well established in my tanks. Did you just get them? I haven't ordered anything lately since I wanted to avoid fish being sent during the Christmas rush.

Did you get other corys recently too?

 

[jollysue]

Haha well for some unknown reason I thought I was suppose to keep the water shallow. And I thought I was suppose to syphon off "stuff" on the bottom. People always talk about syphoning their babies by accident. My babies were very upset with me today after the syphoning incident.

Well that will make it easier. I will fill the tank.

Yes an order of 6 melanotaenia, 10 armatus, and 2 virginae. 3 armatus have died--two immediately--and 1 melantaenia.
I believe their shipment was very rough. I would not have ordered if I had been thinking--not during Christmas. God knows what the creatures went through to get to me.

Fortunately other orders of tetra that I made have been delayed for later shipment. The weather here is good--high 50's--but it is not so good elswhere.

As I said I am not as a general rule planning to ship anymore in mid winter or mid summer.

I actually sent you a pm when these babies were born or maybe when I removed the cluch to the little tank. How was your Christmas?

 

[Barracuda518]

I have kept mine almost full since I put the eggs in. Like Inchworm said, Ive found it easier to keep clean and to keep the temperature and water conditions constant. Mine are about 6 weeks old I think I have lost all track of time here lately

 

[jollysue]

Yes it was just ignorance and hurry. I made it hard because I didn't know.

 

[Inchworm]

I have lost all track of time here lately

Me too! It seems like I keep having to ask people, "And how old are your fry?" It makes me feel dumb, but it gets confusing sometimes.

Haha well for some unknown reason I thought I was suppose to keep the water shallow. And I thought I was suppose to syphon off "stuff" on the bottom. People always talk about syphoning their babies by accident. My babies were very upset with me today after the syphoning incident.

I think some people raise bettas that way. Since they have labyrinths, they are similar to gouramis in that they go through a period of time when these organs are developing and they must stay near the surface. Corys can gulp air, but are not what we think of as "air breathers."

If you remember that corys do best with a constant supply of food and very clean water you won't go wrong. The problem is that uneaten food spoils quickly and must be removed frequently to avoid breeding harmful bacteria. As you know, bacterial infections are the worst thing that seem to happen to corys and fry have little or no resistance to them. If you can do water changes twice a day, it's even better, IMHO.

This is why microworms or other live food is a good thing to use. They will remain alive for some time which makes it safer to leave them in the tank than prepared food, which starts to spoil right away.

 

[jollysue]

Synirr is sending me a culture. When can I start the microworms?

As far as keeping track of time goes, how's this one? Christmas eve I didn't work. I fell out about 11 pm. When I woke up about 7 or so I got up and eventually got ready for work. I left about 10 noclock for my graveyard shift. Suddenly I became aware that it was light out and, though dreary, it was getting lighter.

!0 o'clock at night id never light out here.

It finally dawned on me that it was 10 o'clock in the morning and not ten at night. I turned around and went home. Now that is losing track of time

 

[Barracuda518]

Synirr is sending me a culture. When can I start the microworms?

As soon as you get the culture you need to start it. The fry can eat the microworms as soon as they have absorbed all the egg sack. The good thing about the microworms is that they stay alive in the water for a while and the fry can eat them when ever they want. The worms they dont eat will clump up on the bottom and you can easily get them out. You can also feed them liquid fry until they are a couple of days old. I dont like the liquid fry because it is extemely messy and hard to clean up. Keep us updated on their progress. Good Luck

 

[jollysue]

I haven't been able to find any liquid fry. My lfs who knows what it is is out. I have been feeding OceanNutrition Atison's First Bites for Betta fry and juice from Zooplankton, a jarred daphnia concoction. They seem to be thriving and surviving my ignorance.

 

[Barracuda518]

I haven't been able to find any liquid fry. My lfs who knows what it is is out. I have been feeding OceanNutrition Atison's First Bites for Betta fry and juice from Zooplankton, a jarred daphnia concoction. They seem to be thriving and surviving my ignorance.

If they are eating and growing on what you are feeding them, then I wouldnt worry about the Liquid Fry. I fed mine some of that Hikari First Bites stuff after they hatched and they seemed to like it. It was messy too though. The next batch I raise will get microworms a lot sooner, they started growing a lot more when I started feeding them that. This batch that Im rasing was also a small clutch. My C. Aeneus are not fully matured yet. Im hoping to get a get batch to raise in the future

 

[jollysue]

So, Barracuda, You are getting quite a collection of cories there. What babies do you have now?

Here is the one pic that tuirned out a little. Do you think those are eyes?

 

[Barracuda518]

Those look like the eyes to me. The fry I have looked just like that when they were hatched. I can see 6 fry there, how many do you have now? The only fry I have right now are the Bronze C. Aeneus. They spawned on their own, I didnt do anything but normal water changes and feeding them well. I dont have the space right now to breed them on a constant basis, but I hope to one day. I dont know what Im going to do with the fry Im rasing now. I might keep this first batch to have more later on when I get ready to try and raise another batch of fry.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi jollysue

Your cory babies are sooo cute!