Cory cats

[ladynaoko]

I'm just wondering.. is it possible to breed cory cats in a community tank?
I have two corys who have been getting very friendly towards each other recently, not sure if they have been mating or not but it's a nice thought. They tend to huddle up together constantly and chase each other around. I'm fairly confident one is a female and the other is male - I viewed them from above and one of them appears to be more fuller-bodied than the other.

If they are mating, how will I be able to tell? and if they do - could they breed in a community tank?

 

[Inchworm]

Hi ladynaoko

It's not unusual for cory cats to spawn in a community tank. The eggs are usually placed on the glass but you might also find them on the plants.

The problem with trying to breed them in a community tank is that the other fish will eat the eggs and/or fry. If a few do escape and can remain hidden for a few weeks, they can survive, but unfortunately, the odds are greatly against this.

 

[jhawkoh]

Hi,
My 11 year old son has a 10 gallon tank in his room. He has fancy guppies, mostly babies now, as we just had 14 fry about 2 months ago. Also 2 cory cats, 2 algea eaters, 2 platies, and a red tailed shark.

Yesterday, we discovered that overnight, gobs and gobs of eggs had appeared, on the plants, and on the sides of the tank. I knew that most of these fish were livebearers, so assumed that it had to be the cats, or the algea eaters. so started looking for pictures on the internet, and sure enough, that's what they are.

Most of the other fish are too young to eat the eggs, although I'm sure once they hatch, we will have some difficulty. I would like to catch some of them when they hatch, and put them in the net enclosure that I kept the baby guppies in. Is that possible? If not, should I just consider the whole brood lost? I don't want to try and move all the plants, etc, and there is no place to move the other fish to.

What about a tank divider for a while?
Don't really want to lose them all, but was totally shocked by this turn of events. I had read that breeding cory cats was rather difficult to do!

Any advice??

Thanks,
jhawkoh

 

[duendecillo]

I'm not an expert, I haven't even breed any cories yet (unfortunately)
but I've read on this forum that you can even isolate some eggs if you want, you can scrape them off the glass...
and ofcourse you can isolate the newborn fry too...

good luck, and keep us posted what happens!!

 

[rollntider]

actually Breeding them is not that hard, I would put the eggs into a fry only tank with good water flow like a small air stone so the eggs wont go bad. I had several cory spawns in a community tank and I had only 1 make it to an adult. it can be done but rare , because guppies love their eggs. Nice caviar I guess. Good luck.

 

[Myfishdied]

Ive heard corys dont breed in the aquarium

 

[Inchworm]

Hi jhawkoh

Welcome to the forum!

There are a number of cory cats that will breed readily and can be raised without too much more trouble than livebearers. All egg laying fish are more difficult to raise than livebearer fry, mostly because they are so much smaller.

Any of the fish in your tank would love to feast on the eggs and/or fry, including your little guppy fry. Surprisingly, they can be quite fierce!

A tank divider might be a good idea. They do not usually do well in a breeding net. Or, if you'd like to consider setting up another tank to breed them, here's a link to a thread where I described what would be needed:

http/fish.orbust.net/forums/index.php?ac...t=0#entry199536

The first thing to be concerned about is having the eggs attacked by fungus. This can be mostly avoided by adding an airstone to the tank so that water circulates over them. Methylene blue can also be added, but I don't think you will want to do this in a community tank.

Whatever happens, the good news is that you have a breeding pair and you can get them to spawn again if you lose these eggs. BTW, what kind of corys are they?

Please let me know what you decide to do and how things turn out. We'll be happy to give you all the help we can.

 

[EX-AmP]

welcome, cories are pretty easy to breed. they will lay eggs around the glass but i think tankmates will eat them

 

[jhawkoh]

Thanks for the welcome, and all the advice!

Well, all the eggs are gone. I believe that I read somewhere that they hatch in about 3 days. Does that sound right? They just took us by surprise, and didn't have time to do anything before the either hatched, or got eaten! I have looked and looked in all the plants, etc, and see nothing, but don't really know how big they would be at this point. I know that guppy fry are pretty small, but you say these would be even smaller Anyway, if there are any there, I haven't seen them yet!

The answer to the question as to what kind they are is, as best I can tell, they are Corydoras aeneus. They are a greenish-gold color, kind of light colored on the belly. Not spotted at all. Not albino.

Now, my next question is - Since I have a breeding pair, How often will this happen? What should I watch for so that next time I can be prepared, and isolate these two or something, so the eggs don't get destroyed. And is 3 days correct? Just want to have as many facts as possible, and next time, will try to be more ready to deal with it!

Thanks again for all the help! Everyone is so friendly!

Jhawkoh

 

[jaimoe]

The description sounds like the bronze cory's I have. I think they are also known as the aeneus as you suggested.