Cory Id

[mikev]

A somewhat different ID issue than usual.

The fish shown below

is probably about 6 weeks old, the largest of four fries found in a tank used to quarantine four cories. The cories were 3 C.Panda and 1 C.Metae.
The fry should be C.Panda, but notice the strange markings on top toward the tail.

Panda or a Hybrid?

Hopefully someone who has/had baby Panda would know if these markings are normal.

 

[jollysue]

Pandas have solid tail fins not striped. You have hybrids I believe. I am finding the same problem. Only my little players are long fins! haha

planet catfish panda catelog page

34 day old panda fry

 

[mikev]

Thanks a lot.

Interesting. Adult Metae's have solid tails too, BUT: here is a 5 week old Metae fry
[URL="http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/image.php?image_id=1353"]http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/image.php?image_id=1353[/URL]
that has a striped tail all right and looks a lot like mine.

There is one more possibility...the fry that I noticed are 2 large (nearly 1cm) and 3 small (6mm).
Is it possible for 1cm fry to be 2 months old? (I did have a couple of Metae quarantined in the tank before July 17)...and then for about a month, it was 3 Panda's and 1 Metae...

So the larger fry actually may be Metae, and the smaller are Panda's?

 

[Dan81192]

They are hybrids i beleive.

 

[jollysue]

Yeah, that fry looks suspiciously like yours, all right.

I guess you will know in time.

 

[Coryologist]

C. panda. Many, if not most Corys have striped tails when they are small. Give it 6 more weeks. - Frank

 

[mikev]

Thanks, Jollysue & Frank.

FWIW, the smaller fry also have striped tails, but not the strange looking black area toward the tail.

I'll try to track them and we'll see in 6 weeks (not very easy since the tank is entirely filled with Java Moss and Najas... so I don't know even how many are there).

 

[Barracuda518]

C. panda. Many, if not most Corys have striped tails when they are small. Give it 6 more weeks. - Frank

That is what I was going to say. Even C. aeneus look very different at that age, until they start developing their skin color.

 

[jollysue]

Goes to show how close I look at the fry. Most look the same to me. And there is no doubt that Frank in the resident expert on fry! LOL

 

[mikev]

Thank you!

Their number meanwhile keeps increasing, it is up to 8 now, possibly 9. (I'm quite surprised so many made it...hopefully not too many more, I was not planning on so many cories...). The largest two do seem to be different, and hang together more often than not...maybe they are not the same as the rest. The black markings toward the tail remain a mystery for me...ok, lets wait and see.

Here are a couple of clips showing them and the tankmates
http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrQ7XcMqc9M
http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_GyoNXX_wc

 

[jollysue]

Awwww! So cute little ones.

You should be a very proud daddy.

 

[mikev]

I'm very happy but nothing to be proud of, I did not do anything for them.
Some other fry here took real major efforts; I spent last couple of months in a permanent war with the gobies (make sure they spawn and figure out the right moment and way to extract the eggs... too early: they fungus, too late: they are eaten, etc. Then, live food three times a day, and water changes twice. Just yesterday night, I found one more goby fry that somehow managed to make it for a couple of days in the parents' tank: 30 minutes to catch it, 1 hour to acclimate it...this is for one fry).
The cories were effortless.... All I do is drop baby foods in their tank once in a while.

But the baby cories are much more fun to watch than any other fry I had so far. I now service the other fry as a job, and watch the cory fry as entertainment.

Here are the others (photo of 2 week olds @1cm, they are 3 week old now @1.5cm, this is a mix of gobies -- the dark fat ones and danios -- the skinny reddish. The danios are an unintended byproduct of the goby breeding effort):

 

[mikev]

Here is how it looks now (still not conclusive):

Notice: the tail base black splotch solidified, and the tail stripes are fading away. But there is still a thin black line connecting the tail splotch to the dorsal, if it thickens, the fish is Metae, if it dissipates, it is a Panda, if it remains thin/inconclusive, it is a hybrid.

Here is one that is a bit behind in pattern development:

but it is approaching the (1") peacocks in size . And here is an adult Metae for comparison:

Having two species that are so similar certainly did not help in ID's.

 

[mikev]

Current appearance:



I suppose that C.Panda can now be eliminated (the markings are not moving toward Panda), either C.Metae or hybrids?

The # meanwhile increased to 13 (likely this is it)... and the fish is now brave enough to hang around the front glass waiting for food.