Do I Have Corydora Eggs?

[MagicPie]

Hi all. I am new to this forum and to fish keeping. I got a 34L tank in November and fell in love with keeping fish, so about 2 months ago we upgraded to a 180L tank, which is fully cycled now and all of the fish seem happy. We have three corydora julii in the tank and I noticed yesterday that there are tiny little white blobs all over the place! I was immediately thrilled by assuming that they were catfish eggs, but wanted to make sure I shouldn't be concerned it was something more sinister! They aren't clumped together in large groups. There are a couple of spots where we can see 2-4 eggs, but they are mostly lined up along the bottom and sides of the tank. There are also random ones on the driftwood and fake ornaments in the tank.

Should I be expecting tiny little catfish to be sprouting around soon or is there a problem!?

Ah yes, we currently have guppies, platys, mollies, tetras, two species of corydora, and a zebra snail in the tank.

 

[nosoup4you]

Definitely sounds like you have Cory eggs but I wouldn't expect many of them to hatch unless the tank is heavily planted due to the other fish in the tank.

 

[OldMan47]

It sure sounds like cory eggs to me. I wish I had a few in my own tanks but think the water here is too hard for that.

 

[fatheadminnow]

If you can see little black dots in the middle of them in about 3 days, then they are for sure eggs.

They should hatch in about 7 or so days.

-FHM

 

[pippoodle]

Corys like to lay eggs in water flow so they will do it on filter outlets , and on the glass of the tanks , under leaves and in moss
they are about 1-2mm in size and perfectly round and very sticky balls , they are usually grouped together as the female lays a lot at a time
it's rare for them to lay them on ornaments and bogwood though

images from google

 

[JenCliBee]

Pippoodle, mine lay on anythink and everythink, wood, ornaments, sand, gravel, bare bottom of tank lol i dont think its unsual its just theres alot more areas... as in glass that majority tend to end up there

 

[MagicPie]

Thanks very much guys. I read somewhere that if the eggs are white then they are 'bad' eggs, which I take to mean unfertilized. All of mine appear to be solid white and smaller than the images posted here, so it's possibly that mine aren't going to hatch. I am keeping my eye on them though and hopefully this is the start of them spawning and we will have more chances! Lord knows we have enough platy and guppy babies around!!

 

[pippoodle]

have you touched them to see if they are sticky - cos they could be snail eggs

 

[MagicPie]

hmm...well, touched one of them and it didn't feel particularly sticky - it was quite hard actually. We have a snail in the tank, but it's just the one. If they are snail eggs, my husband will be pleased!

 

[liz2]

you only need one snail, they are ha something! My cories laid eggs when i had changed all the water and it was cooler, I rushed out the kitchen to get something to save them in when I got back the mollies had had a feast The cories never eat the baby mollies

 

[Inchworm]

Hi MagicPie

If you would like to raise some corys in the future, here's a link that will give you some information about how to do it.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=165155

Cory eggs are sticky when first laid, but will gradually become firmer.

BTW, almost all corys sold as C. julli are actually C. trilineatus.