Finally Sterbai Eggs

[jollysue]

Yes, my sterbai are spawning fools too. But so far I am have trouble hatching very many.

I will not be making a living on them either, but they are a great tax write off!

 

[NEONCORY]

Hey Neon,

I can finally post again after i kept getting this message:

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I meant to ask how the April 14th meeting went but haven't been able to log in.

How are those first baby sterbais maturing?

Hey Alps,

I was wondering what happened to you since few times I tried to reply or send the PM to you, they didn't let me. And I thought you got booted from the forum. And made me wonder what kind of BAD thing did you do to get kicked out.
Anyway, welcome back.

The April auction was good. Although I was not looking for anything in paticular except some cheap food and maybe some plants, of course I ended up with more stuff than I want to carry on the bus. And made me wish I had ride that some of the used 10G or 20G went crazyprice(like $1~5), I sure could used for spare tank.
And it was funny I came home with more money than I brought. Since I brought some live starter cultures and a container of 12+ Red Cherry Shrimps.

After the auction, I did suggest on the GSAS web to have another auction sometime in the Fall but only 1 person agree with me. So I don't think it would happen.

Still quite small. I have 3 small Cory frys( I have frys from Sterbais, Pandas and maybe some Melanotanias)/Red Cherry Shrimps tank, I decide to see how they get along. And so far they are fine together. And I have no idea how many in there since I did set more natural nano tanks than many breeder set(bare tank).
Anyway, the 1 biggest(earliest fry) I see is about 1/2"TL and 1/4"W and look like miniture Sterbai. And I should have 50~100 todpoles and I still getting eggs every few days. Although Sterbais are sure harder to hatch and raise than Pandas, I am hoping I have some young to offer to other aquarium hobbist in 2~3 months.

 

[NEONCORY]

Yes, my sterbai are spawning fools too. But so far I am have trouble hatching very many.

I will not be making a living on them either, but they are a great tax write off!

Yes, I think the Sterbai is number game. I don't think I can even hatch 50% of the all the eggs I gather. Although I am still experimenting and my breeders are still young and there are only 2 males and I almost never use fungucide., etc. But their eggs and frys are sure small compare to the Pandas and it sure tougher to hatch and raise.
I don't know if I can improve the hatch rate and survival rate but I guess I'll keep trying.
But at least some frys are growing and get to the point they look like Sterbai and make me feel good enough that thinking about getting "Albino Sterbais" for my birthday in the mail(although I never like the mail order fish but some fish just can't find in LFS) I just need to squeeze out some $.

 

[jollysue]

CorysRUs/Bryan Epstein has albino sterbai. I have always been extremely happy with the quality and shipping of his fish. He has a quality product. Many wild caught new fish will be coming up soon. Barracuda also gets fish from him and brags on the product. Check out his stock pageCorysRUs

 

[NEONCORY]

CorysRUs/Bryan Epstein has albino sterbai. I have always been extremely happy with the quality and shipping of his fish. He has a quality product. Many wild caught new fish will be coming up soon. Barracuda also gets fish from him and brags on the product. Check out his stock pageCorysRUs

Yes, I believe he is the one when I mentioned the seller at the Florida. If the fish can make to Cal(your home), they should make to Seattle(my home) ok I hope. Do you use Fedex overnight, or USAS express or priority? I think that is the choice listed on his ad.
I am thinking since he is ok with combined shipping. I am most likely to order 2 group of 6 or so Corys each. But I still can't decide which type gonna be the 2nd group. Maybe I'll wait little longer to see what else he is gonna have for the stock.

BTW, I did collect some more eggs tonight. 35 on the glass, 31 on the leaves of Java Ferns and 32 in the spawning mop. Let's see, I think that is 98. Could be 2 or 3 femles, I doubt it was from 1 female.

 

[jollysue]

It's been awhile, but I think I started getting the fish priority. I don't like overnight express USPS, because if I don't hear them at the door, they will take them away. If I don't use priority, I use UPS or FedEx overnight.

I think Bryan can ship 15 or so in a box. He will probably bag them separately and individually or in groups. They are happier in groups, but if a bag leaks or one dies, they are all at risk. I have only lost a couple of fish from many shipments with Bryan. That was a mid winter shipment, and they were one of the more sensitive species. Bryan quarantines them for a long time before he offers them for sale. So they are very healthy and able to make the trip. In contrast I just lost 12 or more in a recent shipment from someone else, and more died soon after. It was tragic. A real horror!

 

[NEONCORY]

So they can make this long trip of Florida to California in Priority? How many days do they usually takes? 2 days? What is the longest days it took and still alive?
I know many seller guarantee for overnight but not priority. And I know the Corys tougher than many other fish. Well at least most of Corys.

Yeah, making trip alive is one thing but also not die in week or 2 weeks after the trip is another

I am sorry about the all the question but it would be a big enough purchase and I sure want them to make it here safely. Not to mention, this would be the 2nd time getting fish in the mail and 1st time didn't go well. I got all dead fish although they were Angelfish and the seller didn't know what he was doing and put them all 6 fish in a bag.

 

[jollysue]

It is almost a year since I ordered from Bryan. I would be very comfortable asking Bryan for his advice on the best way to ship. He is very experienced for many years shipping his fish with good results. He also is very patient with customer questions and concerns. Just email him, and he will answer quickly if he is available. He is patient with questions and information. He gets antagonistic with accusations and incivility. He can be emailed CorysRUs

I have shipped lots of fish priority, and it usually works well. For guarantees I would ship UPS or FedEx. USPS does not have a reasonable guarantee. I have had mishaps with all of them. But the biggest and worst were USPS overnight.

 

[NEONCORY]

Thanks jollysue,

I will contact him and see what he recommend.

 

[NEONCORY]

After I exchanged their tank( I notice the water drop form from the top of plastic tank frame lately when I keep the water up to the top) today I noticed there are some eggs on the leaves of Java Fern.
So I went to egg hunting. There were 31 eggs on the leaves of JF and 30 more in the spawning mop.
Because of the tank change, the suction that holding the powerhead become lowered than before. It used to be the water from the outlet is set to hit the near the surface. And now it outlet the water at few inches below the surface. And I saw all 5 of them enjoy swimming together in the current tonight. So I guess Sterbai also like to swim in good current and I'll leave the suction as it is.

 

[jollysue]

Absolutely, they love it! My 6 LF aeneus, 5 Brochis spendens and about 10+ sterbai all swim together in the outlets from the Eclipse 3 hood together. There are also 3 melanotaenia but they are very shy. The sterbai get very excited. There are about 3 ladies and 6-10 fellas. They keep the whole tank excited and swimming in the currents. I am inclined to think the Brochis will someday spawn, because one is fattening up and looking as though she may be becoming gravid.

The sterbai are very excitable. I do have some fry in that tank's net now, but I don't yet know what they are. I collect some eggs almost every day. But just what I can get easily so far. The favorite egg spot is in a corner where the water from the outlet hits the glass. They are also laying eggs on the fry net! little darlins!

 

[NEONCORY]

If the eggs are bunched up together like grapes, it could be Melanotanias eggs. Mine sure like to stuck them up. I find majority on the top corner of glass where there are water movement. I don't know about Brochis but if I remember correctly they do also prefer the top corner of the glass.
And my Sterbais, one of the female used to put on the top corner glass but now it seems I find half on the leaves of Java Fern which attached to the bogwood on the bottom and the other half in the spawning mop free floating with cork attached. And if the frys are from Sterbai, they develope salt pepper marking fairly early. I don't know the Melanotanias how they color yet that they are young, I just moved them to bigger tupperware this morning since there are some 100+ of them. And they are about to be free-swimming and need to be fed. So far, they look pretty dark frys.

 

[NEONCORY]

I guess it 's gonna be a "hat trick" for me today. I see the Sterbais also making eggs. I guess I'll collect them when I get home.
Probably I should set another small tank for the frys(whatever the frys are).

 

[NEONCORY]

I collected 24 eggs on the glass, 6 in the spawning mop, 32 on the leaves of Java Fern, 9 on the 2 Frogbit stuck under the lip of HOB and 3 more on the lip of HOB.
Sometime fish crack me up. I just happened to be there and I saw the female upside down placing the eggs on the bottom of heater. I guess she liked the warm smooth surface of heater.

 

[NEONCORY]

I noticed there are some eggs in the spawning mop and leaf of Java Fern when I was siphoning out the water for the fry container this morning.
I thought I missed them yesterday evening. So pick the spawning mop and found there are 55 eggs in them, there are also 9 on the one frogbit(floating plant), 10 on the top of heater at the control of temperature and 7 more on the leaves of Java Fern. Let's see, that is 81 eggs I think.
So they either made them sometime between yesterday evening to early this morning. Which is unusual that they usually make eggs morning or afternoon.