Found A Baby Pepperd Cory In Qt Tank

[kbod]

i have 2 pepperd corys in a 64 litre community tank its mostly a arteficial planted tank just the odd plants and moss ,they seemed to be mating a while back and on 2nd june i found some eggs ,

i took out a few and put them in a recently cycled empty qt tank 34 litre size not really expecting anything to happen,the tanks been sitting in the dark since i didnt see anything happen so left it be ,
however happened to catch a glimpse of something today so took a better look and to my amazement i have a healthy baby pepperd cory ...
omg how has it survived in a tank with no food or live plants and just pea gravel and 2 small arteficial decs ?
ive added a piece of bogwood and java moss from parents tank and removed a slight amount of water .
.but what should i do ?
what do i feed it ?
how do i care for it ?
do i put its parents in with it ?
how old is it ?

i no its made it this far unaided but id like it to eventually go in the community tank with its parents

pleased help im in shock .....

 

[Inchworm]

Hi kbod

What a wonderful surprise!

Your fry probably hatched 3 or 4 days after the spawning and has been eating the microorganisms it found in the old tank. One of the tricks we often do is to add filter squeezings as the first food for them. Since there is no competition for this food, or for the water quality, he might be doing very well. Are you sure that only one fry is in the tank? They will still be quite small, maybe even smaller than the one you found, since some will develop faster than others.

As soon as it's big enough so that it won't be eaten, it can go into the tank with your other fish. You can start him on a little flake food or a bit of Hikari wafer whenever you want. Your main concern will be to keep any uneaten food from spoiling and polluting the water or getting down into the gravel and breeding bacteria that could harm the little one. He's small yet so he won't eat much.

Clean water and a healthy bottom environment are the two most important factors in raising corys, so water changes are in order. It might be a good idea to add an airstone or sponge filter to move the water surface as well.

Best of luck with raising him. Please keep us up to date with his progress and post a picture if you can.

 

[kbod]

thanks inchworm x it is a wonderful suprise i never was expecting anything to make it as this was 1 of 6 eggs id manged to take out before they were eaten like the rest and i only have 2 corys in the tank so pretty lucky ...

ive checked dates and corys spawned on 2nd june so guessing its about 3weeks old ,what a little surviver,sadly cant see anymore..

ive put in a piece of bogwood with java moss from its parents tank , but unsure what food to offer , what is filter squeeze ? do i squeeze filter sponge in his tank ? and from which tanks filter do i use ?

i have 2 small cycled filters /pumps runnning in this tank as it was qt ,one is higher at top of tank to keep surface agitated ones a bit lower .

i did small water change but i maybe need to clean gravel but he sits amongst it so dont no what to do ....

hes too tiny to get a good pic as my camera isnt that great and hes very fast ..but will keep trying ...

help greatly appreciated xx

 

[Inchworm]

Hi kbod

He is a lucky little fish indeed. Putting in the bogwood and java moss was a good thing. It will probably have some beneficial bacteria on it, even if most of what was in the tank has died already, and you won't need much to keep up with the small amount of ammonia he will produce. I doubt if you even need filtration as much as a little bit of water movement to provide oxygenation.

He could well be hiding in the shade of the wood and java moss, so just let him be for now. You might not even see him again for a while. Just be sure to do a little water change and keep the water fresh. Let him find food on his own until you are sure he's going to eat it rather than taking a chance of adding food that will just spoil.

What I mean by "filter squeezings" is the residue that comes off a filter when you rinse it out in a bucket of used tank water during regular cleanings. You don't have to add any if there were fish in the tank before since there is just him. There should be microorganisms in the gravel that he can eat, so don't clean it until you are sure he's able to eat the food you will provide.

At his age feeding him is going to be guesswork. If this was something you had planned, you would most likely have set the tank up with an easy to clean sand bottom, be giving the batch of fry more substantial food by now, and doing daily water changes. You would be able to see them and monitor their growth and the state of the tank. In his case, however, avoiding harm is going to be your first priority.

He's still tiny and won't have much color. The best way to look for him might be to stare at the tank and let your eyes catch any sign of movement. Of course, like older corys, the fry spend a good part of their time just sitting still, so this won't be easy either.

All I can think of to add is to wish you good luck and urge you to have patience. I truly hope you can raise him.

 

[kbod]

something good has come about after the sad loss of my little baby cory called lucky ...

The day before i went on my wk long hols i woke up to find my qt tank with the baby cory in had sprung a big leak ,i had a small empty tank spare so transfered everything over incl cycled

filters and water but im afraid he didnt make it .maybe there wasnt enough algae, very upset RIP little cory ....

so i left tank running anyway and low and behold i get home and wake up next day to find the corys in my 64litre had spawned again ...so i collected 12 eggs and put them into my empty

qt ,today ive checked and my eggs are ripped open so i guess (hope) that some have hatched...

prob is i really need some good algae ,and stuff to help this tank ...so im asking if anyone has any spare bits of java moss etc i can buy from them ,i will pay postage and any cost need be as

shops around here dont have any ..please can anyone help im very greatful thanks kaz x

i will also put advert in wanted thread ,thanks

 

[Inchworm]

Hi kbod

Ahhhh....... That's sad to hear. I had wondered what had happened to the little fellow.

For the new ones, just rinse some filter media in the water over them. It will settle down and get them off to a good start. I hope you have good luck with this batch.

 

[kbod]

thanks inchworm spotted 2 babies about yesterday very tiny much smaller than the last one reckon these are only few days old .
this qt theyre in doesnt have lights so hard to see but guessing there maybe more hiding ...ive squeezed some filter media to tank and added more moss from a friends shrimp tank ..
so big finger crossing needed this time ..
kaz x

 

[Inchworm]

Hi kbod

Now comes the hard part which is waiting patiently. If they are covered, it might take a week before you see them again. Good luck with this batch.

 

[kbod]

aint gonna believe this but female cory spawned again producing over 130+ eggs i stopped counting after that ..
i took out 60 and put them in qt with the eggs/babies that hatched the other day ....

and i thought theyspawned every 3wks ? what happening ...

 

[kbod]

seems she spawned 2nd june.....14th july ......29 july ..... only 15 days rest bless her ..... reckon 130+ eggs is amazing for 1 cory ... need to do a water change but darnt
incase i start her off again....

 

[tropic_john]

seems she spawned 2nd june.....14th july ......29 july ..... only 15 days rest bless her ..... reckon 130+ eggs is amazing for 1 cory ... need to do a water change but darnt
incase i start her off again....

lol, a way to make a little bit of money..?

 

[Syphoniera]

Well, congrats on the babies!
I think a 2-week spawning cycle must be more common than is generally specified, at least in some cories, since my pygmies seem to spawn every two weeks.
(I know I always wanted herds of pygmies, so I've been in heaven - they're pretty darned hard to come by out here, so I suppose the eggs/fry are pretty tasty to other fish...)

Now you can have a whole group of Peppers, and maybe just a few more tanks for the extras, lol.
Can't have a better excuse, can we?

 

[kbod]

thanks all x
ok them spawning but im not doing to well on raising them ... but been a bit hurried with prev tank breaking ...but when this lots sorted redoing qt so maybe better luck
would be nice to breed them and raise them tropic john ...but knowing me would be hard to part with them ...keeping your number incase i want any of those beautiful guppies xx
thanks syphoniera x awww never seen the pygmies by me glad your having sucess...yep just brought me a 2nd hand 96 JUWEL REKORD collecting it 2moro comes with a lone c-trilli cory .and few other lonely fish from young girl off to uni .so maybe a new shoal to keep him happy in time ...hmmmmm
yep thinking of combining few tanks and also having a cory only tank ...corys always be my favs ....

 

[kbod]

WELL BABY CORYS ARE STAARTING TO COME OUT ONLY NOTICED 6 YET BUT TO BE HONEST THEIR SOO TINY ID NEED A MAGNIFYING GLASS TO SPOT THEM ...SEEMS TO BE 2 DIFFERENT SIZES SO GUESSING SOME MADE IT FROM THE 12 EGGS AND SOME ARE FROM THE NEWER 60 EGGS ..
THEY HIDE IN THE GRAVEL N UNDER THE BOGWOOD /MOSS N DECS AND AS NO LIGHT NOT GREAT FOR VIEWING BUT AT LEAST THERES SOME ...
FINGERS CROSSED FOR MY LITTLE ONES...

MUM HAS SPAWNED AGAIN SINCE ..CAN U BELIEVE IT ? BUT WOKE TO JUST 4 EGGS ...

MY NEW TANK CAME AND NOW MUMMY AND DADDY PEPPERD CORY HAVE THEIR OWN TANK BEING SET UP READY FOR JUST CORYS ITS THE 64LITRE ...LOTS OF SAND,WOOD,MOSS,PLANTS N DECS ...NEXT TIME THEY SPAWN IF DO I WILL LEAVE THEM TO IT..TO TRY RAISE THEM FROM HERE ...

 

[Sirron]

WELL BABY CORYS ARE STAARTING TO COME OUT ONLY NOTICED 6 YET BUT TO BE HONEST THEIR SOO TINY ID NEED A MAGNIFYING GLASS TO SPOT THEM ...SEEMS TO BE 2 DIFFERENT SIZES SO GUESSING SOME MADE IT FROM THE 12 EGGS AND SOME ARE FROM THE NEWER 60 EGGS ..
THEY HIDE IN THE GRAVEL N UNDER THE BOGWOOD /MOSS N DECS AND AS NO LIGHT NOT GREAT FOR VIEWING BUT AT LEAST THERES SOME ...
FINGERS CROSSED FOR MY LITTLE ONES...

MUM HAS SPAWNED AGAIN SINCE ..CAN U BELIEVE IT ? BUT WOKE TO JUST 4 EGGS ...

MY NEW TANK CAME AND NOW MUMMY AND DADDY PEPPERD CORY HAVE THEIR OWN TANK BEING SET UP READY FOR JUST CORYS ITS THE 64LITRE ...LOTS OF SAND,WOOD,MOSS,PLANTS N DECS ...NEXT TIME THEY SPAWN IF DO I WILL LEAVE THEM TO IT..TO TRY RAISE THEM FROM HERE ...

Out of curiosisty how long did you have your corys before you started noticing eggs?