Found Baby Corys In My Eheim!

[DBridges]

Hello all!

This morning I was doing my monthly filter cleaning on my Eheim Pro II filter. When I poured the dirty water out of casing, I found two, 1/2" long baby Corydoras paleatus! Now, I've found tiny zebra danio fry in filters before, but never any fish as big as these. I've got them both in a 10 gallon tank right now, and they seem quite healthy. They've already got the beginnings of the typical Peppered Corydoras color patterning, and they're swimming about and seem very well off for having grown up in a filter for 3 or 4 weeks.

Right now, the 10 gallon has about 3 inches of water in it, a few small pond snails, and a Cherry Shrimp that I also found in the filter. What else should I do? I figure I need to buy a small sponge filter and a small heater - would you suggest anything else? What should I try and feed them at this stage? I was thinking crushed dry food would work - is there something better I should try?

Very excited about my find! Looking for any advice that will help me get these little guys to a size where I can put them back into my community tank.

David

 

[lilacamy931]

Aw congrats on the find that is really exciting! Piccyss!!!!! I would suggest get heater and filter, as to the food crush really finely flake till it is powder. If you want them to grow mightily get a worm culture going

 

[mattlee]

Hello all!

This morning I was doing my monthly filter cleaning on my Eheim Pro II filter. When I poured the dirty water out of casing, I found two, 1/2" long baby Corydoras paleatus! Now, I've found tiny zebra danio fry in filters before, but never any fish as big as these. I've got them both in a 10 gallon tank right now, and they seem quite healthy. They've already got the beginnings of the typical Peppered Corydoras color patterning, and they're swimming about and seem very well off for having grown up in a filter for 3 or 4 weeks.

Right now, the 10 gallon has about 3 inches of water in it, a few small pond snails, and a Cherry Shrimp that I also found in the filter. What else should I do? I figure I need to buy a small sponge filter and a small heater - would you suggest anything else? What should I try and feed them at this stage? I was thinking crushed dry food would work - is there something better I should try?

Very excited about my find! Looking for any advice that will help me get these little guys to a size where I can put them back into my community tank.

David

congratulations on your find i too had an experience like this, the fry will have been surviving on waste food and bacteria in the filter. when i started to feed mine normally they loved tabimin catfish tablets, micro worms and crushed prima. i would put as much water as possible in the tank and add somekind of filter otherwise ammonia levels may kill them the shrimps and snails. if you can add mature media from your main tank to help the cycle. with daily water changes and small feeds 2 or 3 times a day they will grow in no time.

good luck

 

[Inchworm]

Hi DBridges

What a surprise that must have been!

Corys fry thrive on the mulm that is found in filters and I routinely squeeze a handful of filter floss over newly hatched fry. The microorganisms growing in it is an excellent first food for them as you can tell by the ones you found.

Now the need a good supply of food and lots of clean water. Be sure to stir the substrate regularly to keep it free of harmful bacteria growth and change a good amount of water daily. Microworms, baby brine shrimp and Hikari First Bites are good food. You can feed bits of flake or portions of Hikari sinking wafers and even finely shaved frozen blood worms once they are big enough to eat them. Remove and replace excess food periodically.

You can add more water but might not need a heater. It will just depend on the temperature the water stays by itself. The range for C. paleatus is from 59 to 77 degrees F., so if it stays in the low 70s it will be fine.

It's quite possible that you might have done a water change with water that was cooler than usual at some time in the recent past and this stimulated your fish to spawn. Have you noticed any other eggs from your corys in the tank?

 

[DBridges]

It's quite possible that you might have done a water change with water that was cooler than usual at some time in the recent past and this stimulated your fish to spawn. Have you noticed any other eggs from your corys in the tank?

My corys breed pretty regularly, but usually it is after a water change. This makes sense, I suppose, as the temperature does drop a couple of degrees when I do a water change. It's not uncommon for me to find some eggs on the tank walls or on Ludwigia leaves.

 

[Harlequins]

Congrats on your cory find