Giant Cory Spawn!

[fishmad135]

panda cories. I got peppered (all really old now, too old to breed) bronze (all male) melini (I wish they'd spawn) and smudge-spot (all girls) My panda's are in the full breeding mode right now. I've got 5 fry about 1.5cm plus these eggs. I took 4 panda fry to my lfs about month ago so I've got a constant supply going now

 
Wow!! I love melini, I imagine their juveniles would be so so cute!!!
I want to start breeding more adventurous cory species like C.similis, C.haraldschultzi and C.concolor!!
 
I've counted 6 free swimming hatchlings, which I was not expecting at all, I thought they'd only spawned on Thursday afternoon so thats only 3 days incubation period?? Usually for my bronzes it takes 4 days! 

 

[Akasha72]

4 days seems to be the norm with mine too but some have taken an extra day. I've just put it down to them hatching when they are ready. Good luck with them
 
I'm about to do a water change on my fry tank ... give then lil guys some nice fresh water
 
Keep us posted with how they get on

 

[fishmad135]

4 days seems to be the norm with mine too but some have taken an extra day. I've just put it down to them hatching when they are ready. Good luck with them

 
I'm about to do a water change on my fry tank ... give then lil guys some nice fresh water

 
Keep us posted with how they get on

 
Lucky little fry!! I should really do another water change today but I've been lured into the garden to tend to the allotment! 
 
The cories you breed, are they in species only tanks or do you have them in with community fish tanks? I'm beginning to think about setting up several 40 litre species only tanks for breeding purposes, what do you think?

 

[Akasha72]

they are all in a community tank but if I had the space for a second tank I would move my panda's out. It turns out (I didn't know until recently) that the panda cory will breed with any other cory type of it's size so it could interbreed with my melini and has interbred with my smudge-spots. I have one hybrid panda/smudge-spot in my community tank and my Dad has the other 3 in his tank.
I'm desperately trying to find some male smudge-spots in the hope that with the next spawn the smudge-spots choose to do it within their own species.  
 
What I now try to do is collect any eggs so that I don't end up with any more hybrids in my community tank purely because I don't want the hybrids breeding back to their mother or father. Luckily the panda females hide the eggs in my plants but the smudge-spot females have always spawned on the glass. The last lot of eggs from the female smudges were all infertile

Just glanced into my fry tank after it's water change and the little fry are well happy. They are zooming around up and down the glass and tickling whiskers with each other. I think they're happy babies

 

[fishmad135]

Smudge spots are what I want to breed next - luckily I live in catfish county and many of my local fish stores are catfish MAD and always have many varieties in stock! (The north west of England seems to contain a hub of catfish enthusiasts, the national catfish convention occurs in Wigan which attracts people from germany, south america etc -something I didn't realise till recently!) If you ever are looking for rare cories I can let you know some of the places near me if you can't find them near you!
 
I didn't realise pandas interbred with other species, makes sense though really! Im sure their offspring would be adorable (although not favourable!). I wish my Dad was into fish tanks too, that'd make asking for aquarium stuff easier

Aaaawwwwwh tickling whiskers 

 

 thats so so so cute!!!! Happy fry are the best kind off fry.. I hope mine are too.. I can't really tell at this point!

 

[Akasha72]

my lfs are trying to get more smudge-spots in stock. I have them on order with them but they just arn't coming in at the moment. I'm being patient right now and hoping for the best
 
The little fry are still zooming up and down! They are obviously full of energy. It's amazing what a water change can do
 
As for my Dad, well he's kept fish most of my life. He was the reason I got into it. I used to help with his tanks as a kid. He gave up for a while but one day I caught him gazing into my tank longingly and the next thing he'd got himself a tank and was setting up again. He's got cherry barbs, black ruby barbs and my hybrid cories!

 

[fishmad135]

my lfs are trying to get more smudge-spots in stock. I have them on order with them but they just arn't coming in at the moment. I'm being patient right now and hoping for the best

 
The little fry are still zooming up and down! They are obviously full of energy. It's amazing what a water change can do

 
As for my Dad, well he's kept fish most of my life. He was the reason I got into it. I used to help with his tanks as a kid. He gave up for a while but one day I caught him gazing into my tank longingly and the next thing he'd got himself a tank and was setting up again. He's got cherry barbs, black ruby barbs and my hybrid cories!

 
Very happy little fry, water changes are literally a god send, I'm doing one now and my pygmaeus as so grateful! I think so far 16 have hatched.. but then again they're moving so fast and hiding.. their could be way more or way less!
Wow, you're so lucky, I'd love to have grown up with hobby! It must be nice to share it with family - mine think I'm balmy 

I've just seen something horrific on the internet - people injecting hormones into cories in order to make them breed 

 I understand some species are much harder than others to breed but its the challenge of breeding those species which is so invigorating! Hormone injections seem so invasive and cruel, wheres the challenge in that 

 Rant over!

 

[Akasha72]

no I agree ... you rant away. I was infuriated by the link to the dyed cories this week. It makes me both angry and feel sick. I can't abide people being cruel to any animal. 
 
There are better ways to induce breeding ... be patient being one of them!

 

[fishmad135]

Patience and lots of nutritious food 

 
People take animals for granted and think they're a quick way to make a cheap buck with no blatant regard for the animals welfare or health. The man talking about hormone injections stated several individuals had died/had adverse effects due to the dosage being not quite right - idiots! 

 

I agree, I too feel both angry and sick.. these people have no conscience 

 

 

 
Back to the more natural side of things - i watched another fry come free from its egg, mesmerising! 21 fry and counting! 

 

[fishmad135]

Here's two little fella this morning 

A load of eggs seem to have gone.. but I don't see extra fry? Very confused right now!

 

[Akasha72]

fry have a fantastic ability to hide. I wouldn't be too concerned. If they didn't have the inbuilt reaction to hide the species would have died out long ago. When I was raising the fry that turned out to be hybrids I was raising them in a little tuppawear box with loads of moss and I was adding microworms and changing the water every day. This meant that I had to remove the moss, then remove the fry and throw their day old water away. When I removed the moss the fry would go nuts - darting about desperately trying to find somewhere else to hide and they'd end up in a corner of the box all trying to hide under one another.
 
I know I have newly hatched fry in my fry tank but because there's black sand in there and moss and other plant cuttings I know I have no hope of seeing them. For now I have to be patient and see if they make it to a size where I can see them

 

[fishmad135]

27 CORIES HAPPILY NUZZLING AROUND THE TANK!! I think that many anyway.. they're hard to count! They're doing great, growing so so fast it's crazy!! 

 

 
I had a disaster today - I returned from my Graduation today (WAHOOO) to find eggs which was great until i tried to pluck them off the glass, the eggs must've been so close to hatching as the first egg I touched burst and an embryo floated out 

 RIP little fella!! 

 

[Akasha72]

oh no ...

 

[fishmad135]

Fry update - I currently have around 45.. the little fry tank is such a hive of activity atm, loving it!!!