How To Help A One Day Old Baby Cory Survive And Grow?

[snazy]

Hi All.
I need a bit of help raising a cory fry. Yeah, just one hatched

I am worried about my first ever baby cory which is one day old. The previous batch hatched and disappered through the holes of the breeder net. I can't believe how small the babies are. I changed tactics and put the other batch of eggs in a plastic breeder instead. One out of five eggs hatched and the rest were done by fungus. So I have this little white albino cory survivor on it's own in a plastic breeder box in the tank.
I am afraid I might not manage to help this baby survive. I tried doing a "water change" by adding some tank water in the box via a plastic cup and the baby flew down through the holes that are located at the bottom. Mind you that these holes are tiny but the cory is even tinier!! I somehow managed to get it back, don't ask me how. Now I am afraid to touch the box and I can't think of of anything better to move the cory baby to

How do I know if it eats? I put some baby powder but it's only one cory so it is hard measure. It is also not moving too much and staying at one spot only. Shouldn't it be more active? I dropped a few snails to eat the leftovers as I am not sure the cory is eating yet. I also put a moss ball and the poor little thing hid under it.
Should I put some sand in the box or is it better to keep it bare bottom?

Thanks in advance for all your suggestions

And a short video of him/her from today:

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWlOfU36DpI&feature=youtu.be

 

[Mowbz]

He'll probably be ok on his own, depending on what else is in the tank.

You could keep him in a trap for a while no problem, but you would need to make sure it has throughflow to keep the water quality in there reasonable. I would put a very thin scattering of sand and some decent cover in there, it's likely close to the lights and they'll cause stress, if you can chuck in a few small plants or cuttings, and anything else it can hide under, it'll grow out a little until it can fend for itself. Wouldnt leave it more than a few weeks.

Hope this helps.

 

[snazy]

Thanks.

I'll start setting it up with some plants tomorrow morning. Hopefully the little thing will still be alive. I can't believe it will be big enough any time soon to be out of the box.
The box has little holes at the bottom so I am not certain how to put sand without blocking the little flow they provide. Maybe I should just throw a very tiny bit of sand just to make the cory comfy without covering the bottom?
I put a plant just now but I'll put some more tomorrow first thing in the morning.
It is still alive and wiggled around when I turned the lights on. When should it start eating? I mean I probably won't even see it eating or should I? It looks so fragile compared to my other fry experience.

 

[Mowbz]

They are indeed incredibly small! If it has a little yellow/brown yolk sack attached to its belly still it wont eat for up to 72 hrs as it lives of that for the first day ro so. If it doesnt, its going to be hungry. Any type of liquid fry food etc would be good, along with powders, or just crushed flake. Very well crushed flake though.

Hope this helps!

 

[snazy]

Thanks Mowbz.
I put some sand at the bottom at one half of the box and some natural and artificial plants to block the lights a bit. The cory baby went onto the sand for a while and it is nearly impossible to see unless it moves. It is quite still though. It didn't have a yellow or brown belly at all. It is translucent white, but it is definately thinner now but it doesn't seem to be eating or looking for food
I have another few eggs waiting to hatch. Hopefully he will have company soon.
The snails are doing more pooping than cleaning I think

 

[Mowbz]

It might look thinner as the yolk sack disappears, so he could be finding what your putting in the fry box for him, only time will tell!

Where are the other eggs currently?

 

[snazy]

I have them in a net. The picture is from yesterday when the eggs were fresh. Some of the eggs are a lot browner now so hopefully they'll hatch.
The black thing on the right is the powerhead dressed in a sock so there is constant water flow.

 

[FishFanatic04]

good luck with these babies! Looks stressful and fun at the same time.

 

[snazy]

Thanks. I probably looked at it 10-15 times today to check if it's still alive
I guess if it survives a week then I may get convinced it probably eats some of the baby powdered food I put . At least I'll have a few happy snails if not anything else.

 

[Mowbz]

Love the socked powerhead!

If they're going to hatch you've given them everything they need, so i'm sure you'll get more!

Ive never had any luck with the small number of C.Panda fry i've seen in the tank. I always seem to spot them at about 5-6 weeks old, so they've already seen out the hardest part, but then vanish. But in the 8 months or so ive had them, ive only ever had a few eggs here and there, nothing you could consider a proper "spawn", more of a midnight fling...

Corydoras Aeneus (Bronze or albino) are apparently easier to keep than Panda, so i've got more hope for you than i have for mine!

 

[snazy]

It will be a miracle if I get this one survive and grow to adulthood but I'll do my best.
I did a couple of "water changes" today... if replacing 100ml of water in a 300 ml breeder box is considered a water change
Although it has the holes at the bottom I am not convinced there is enough circulation at all as the same box was responsible for most of the unhatched eggs covered in fungus in my previous attempts.
I hoovered the snail poop and other nasty stuff with the syringe while holding a magnifying glass to make sure I wasn't vacuuming the cory baby by accident in the mean time.

It looks like it will be fun. By looking at pictures of other cory fry this one is a minuature version. I don't know if this is normal for albinos but I definately will look into black sand if I ever setup a cory fry tank.

 

[snazy]

Ive never had any luck with the small number of C.Panda fry i've seen in the tank. I always seem to spot them at about 5-6 weeks old, so they've already seen out the hardest part, but then vanish.

I've read a lot about cory fry disappearing/dying when actually you would think they've passed the dangerous age.

I have a whole bunch of eggs that ran out of the breeder net after becoming quite brown and I am still hoping to see a small cory surviving the filter intakes and the addition of the mafia of male guppies I added up recently.

Why are the fry so fragile? Pandas are probably more so even when grown up.

 

[Mowbz]

I think "demanding" is the best word for Panda's. You have to be on point with everything. Ive found large weekly water changes and a sparkling tank floor are key for them. And to have a fair size group!

 

[snazy]

The little wiggler seems slightly bit more active and looking for food. Hopefully he is liking what he finds..
I posted on my other thread but last night I saw a survivor from another batch of eggs by the time I got a net to catch him he was gone. He wasn't very big, just about a nice snack size for the guppies Poor thing...hopefully he will survive to a size I can at least see him with the magnifying glass
He looked like a white worm against the glass...

 

[snazy]

I am crazy I know but I was just looking with the magnifying glass and I can see there is food in the belly as the cory is not as translucent anymore.
I am wondering, how often should I drop food inside. I put tiny ammounts of baby powder about 2-3 times today but I put really small amount. I hope he is finding it and he seems to be wiggling around on the sand part with his head down typical for a grown cory.