My Cories have been spending to much time

[Polardbear]

From what I can tell the females are a lot broader (looking down at them) and generally larger than the males.

Things seem back to normal this afternoon the cory is no longer guarding his corner and the swordies are cruising around again.

Inchworm you talked me into it, I'm going to move the corys to a 10 gallon and see if I can get them to spawn in there and try my hand at raising some of the little guys. I think I'll put a shallow layer of sand in the tank initially and remove it after they spawn (crosses fingers). Will condition them with frozen bloodworms, freeze dried tubifex and whatever other goodies I can find for them. Sounds like a trip to the frozen food section of the LFS! And I'll try to get a microworm culture someplace for the babies.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Polardbear

I'm glad to hear it. There are few things more fun than watching a tank full of young corys.

I don't know if you have ever raised egg laying fish before, but if not, you will especially like these. They are fairly easy to raise because they are nowhere near as tiny as some of the others.

I hope you continue to let us know how things are going with your corys.

 

[Polardbear]

This will be my first attempt at spawning an egglaying species. If you can point me to any good articles to read up on I'd appreciate it. I'm getting their tank cleaned up for them now. They are paleatus corys by the way and there are 4 of them 2 males and 2 females. Since they are going to be to busy for the next few weeks I decided I needed to hire a new cleaning crew for my fry tanks. Went to the LFS and came home with 8 more of them for my 2 fry tanks. I figure I'll put 4 in each tank. They are all paleatus corys as well. I looked at my 5 other corys that are in the 75 gallon tank and 2 are Schwartzi, 2 are Julies and the 5th one I still can't remember what the heck she is. All 5 appear to be females. I was hoping to get them some boyfriends but the LFS let me down. Although they almost tempted me to spend a lot of money, in the same tank that the paleatus were in they had a bunch of sterbai and adolfoi corys. I love the sterbai's but the adolfoi's were pretty awsome. But I swore I wouldn't buy any more corys unless I could get at least 4 of them at a time (of the same species).

 

[OohFeeshy]

Let us know how the spawning goes!

 

[Polardbear]

So my evening last night was spent playing musical fish. To move the corys I had to first move a couple of swordies out of the 55 gal tank and then move the swordies from the 10 gal tank to the 55. Of course being the cooperative little angels that they are this entailed removing everything they could hide behind from both the 10 gal and the 55 gal. Once that was accomplished I removed everything from the 75 gal so that I could capture my little cory friends. At which point I remembered that the net I use for the corys had disentegrated the other day so I quickly ran to the LFS to get a replacement, of course that turned into a trip to 3 Petsmarts trying to find the right net. But I finally prevailed and came home to round up less than cooperative corys. The 75 gal tank is 26 inches deep so in order to reach the bottom I have to stand on a bench and even then it's a reach.
Finally decided that partially emptying the tank would make life easier.

Since I can't easily tell the 4 little guys apart (well I can tell the 2 females from the 2 males) I figured I would put all 4 of them in the 10 gal for now and then figure out what to do next. So I finally had them all moved and settled in by about midnight and they decided the heck with my plan of "conditioning" and got down to business. Seems both females wanted to spawn and the males were going a little crazy trying to figure out who they should be chasing. One female finally produced some eggs and attempted to plant them on the glass only to have the other female come along behind her and eat them. Seeing that this was not going to work out I removed the egg eating female and placed her in the 55 gal.

The remaining threesome got down to business and made my swordtails proud. They kept going for 12 hours, I was beginning to wonder if they were ever going to get worn out. They finally slowed down a little bit ago and I decided to remove them from the tank. They have been transferred over to the 55 gal with the other female.

I've counted 54 white eggs stuck to the glass in the spawning tank! Is this about normal for a spawn?

Inchworm - what do I do now?

I wish these things came with an owners manual!

 

[Polardbear]

So I've been reading articles on spawning corys and of course every one has a different opinion about how to raise them. Now that the eggs are laid, what is the general opinion on the addition of methylene blue? Do I need to add it? Also, right now the tank has an airstone and a small (100 gph) hob filter. Should I remove the power filter and replace it with a sponge filter or remove the power filter and leave the airstone?

I've ordered a MW culture from the bug farm and hopefully it will get her in time to be of use. Should I use Liquifry food for the first couple of days? I've got brine shrimp hatching daily already so I can use them as well.

Am I forgetting anything? Swordtails are so much easier! (Slaps self - stop panicking!)

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Polardbear

Congratulations! That is quite a group of corys you have there!

I have tried using Methy blue and leaving it out; it doesn't seem to make a great deal of difference and takes time to get it out of the water after the fry hatch. Having good water circulation around the eggs is much more important. Move your airstone as close to them as you can. This is of utmost importance.

You have 3 to 4 days to get the tank ready for the fry before they hatch. I like to empty the tank out completely and have a sponge filter ready to put on within a few days from the time they hatch. You will be working with an uncycled tank for several weeks, and you will be doing daily water changes to keep the bottom clean and the water fresh, but before you know it, the sponge filter will become filled with beneficial bacteria. It will also grow little micro organisms that the fry will eat.

I would take the power filter out and run it on another tank to keep the beneficial bacteria alive. You might want to consider moving it right to another small breeding tank and proceeding with your original plan of conditioning them for the next time. This is how MTS really gets going.

If any of the eggs get fungus and look pale white and fuzzy, it's often because some of them are infertile. Unless they are touching each other, the rest of them should hatch without a problem. Once they have all hatched, you can wipe the residue away with a clean sponge.

When they hatch, they will be absorbing their yolk sacs for the first 24 hours or so. Then feed them Liquifry for their first few days. It will get them off to a good start while your microworms are getting established. Shake the bottle before using it and put a few drops in. It will sink to the bottom where they can get it.

Everyday, you will want to do a partial water change. This will remove the uneaten food and keep the water clean.

Good luck with them. Please keep us up to date on their progress.

 

[Polardbear]

Thanks Inchworm. I've got my sponge filter running over in the 75 gal for a few days and then I'll transfer it over to the spawn tank. I'm glad you said I didn't need the power filter because I needed it for another tank! I'm going to add a couple more airstones to the spawn tank since the eggs are scattered on 3 walls.
I've removed most of the sand already and will get the rest of it out tomorrow.

When conditioning the corys should they be seperated by sex or can they all be in the same tank? And would a 5 gallon hex (Eclipse) tank be to small for conditioning the 4 of them? How long before they'll be able to do this again?

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Polardbear

If your little tank is filtered and you do frequent water changes to keep the water clean, you should be able to condition your corys in it. But, if you can tell which female is the egg eater, it might be a good idea to exclude her. Once they start eating the eggs, there's not much of a chance they will stop. There is no problem with keeping the males and females together.

If you keep the water a little on the warm side and do not let the temperature fluctuate, the chances are better that you will be able to control when they spawn. They could use a couple of weeks rest and conditioning on live or frozen worms before they spawn again. You will be wanting to keep them strong and healthy and this will help.

If they spawn in the small tank within the next few weeks, and you can get to the eggs after they have a chance to firm up, but before they lose their stickiness, you might be able to move them to the tank with this batch of fry and raise them both together. The difference in size will not be so great that the second batch will be at a disadvantage. Beside, you will want to feed generously and if you are using microworms, which live for a time in the water, there will be plenty of food for everyone.

 

[Polardbear]

Hmmm...I'll have to give this some thought, I was looking at the 5 gallon and I really hate to put anybody in it - it's so darn small. I have the feeling they'll make me feel guilty if I put them in it. I guess I'll just have to find a place to put a 5th 10 gallon tank. Or better yet I'll get the 20 long I've been wanting and move Terrel (black swordie male) and his girlfriend to the 20 and that would free up another 10! Thanks Inchworm - you see what you've started?

OK, for anyone who's never seen Cory eggs here is a picture of the back wall of my tank. These were stuck on the wall behind the filter intake tube just below the water line.

 

[OohFeeshy]

If I can't buy or DIY a spong filter, can I use a Smallword box filter? Its only tiny.

 

[Polardbear]

Played musical fish again today and the 4 spawners (spawnees?) have moved from the 55 gallon tank to a 10 gallon tank where they are joining with 5 of the 8 young paleatus corys I picked up the other day. I had hoped they were done spawning the other day when I put them in the 55 gal but apparently not, I found another 43 eggs stuck on the glass in the 55 gal tank! I'm amazed that I found that many in the big tank since the egg eating female cory was in there along with 13 swordies. I also found about 20 eggs in the filter sponge from the 10 gallon when I moved it over to another tank. Prolific little critters aren't they? I'm almost afraid to think how many eggs I'll see after conditioning them! I'm not really certain which of the 2 females was the egg eater so I'm just going to have to keep a close eye on them next time around and be ready to snatch her out of the tank.

I'm anxiously awaiting the hatching day - so far the eggs seem ok, not seeing anything that looks like fungus. How soon does the fungus show up if it's going to happen?

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Polardbear

Aren't corys wonderful!

Did you try moving any of the eggs to the hatching tank? If you gently roll them off the glass and quickly move them, you might be able to stick them on the glass of the other tank. Even if they don't stick, you will still be able to get them to hatch.

It's not something I like doing because some of them will get damaged, but if they are only going to be eaten, it's worth a try.

They could get fungus at any time, but if your water circulation is good, it might not happen.

 

[Elisabeth83]

Wow you've been having quite a time these last few days You must be estatic to have cory eggs...oohhh I know I would be ) Now that my albino cories have grown up I see I have 2 males and 1 BIG female. No signs of them having any intentions of breeding though... Sure would be fun to have some little cories

You got a great pic of the eggs..I've never seen cory eggs before Very cool!!

In my 60 gallon (I think its actually a 55 gallon) I have 3 albino cories and 2 peppers. Was thinking of getting a couple more to make the group bigger. They sure have calmed down compared to when they were babies. Most of the time they are searching through the sand compared to when they were babies they would go up and down the tank all day long

I hope your eggs hatch and take tones of pics of they do..I've never seen cory fry before

Ohhh your so lucky

 

[Polardbear]

Elisabeth, what temp do you keep your tank at? I noticed with my 2 older females that they had calmed down substantially compared to when they were little tykes. They seemed to get slightly more active when I put them in the 75 gallon which has sand but I didn't really get much of a reaction out of them when I introduced the 2 males. When I finally managed to get the tank temp down to 74 or 75 degrees is when they perked up and began all this craziness.

Inchworm - there were still about a dozen eggs this morning in the 55 gallon and I was able to move them to the 10 gallon. They won't stick to anything like you said probably would happen and are kind of getting blown around the tank by the airstones, I guess we'll see what happens. So far nothing seems to be going on, some of the eggs have turned an opaque solid white color and the others still have that transluscent white look like in my photo. How big are baby corys when they emerge?