My Sterba's And Bandits Are Spawning!

[BrassMan]

Hi

In one of my tanks I have 3 Bandit Corys - Corydoras metae and in another I have 3 Sterba Corys - Corydoras sterbai, I've just found out that both groups contain 1 female and 2 males and guess what, both groups have started spawning just this weekend

Yesterday I saw the bandit female clutching eggs with her ventril fins but have not been able to find where she deposited them ( it's a large 100g community tank so spotting them is tricky ).

Today the Sterba female is doing the same, The males follow her around for a bit then she'll make a "T" with one of them then she goes of to place the eggs (fascinating to watch), this time I can spot the eggs, about 15 so far, as she's in a very quite 50g tank with just her, her two buddies (now bestest buddies ) and 3 plecs.

So, Any suggestions as to how I can give the eggs the best chance of hatching. Some are stuck to the glass and I've spotted about 5 stuck to a plant.

Do you reckon the plecs will eat them? In which case I should try and either move the eggs, cover the eggs somehow or move the plecs?

It it helps the 3 plecs are an L147 which is an omnivore but I've never seen him take food from anyware but the bottom of the tank so I'm guessing he won't be a problem. The other two, a rubber node plec and an L001 both spend a lot of time sucking the glass so I'm thinking they may be more of a problem.


Also and how long before they hatch?, what should I feed them? , any advice at all would be wonderful.

Thanks.

Paul.

 

[Xebadir]

You need to either cover those eggs, or particularly with the plant, remove the piece and place it in a container floated on the top of your tank. The plecos will definitely have a feast if you dont, and particularly with such difficult cories every egg gives you a better chance of raising. If you have one an airstone in the floated container will decrease the likelyhood of fungal issues, and increase your hatch rate.

Congratulations on your breeding sucess

 

[BrassMan]

You need to either cover those eggs, or particularly with the plant, remove the piece and place it in a container floated on the top of your tank. The plecos will definitely have a feast if you dont, and particularly with such difficult cories every egg gives you a better chance of raising. If you have one an airstone in the floated container will decrease the likelyhood of fungal issues, and increase your hatch rate.

Congratulations on your breeding sucess

Thanks,

Well, the eggs are still there almost a day later but I'm thinking of trying to move them to an empty 10g tank.

I've heard mention of "rolling" them off the glass, can anyone tell me how this should be done? If I can do this I'll place them in a net with an air stone running underneath.

 

[Xebadir]

Best way ive found is either using a razor or a credit card, and gently lift them off the glass....dropping into a container held below. Hope this helps.

 

[BrassMan]

Best way ive found is either using a razor or a credit card, and gently lift them off the glass....dropping into a container held below. Hope this helps.

Thanks,

Yep, that worked though it was a bit nerve racking and I lost one egg. I've managed to retrieve about 24 eggs, there could be more but these are all the ones I could find. I've put about 10 of the eggs in a breeding net in the spare tank with an air stone running next to it, the other 14 are in a breeding net in the main tank with the output from the spraybar flowing against it as I wanted to see which fair best. I guess now it's just a case of waiting and keeping my fingers crossed.

Here's a macro shot of some of the eggs before I detached them from the glass, I'm hoping the brown centres mean that they are viable.

If anyones interested I'll try and post more pictures when/if they hatch.

Cheers,

Paul.

 

[Xebadir]

Looking good . You should notice a darkening of the eggs over time, as well as black spots appearing. Hatching time will be around 7 or so days, depending on the water temperature. Once they hatch WC regularly and make sure they have a fry food: Liquifry or Microworms are the way to go.

 

[BrassMan]

Just got back from work and guess what, I've got sterbai fry And a couple of days earlier than I was expecting.

It looks like 14 have hatched out of the 24 eggs but it's really difficult to count them accuratly as alot of them are hidden under the bottom edges of the breeding nets.

Now, if I can just keep the little guys alive, I've added a couple of drops of Liquifry #1 to each net, hope thats the right thing to do.

I could do with some advice...

How long before I should try and move them out of the nets?

When should I start them on bigger food? I was thinking of baby brine shrimp which I know my LFS stocks.

I'm thinking I should do a 10% water change every day, does this sound right?

The tank they'll be released into is a 10gallon with a sponge filter, an airstone and a small internal power filter (fluval +1), the power filter is cycled but the sponge is'nt so I'm thinking I need to somehow cover the intakes on the power filter, any ideas how to do this?

Sorry for all the questions but I've never done this before.

Thanks,

Paul.

 

[Kuhni]

Covering the power filter with panty hose should be enough to keep the fry out. It isn't important to have a cycled filter as fry produce almost no waste, just keep up with your water changes. Take a couple photos, I don't think it's been documented on this forum about sterbai fry growth so you can make a running journal with daily photos(or as often as you can) and give us daily progress reports. Well it Sounds good to me, but your choice.

 

[BrassMan]

Covering the power filter with panty hose should be enough to keep the fry out. It isn't important to have a cycled filter as fry produce almost no waste, just keep up with your water changes. Take a couple photos, I don't think it's been documented on this forum about sterbai fry growth so you can make a running journal with daily photos(or as often as you can) and give us daily progress reports. Well it Sounds good to me, but your choice.

Ok, here goes, I'll try and keep this up as long as there's something to show.

This was taken this evening so the fry are between 24 and 48 hours old and around 4mm in length, very difficult to photograph, this is the best picture out of a whole load. I might be imagining things but to my eyes it already has a hint of cory in it's looks.

I've just done a 10% water change with RO water mixed with a dash of RO Right which I think I'll use from now on as my tap water has quite a strong nitrate reading (around 20ppm), I just need to try and avoid any sudden PH changes caused by the RO. Off to the LFS in the morning to buy baby brine shrimp and see if they've got anything to buffer the RO with.

Paul.

 

[Kuhni]

Personally I would keep them on liquifry/microworms for a week to a week and a half before starting to feed bbs, I feel it's just a little big for newly hatched cories.

 

[BrassMan]

Personally I would keep them on liquifry/microworms for a week to a week and a half before starting to feed bbs, I feel it's just a little big for newly hatched cories.

Agreed, I was'nt thinking of starting then on bbs yet, just going to get some and put in the freezer so I've got them when needed.

Paul

 

[Inchworm]

Congratulations on the new fry, BrassMan!

I'll be looking forward to seeing pictures of their progress.

 

[AlexAndCarmen]

Brilliant, congrats on your new fry. Your pics are amazing. What camera have you got??

They do look like little cories when they hatch, don't they. They are fascinating to watch develope and grow.

Keep up the good work and I look forward to watching their progress.

 

[BrassMan]

Well, I'm sorry to report that none of the fry made it

I'm not sure what I did wrong, could have been water chemistry I guess or maybe just bad luck.

Hopefully they'll spawn again at some point and I'll try again, just wish I new what mistake I made so I don't repeat it.

Paul.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi BrassMan

That is such disappointing news.

Why not set up a breeding tank and move your sterbai into it. That way when they spawn again you can just move the fish and raise the eggs there. This will let you avoid moving the eggs and trying to keep fry in a net.

Your water might be a problem and if they will spawn in the tap water, without trying to amend it, raise the fry in it too. They need a stable environment to thrive. Since they are warm water corys, the fry will also need a heater in their tank.

If you can get a microworm culture going ahead of time, so much the better. LiquiFry will get them started, but it's so easy to make a mess with it in the water.

Since your sterbai are now proven breeders there's an excellent chance they will spawn again. If you increase the amount of bloodworms in their diet it will help them develop a good number of eggs and their next spawn will be even larger than their first.

Just having had this first experience with them will help you be more successful with the next batch.