So I've just looked in my tank (fluval Roma 125) and found a bunch of fish eggs all over the tank mainly on the glass and filter and im not sure what I should to do with them. Nothing seems to be eating them yet though my endlers are hanging around near them. The only egg layers i have are corydoras, kukhli loaches and newly added six glass catfish. I did a large water change yesterday so I think that might of triggered spawning. If anyone has any advice about what to do with them or what fish laid them it would be much appreciated.
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Need help with fish eggs
- Thread starter Coryking
- Start date
They look like nerite snail eggs.
They look like cory eggs to me too... well, technically Osteogaster now, but your profile pic has albino aeneus (albino bronze cories, in common speak us non-scientists use!)
And those cories like to lay their eggs in clusters like that, often on the glass, hard surfaces like the filter etc, as opposed to ones that prefer to lay on leaves or in sand (although sometimes they'll use a leaf too, so check there if you plan to try to collect the eggs!) often triggered by a water change. Look like the eggs when I bred them too.
Nerite eggs were smaller, more scattered, and very, very difficult to remove, when I had an accursed female nerite, anyway. If you're able to gently roll these eggs loose with a credit card or your fingertip (I hold a net beneath for any that fall) then they're definitely not nerite eggs, and from your stocking, almost certainly cory eggs!
And those cories like to lay their eggs in clusters like that, often on the glass, hard surfaces like the filter etc, as opposed to ones that prefer to lay on leaves or in sand (although sometimes they'll use a leaf too, so check there if you plan to try to collect the eggs!) often triggered by a water change. Look like the eggs when I bred them too.
Nerite eggs were smaller, more scattered, and very, very difficult to remove, when I had an accursed female nerite, anyway. If you're able to gently roll these eggs loose with a credit card or your fingertip (I hold a net beneath for any that fall) then they're definitely not nerite eggs, and from your stocking, almost certainly cory eggs!
Lots of useful info in this thread, along with a lot of waffle! Just skim past waffle for any info you find useful. The stuff by NCAquatics is most useful. This started when mine first spawned unexpectedly, and I managed to raise some babies, so every faith that you can too, if you want to!
If you don't, the adult cories won't exactly hunt out the eggs, but they will nom away any that they stumble across. I no longer collect eggs from my bronze/albino cories since a deformity cropped up, and when they spawn I just leave the eggs and the tank inhabitant clear them up pretty quickly.
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If you don't, the adult cories won't exactly hunt out the eggs, but they will nom away any that they stumble across. I no longer collect eggs from my bronze/albino cories since a deformity cropped up, and when they spawn I just leave the eggs and the tank inhabitant clear them up pretty quickly.
Help! My cories spawned! What do I do??
@NCaquatics @mbsqw1d what do I do?? I didn't even know they were spawning, just turned the tank lights on and found these!! They're quite high up near the surface. I didn't even water change yesterday or anything, maybe the water change the day before spurred them on? What do I do??
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Thank you both for your help. I've got a old breeding box so I'll put the eggs in there. Do you know how long it takes for them to hatch and what I should feed them? This caught me so off guard, I've had these corries for years and this has never happened.
I don't have any snails in the tank I made sure to remove any from the hardscape and plants before scaping the tank.
Thank you for this thread and especially the encouragement. I'll certainly read through it.
What kind of breeder box? Almost all I've seen on the market are really designed for livebearers. They'll contain newborn guppies/mollies/platies etc, but egg layers like cory fry are like tiny little insects when they first hatch, and the gaps in the breeder box mesh netting, or slits in the plastic to allow water exchange are far too large to contain these tiny fry.
I and another member adapted a mesh breeder box by buying plain undyed nylon tights, using the plastic frame, and slipping the foot of the tights over the frame instead of the supplied mesh.
You can also use plastic containers using water from the parent tank. See that linked thread for ideas, home-made contraptions, and hopefully later, some more professional set ups by @CassCats !
I'm glad to be wrong there. I dislike nerite eggs!
There is always that option to. Could give them better chances of survival by adding more hardcape and dense plants the adults can't easily find the fry in, like lots of moss, leaf litter (which will also encourage microcritters the fry can live on in between feedings from you) and try to hide the eggs with some extra plants, or blocking them off with hardscape.
How long they take to hatch varies, with temp etc being just one factor, but about 4-5 days for aeneus eggs.
Personal preference if you want to collect the eggs and target feed/protect fry, since they're hard to observe unless collected when they're really tiny! Or if you want to see if they make it in the parent tank, which is certainly less work even if you add things like the plants and feed things like infusoria, microworms, BBS... but does mean fewer tend to make it to a good size and then adulthood.
Me too...! I see the benefits of them, but especially if your tank is heavy with driftwood?? Bah. Mine feasted on the driftwood, where I don't mind the aged algae look, pooped tons then went dormant for long periods while digesting all that, then went right back to the driftwood. Which they then plastered in eggs that ruined it, since they'd only come off using the point of a stanley blade.
When they passed away, I swore no more nerites.
The planting is quite dense where the glass catfish stay so they'll probably eat them. Elsewhere it's pretty open. I'll attach a photo somewhere. Since the TOTM I have changed the lighting to a sansi grow lights.
I've got some spare catapa leaves so I might add them. I'm going to do a mix, I'll keep some in the tank and some in the tub.
The breeding box does have small slits in the side so I'll switch to a tub (once I can find one).
Attachments
Alder cones, cattapa leaves etc also meant to help reduce chances of fungus... they are prone to fungus, so being able to separate out the eggs a bit, examine them with a good light or even magnifying glass and remove any that have fungus growing, to try to prevent it spreading to other eggs.
If you happen to keep neocaridina shrimp in another tank, I'd pop a couple in with the eggs & fry. They won't bother healthy eggs, or fry, but are good "nannies" and clean up crew. I keep shrimp as well anyway, then read about them being useful for cleaning cory eggs, and have added them to eggs I've collected since! Along with alder cone, moss, and once the fry are a few days old, some sand from the parent tank, changing the sand out every week or so, because of the helpful bacteria it can grow, and changing it because of the nasty stuff that can also develop. If you read through that thread, you'll see at some point I got complacent and had some mass die offs of my cory fry, and moving them to a clean set up with clean sand from another established tank fixed it. So now I'd be religious about changing out the thin layer of substrate.
But all of that is like a week after they hatch, so don't panic, you have time!
If you happen to keep neocaridina shrimp in another tank, I'd pop a couple in with the eggs & fry. They won't bother healthy eggs, or fry, but are good "nannies" and clean up crew. I keep shrimp as well anyway, then read about them being useful for cleaning cory eggs, and have added them to eggs I've collected since! Along with alder cone, moss, and once the fry are a few days old, some sand from the parent tank, changing the sand out every week or so, because of the helpful bacteria it can grow, and changing it because of the nasty stuff that can also develop. If you read through that thread, you'll see at some point I got complacent and had some mass die offs of my cory fry, and moving them to a clean set up with clean sand from another established tank fixed it. So now I'd be religious about changing out the thin layer of substrate.
But all of that is like a week after they hatch, so don't panic, you have time!
Now that it’s happened it will happen again and you can be better prepared to move fish or whatever next time .
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