Omg Cory Eggs!

[CezzaXV]

I've got the net sitting on top of the filter outflow right now, but my egg is in the bottom of the net about 4-5 inches below it. Will this be enough water flow or should I set up my air pump?

 

[Inchworm]

Hi CezzaXV

You need to have actual water movement passing across the eggs. I don't like the idea of trying to hatch and raise corys in a breeding net because it tends to be unsanitary and cory fry easily succumb to bacterial infections.

Since you have breeding corys, you can pretty much expect to have more eggs sometime in the near future, so if you want to keep them, it's a good idea to keep that in mind.

I'm going to move your thread over to the Corydoras section.

 

[CezzaXV]

Thanks Inchworm. I've set up an airstone running in the net with the remaining egg now. A thought though - I've got an old HOB filter sitting in storage right now. Would placing the net in the HOB filter be better than the airstone for water flow?

 

[snazy]

Congratulations!!
I have managed to hatch only one cory egg out of many spawns
My little survivor is one month old today!!!
Now I have no chance as the guppy get to the eggs before me
One of those articles above advises liquifry for the small ones but this makes the bottom rather dirty. I think tetra baby food or hikari baby food with some mini worms would be better in my opinion in order to avoid bacterial infections.

 

[Inchworm]

Sorry, CezzaXV, I cannot answer that question because I would never use a net for corys. What I like to do is use a small container or tank to hatch and get them off to a good start. You could buy an inexpensive air pump at an lfs or even Walmart. Use it to power one or more airstones until they've hatched and then switch it to a sponge or box filter (and move the fry to a bigger tank) until you have raised them.

If you did use the HOB filter, you could find what is called a prefilter to put over the intake tube to keep the fry from being sucked up. This is essentially an additional sponge filter.

 

[CezzaXV]

What I meant was could I put the net with the egg in it in the HOB filter where the media would normally go? The net would stop the egg flowing away into the tank. Just wondering if this would create enough flow for the egg. Got my air pump running in the net at the moment but it's kinda noisy and I'm not gonna be able to sleep tonight if I leave it on.

The tank that I normally use as a quarantine tank is in storage at the moment as my room is being redecorated, but I'll see if I can find something separate to put the egg in for now.

My tank is actually due a water change today but I'm worried about damaging the egg. Do I need to acclimatise it or anything? I have no idea.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi CezzaXV,

I understand what you're doing now. Check it out but take care that it's not pushing too much water through. That's a possibility too.

Good luck with it.

 

[CezzaXV]

Update:

I cut the bottom off a plastic bottle and put the egg in there with an airstone and a bit of moss. I'm floating it in the main tank at the moment to keep it at the right temperature. In the event that this egg does hatch (I still refuse to get my hopes up) I'll invest in a proper little fry tank but I think this will do for now.

 

[Tizer]

the smallest amount of food you might feed it later on will cause the water to go bad quickly, so its either in the net or a well filtered fry tank from then onwards really.

 

[snazy]

You should be able to tell if the egg will hatch by now. If it's ok it will be darker without any solid/whitish colour in the middle. You should probably be able to see darker spots in it.
Careful when using a net as these cory babies are extremely tiny and will escape through the holes unless the net is a very fine one.
For my cory survivor I've been using one of those plastic breeder boxes with super tiny holes at the bottom made for the smallest fry possible and the cory managed to fall through that too when I was pouring water into the box one of the first few days.

 

[CezzaXV]

This is a picture I look last night when it was still in the net.

If I look at the egg really closely, I can see two tiny brown dots. I think I'd be incredibly lucky if it did hatch from what I've heard. Remaining hopeful but don't wanna set myself up for disappointment. I've got a sponge filter that I've been cycling for an eventual shrimp tank which should be ideal if the egg does hatch.

 

[Tizer]

looks fertile to me, i've never bothered with a single egg though, its too much hastle for the reward (imo), might be fun if its the first time though

 

[CezzaXV]

Not sure if the egg has gotten lighter this morning or not. The bits inside seem to be more well defined though. Hmm.

 

[snazy]

The egg looks ok to me too. Any news?

 

[Reret]

oh man you are so lucky to get a cory to breed on its own i sure hope the egg haches