Omg My Fish Are Making Out!

[PlecMama]

My peppered cory, that I've had since 12pm today are making out!

Quick....who is the expert here? since I have had them precisely 14 hours I know NOTHING about eggs and baby fish.

ANY help would be appreciated if they do indeed do the wild thing and replicate.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

What sort of behavior are they displaying can you describe? Corys are very sociable fish and will often play with each other rather than display mating behavior.

 

[PlecMama]

well, they are chasing the larger one round, three smaller ones, mostly one of them seems more determined, he (?) is the larger of the small ones (if you know what I mean), when they get her(?) on the floor they look like they are trying to manouver around then she swims off and they take up the chase again.

It's not a chase me game, they are certain they want her and that's it, they are not interested in each other, in fact one of the suspected guys looks to be chasing the other guys off.

Oh my basic terminology is painful even for me to read

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

well, they are chasing the larger one round, three smaller ones, mostly one of them seems more determined, he (?) is the larger of the small ones (if you know what I mean), when they get her(?) on the floor they look like they are trying to manouver around then she swims off and they take up the chase again.

It's not a chase me game, they are certain they want her and that's it, they are not interested in each other, in fact one of the suspected guys looks to be chasing the other guys off.

Oh my basic terminology is painful even for me to read

Well if they are getting into the "T" position they are trying to mate, if not they are just strengthening social bonds;


http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/calli...rydora/51_F.PHP

If they do lay any eggs though, they will most likely be eaten by other fish before they can hatch, have you used any meds recently in the tank or stuff like StressCoat?

 

[PlecMama]

I've heard of this T position thing from the other posts I have been reading (and my sudden panic interest in what to do if they lay eggs) and they certainly seem to be trying to get her where they want her.

No meds, no. I have plecs in there and I am trying not to medicate.




....out of interest....who is where in this "T" formation? I can't imagine how that works for them but it obviously does

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

The males will try to mate with the female from the side as her ovipositer/egg layer thing is underneif on her belly- if you look at the bottom left pic in the link i gave you you will see a pic of the "T" position, the female cory is the one of the right .
The planetcatfish tells the basics on cory breeding reallly though, if you just have plecs in the tank, the eggs might be ok...They will hatch out in 4-7 days, feed the fry on liquid fry foods or things like brineshrimp- the fry are extremely tiny and transparent when born, so you will probably not see them at least for the first few days of their life as they grow- Inchworm knows alot on cory breeding and fry raising if you want more info, but thats the jist of things .

 

[PlecMama]

Thanks ever so much for your help....they certainly look like they are trying to breed. We wanted them to one day but were not expecting it tonight!

Since it's 2:48am I think I will go to bed and leave them to it, with a kind of que sera sera attitude towards them. I'll have a look again in the morning and update this if there's anything going on.

Thanks for helping me, I'm sure the fish know what they're doing I'm glad someone here does too.

Hugs xx

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Thanks ever so much for your help....they certainly look like they are trying to breed. We wanted them to one day but were not expecting it tonight!

Since it's 2:48am I think I will go to bed and leave them to it, with a kind of que sera sera attitude towards them. I'll have a look again in the morning and update this if there's anything going on.

Thanks for helping me, I'm sure the fish know what they're doing I'm glad someone here does too.

Hugs xx

Cool, good luck with your corys ! Some corys will eat their own eggs although this is quite rare, if the corys lay their eggs on a plant and the eggs are still there in the morning, it might be worth putting the plant in a livebearer breeding net next to the filter current just to make sure the plecs don't decide to eat them, or the corys for that matter- a good oxygenated filter current and stable tank temp with no meds in the water is the key to getting those eggs hatched .

 

[Matty]

thats cute.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi SuzieQPlecMama

Aren't corys fun!

It's not too unusual for peppered corys to breed when you first get them. If they are mature enough to spawn, the change in water is often enough to get them going.

It does sound like they are trying to breed. If she is ready, after they chase her around, she will pick out one of them and push him onto his side. Then she will do what looks like she is tickling his tummy with her barbels. This is what is known as the T Position.

Here is a picture of my black C. aeneus doing it:

Afterward she will swim off carrying eggs between her ventral fins.

Next she will place the eggs on a surface, usually the glass or a plant:

Peppered corys often eat their own eggs, so if you don't get a batch this time, wait and feed them well on live blackworms, tubifex worms, or frozen bloodworms. This will help the female develop a larger number of eggs for next time which might be in a week or two.

You might want to think about setting up another tank to move the eggs to and raise the fry in because they will be eaten by the fish in your main tank. I'll be happy to help you and there are other members who are raising cory fry that will probably add their experience as well.

 

[PlecMama]

Ok right, I can't find any eggs and believe me I've looked! I'm sort of disappointed actually, I went to bed like a kid on Christmas Eve but I think that's best really since I totally wasn't ready to look after more kids right now. By next week we'll be ready.

I know a lot more now then I did 12 hours ago - learning via the "deep end" method so we'll keep watch and see what happens, I'm still very excited though, nothing in our house (apart from me) has ever made babies before, and now I know of my 7 peppered, I have at least 2 females and 3 males - the other 2 just stayed out of the way. Even the one Bronze was up for giving chase, I guess he's a guy too.

Thanks for all the replies, I really am grateful, and yes Inchworm, they are way cool fish you said they were. And your step by step pictures are wonderful!!

Sue xx

 

[Fishy412]

mine would act like that almost every night before lights out but they rarely actually layed eggs

 

[Animation]

Don't know to much about cory's mate but if you are planning to keep the fry do so and research about it, If not the other fish are most likely to eat the eggs this may stop the cory's frim breeding in future however remember about the consequences are you going to keep them? If so is the Take big Enough? Are you going to sell them or give them away? if so who to?
Take everything into consideration

 

[PlecMama]

Yeah, definately gotta watch over stocking those tanks huh?

If we get some, we'll just buy another tank, not so bad