Peppered Cory Eggs

[yabadaba]

Guys, I've read a few of the posts here, including the 'sticky' on breeding corys, but would still be grateful for some advice. Yesterday morning I noticed my peppered corys acting weird and then noticed a few creamy coloured dots on the walls of the tank.....at which point it dawned upon me that they were spawning. It was fascinating to watch all this taking place over the ensuing hour or two, after which I'm now left with approx 100 eggs around the sides of the tank.

I think most of the eggs are fertilised as they all a sort of light tan colour and most have what looks like a white dot inside them, though a few look 'empty'. From reading on here, it looks as though it's best to move them into a tank on their own, which works out great as I have just bought a new 35L Arcadia Arc that I'm planning to house shrimp and snails in. But this is where my questions start coming in....

How should I setup the Arc tank? I have a new filter (Eheim Aquaball 60) and some mature media to go in it, but have read that the fry might get sucked up so it's best to use a sponge filter? If that is the case then I'll try and get one of these sponge filters tomorrow, though I've never come across them before. Also, how should I go about removing the eggs (scrape with razor blade?) and what about substrate - I was going to use sand, but I read somewhere that no substrate is best? Any advice on what to do now would be much appreciated.

 

[Harlequins]

Set the tank up with a thin layer of sand on the bottom,has i found with my fry temperature is better at a lower temperature (thanks to inchworm ),so mine is now set on 22 degrees,a sponge filter run off an airpump would be better than the eheim(this might be too powerful for the tiny fry,although you could use it when they've grown a bit).
Keep the water clean,clear up any uneaten food and try not to overfeed.Microworms are best,but i have been bringing mine up on defrosted baby brine shrimp and first bites.

Eggs can be removed with a scraper,but i've found if they have been left to harden for a short while you can roll them onto your finger and put them into a yogurt pot or small clean tub of tank water with an airstone in to help circulate the water and stop the eggs going fungal.

I personally put eggs into a catching net over an airstone while they're developing,and i have a 99.9% hatch rate

If you leave them in the tank to long they will get eaten for sure

Good luck

 

[yabadaba]

Thanks for that, just the kind of advice I was after. Not sure what these sponge filters that run off air pumps are though. Are they something you can buy or a DIY thing? I've got a spare air pump, an air stone and some filter sponge if it's something I can put together myself.

 

[Harlequins]

Yes you can buy them,they're not expensive,here's a link to one sponge filter

Basically you attach an airpump & airline to the top then this is used a filter ideal for fry,it just gurgles away,plus the fry will eat micro bits off of it has it matures.

 

[yabadaba]

Yes you can buy them,they're not expensive,here's a link to one sponge filter

Basically you attach an airpump & airline to the top then this is used a filter ideal for fry,it just gurgles away,plus the fry will eat micro bits off of it has it matures.

Okay thanks. I'll get one from my LFS tomorrow, but will still set up the tank this evening. I guess it would still be preferable to transfer the eggs over tonight to avoid losing any to 'hungry' fish....I'm sure my pair of Kribs have taken a few already. I can add an air stone to keep the water oxygenated. Is it best to do a water change on the tank the eggs are in and use that to fill the new tank or would it be okay to fill it with fresh water?

 

[miss.Original]

I personally, was planning on using the water from my tank for my guppy's fry that's coming soon, so that I don't have to worry about having to cycle it too much and then it's already got mature bacteria, etc. in it. But I'm no expert Inchworm, Harlequins, Coryologist, and several others would be able to tell what's worked best for them. But congrats and good luck! <3

 

[Harlequins]

How did the egg collection go?

You can fill the new tank about 3/4 with water from your main tank,and rest fresh dechlorinated water,put the airstone close to the eggs in the new tank,and hopefully they'll hatch

 

[yabadaba]

How did the egg collection go?

You can fill the new tank about 3/4 with water from your main tank,and rest fresh dechlorinated water,put the airstone close to the eggs in the new tank,and hopefully they'll hatch

Hi,

Thanks. That's exactly what I ended up doing with the water. I found collecting the eggs a tad tricky as they are so small to get between finger and thumb, but managed in the end by holding a glass underneath to catch any that would otherwise have fallen to the substrate.

I must admit that I've almost 100% copied your way of hatching the eggs....I found one of your posts that included some photos of your fry tank and had everything I needed to copy it exactly apart from the magnet . Only difference other than the magnet is that I've had to place a small pebble in the bottom of the net to keep it from flapping around too much in the bubble stream. Everything looking good so far.

Although there's no guarantee that I'll end up with any fry I went ahead and ordered some brine shrimp eggs and a hatchery, so that I'll be able to feed any that do make it. It's something I've always fancied trying anyway and wasn't a huge expense either.

 

[lilacamy931]

Best of luck with them, all fingers crossed for them xxx

 

[karigupi]

Congratulations on your eggs & good luck with hatching I find my peppered fry feed best on Hikari First Bites powder, it might be worth grabbing a bag, its very cheap & handy to have around.

Let us know when they hatch, Peppered cory fry are so cute

 

[Harlequins]

Fab news good luck with them,awaiting for your news when they hatch

 

[yabadaba]

Thanks guys.

Quick check on the procedure...at the moment I've got the internal filter that was supplied with the tank running and have the flow directed towards where the eggs are, as well as an airstone underneath them. But, I've bought a small air-pump powered foam filter and plan to switch over to this method of filtration if/when any fry appear, as the original filter might suck in some of the fry.

I take it that I don't have to worry about using non-mature media because there won't be much waste, plus I believe I should be doing 2x daily water changes?

Also, I've got the eggs in a partially submerged fish net at the moment, so would it be best to wait until all the fry are out before switching filters and releasing them from the net or is it best to do that when the first ones appear?

Sorry for all the questions, just want to give this my best shot

 

[Harlequins]

Sounds has though you are doing well

I personally has soon has i see the fry appearing i put the eggs into a clean tub with tank water,float on the tank,turkey baster is fab for moving them from the net to the tub,pop the airstone in the tub with them,then hopefully they normally all hatch during the same day.
Now with your sponge filter at the moment its up to you,you could either put it in the tank now,has it won't make too much difference has it isn't cycled anyway,you could either take some mature filter media out of your main tank filter and wrap it around the sponge with an elastic band or cotton,or gently squeeze the media into the fry tank once the fry are in there,this will give some infusia(sp?)from the media,which the fry will munch on,either way it will help kick start the cycle.
Has long has you keep up the waterchanges and don't overfeed you should be ok until the filter can handle the bioload.clean up after feeding them,a piece of airline or turkey baster comes in handy for removing any leftover food.

I made a mistake of overfeeding a few times and had a massive nitrite spike,hence lost alot of fry.
I'm still learning myself,so if i've got anything wrong,hopefully someone will correct it.

How many eggs did you save?

 

[yabadaba]

Thanks for that. I'm due to change one of the large fine foam filters in the external filter I use on my Malawi tank, so have a plentiful source of mature media. I'll squeeze out some of the gunk into the tank and also wrap some around the foam that comes with this new Algarde Biofoam 45 filter that I'll be switching to.

What I think I'll do is wait until the fry hatch to switch filters and I would also be tempted to just release them into the tank, rather than a container, or would that be a bad idea?

I count around 85 eggs, of which 25 are now a dark brown and most of the others a tan colour. A few, however, are on off-white colour so guess they might not be fertilised (?)

Just took a couple of snaps and, as you can see, the tank is looking very bare. I'll try and get hold of a couple of moss balls tomorrow to give any fry somewhere to congregate.

 

[Harlequins]

Sounds good

Has you have so many and none in the tank then it would be just has easy to put them straight in ,i just keep mine separate for a day or so to keep a check on them before i add them with my other ones.

I would remove the infertile eggs,just in case they get mouldy,it may affect the rest,i've never realised peppered eggs were that colour...i'm use to seeing light coloured ones from my trilineatus