Peppered Cory Eggs

[yabadaba]

First fry sighted...just the one at the moment but enough to put a smile on my face

Pretty shocked when I tested the water last night (and this morning) though....there's a trace of ammonia showing, somewhere between 0 and 0.25 on the API test kit card. I'll have to lower the net further into the tank and do a 50% water change. I'll also remove the 'normal' internal filter and add this air-powered sponge one along with a little mature media. after doing that I'm just going to release the fry and eggs into the tank.

EDIT: Problem is that I don't have any food for them right now. I did order some microworms from Ebay a few days ago but they haven't arrived yet. I'll pop out to my LFS later and see what they have.

EDIT again: OMG, 4 of them now...

 

[Harlequins]

Congrats on your fry

I wouldn't worry too much on the first 24 hrs,the fry have an egg sac to keep them going for a while,look for firstbites or at a push liquidfry 1,liquidfry is good but messes up the water quite quickly.

 

[lilacamy931]

Congrats! best of luck getting food for them, let us know how many hatch for you xx

 

[yabadaba]

Thanks for the support guys. Since I last posted I've emptied the fry and unhatched eggs from the net into the tank. I only counted around 10-15 fry (all came in a quick flurry but then it all stopped) and these are now hiding around the bases of the moss balls that I put into the tank. They generally keep pretty still, but if I shine a torch towards them they do start moving. From what I've read it looks like they'll stay like this until they consume their yolk sacks and then become free swimming. I just hope the moss balls don't star rolling around and crush them or trap them underneath...guess there's a danger of that happening when I do water changes.

Not too sure what to do with the all the unhatched eggs though. They're just laying on the sand in groups of 3 or 4 at the moment and no more fry have appeared since this morning. Are any likely to still hatch or should I syphon them all out now? It's difficult to see clearly but it looks like a few are starting to grow a little fuzz around them. Maybe I should try and separate them from the others that are clumped together with them?

 

[Harlequins]

Well done on the fry so far

Personally I would put the remaining eggs back in the net and remove the fungus ones has these will affect the other ones,

Once your start feeding the fry the eggs may become fungal from waste matter etc if they remain on the bottom,i learnt my lesson with doing that and lost some eggs.

To stop my moss ball and sand/fry moving & kicking around i use a small tub and lower it into the top of the water and pour the fresh water in gently.

 

[yabadaba]

Well done on the fry so far

Personally I would put the remaining eggs back in the net and remove the fungus ones has these will affect the other ones,

Once your start feeding the fry the eggs may become fungal from waste matter etc if they remain on the bottom,i learnt my lesson with doing that and lost some eggs.

To stop my moss ball and sand/fry moving & kicking around i use a small tub and lower it into the top of the water and pour the fresh water in gently.

Thanks. I'm going to do exactly as you say...it's worked for me so far

 

[Harlequins]

I just go by trial and error and see which works for me

 

[lilacamy931]

Best of luck, hope to see piccys when they are big enough

 

[yabadaba]

Hi, here's a pic of one of the fry that decided to come out into the open. They all seem to remain very very still with the occasional short burst of movement...does that sound right?

I'm not sure whether they still have the egg sack or not, as I just don't know what I'm looking for - does it look to you like this little guy still has one? Because I'm not sure whether or not I need to feed them just yet I played safe and put a pinch of freshly hatched baby brine into the tank about an hour ago (got one of those hatching kits yesterday), but didn't spot any activity so I guess it's not being eaten. I'll do a mini water change before I go to bed tonight and try adding some more tomorrow. I've also got some First Bites, too, which I could try them with instead.

 

[Harlequins]

Aww what a cutie, wish i could get good fry pic.

The yellow blob under him/her is their egg sac

Fry don't move much in the first few days,they start venturing out when they're hungry

 

[lilacamy931]

WOW that is great piccy, agree with Harlequins, they get much more active later on

 

[yabadaba]

WOW that is great piccy, agree with Harlequins, they get much more active later on

Thanks, I just hope maybe even one or two survive to adulthood. There's no more eggs appeared and it looks like I've only ended up with maybe 10-15 fry from the 80+ eggs I moved from my community tank, so I've got to really try my best here. Gotta love this hobby though, so rewarding and fascinating, if not a little nerve-wracking at times

 

[Harlequins]

Yep you definately get highs & lows in this hobby,i hope your fry prove successful

Now they've spawned once,they'll more than likely give you more

 

[yabadaba]

Hmm, day 3 heading into day 4 and I'm still not sure about feeding. I'm guessing they must need feeding now, but I don't see any activity at all when I add food to the tank. This morning I put a another pinch of baby brine shrimp in (themselves 2 days old now) and this evening I used a syringe to add a few drops of First Bites that I mixed in with some tank water beforehand. I'm doing a 50% water change every day in the evening so have just cleared away the patches of food that I could make out on the sand. I was tempted to leave it in in case they would have eaten some of it during the night, but I'm trying to avoid any ammonia/nitrite problems so thought removing it was the better idea.

I've just taken another shot of one of the fry and note that the egg sack/stomach now has something orange in it, so I'm hoping that's brine shrimp.

 

[yabadaba]

Just thought I'd give an update....everything's going good so far, I just did a my daily 50% w/c and counted 13 fry (more than I thought I had), all of which seems to have grown quite considerably and are getting much more active. Have been feeding them on a combo of live baby brine shrimp and First Bites, but have just tried some microworm for the first time.

Getting a little paranoid about the uneaten food rotting or turning to fungus and although I try to suck up as much as I can before each w/c, using a length of airline, I know for sure I'm not getting it all out. How thoroughly do you guys clean out your fry tanks? I could remove the moss balls and agitate the sand so I can see/remove more of the leftovers, but so far have avoided doing that for fear of stressing the fry too much...or accidently sucking one up!