Strange Eggs... Or Somethingelse?

[Coryologist]

- Quote edited by Coryologist
Thanks everyone! If all Coryologist sees is c. aeneus and c. elegans... Then we know what I have!

It has been brought to my attention that there may be a 3rd specie, in the mix. I will try to ID it.

Now tell me if the albino and regular form of c. aeneus need 6 of each, or can it be like 3 of each.
I have 3 of the regular form in the other tank. Should I move them in with these? Does the difference matter to the fish? I will have to find some males. This puts me up to 4 females and 1 male.

Both strains count as one.

I also want some trili and julii and atleast one long fin variety. Is there a long fin variety of the trili or julii? That would be really cool! There are so many different kinds. If I could, I would have them all.

Don't get your hopes up on finding any true C. julii. I've never seen one and very few people ever have. You will find that fish being touted as C. julii are actually C. trilineatus or C. acrensis. There are only a few long-finned Corys.

Does it take the males as long to mature for breeding as it does for females?

Generally speaking, in my experience, they mature at approximately the same rate. - Frank

 

[Coryologist]

Hi. I believe the 3rd fish is also C. elegans. Keep in mind that there are over 1 dozen "look-alikes" for C. elegans and additionally, they are highly variable. - Frank

 

[ICEEGRL]

I tried to get what I thought was c. elegans, but it turned out to be c. napoensis. Is there anything that I can look for that will let me be sure I am getting the right kind? I have only got 2. I would like to get another female and about 3 males.
I also bought a small bronze thinking it was elegans. That one worked out ok though. I needed bronze too.

When looking for julii and trilineatus, how do I know one from the other? I have never heard of acrensis. Is there a certain thing that will tell me one from the other?

You take great pics. Do you happen to have pics of these fish that I can look at that might show me the difference?

I have finally figured out how to tell the bronze from the elegans and the napoensis from the elegans. With the rest I am still clueless.

Thanks for helping! I really appreciate it!

 

[jollysue]

The fish will be happy, but if you house the long fins and the regular fin peppers together, the some of offspring will loose their longfinnedness. I love language!

Yes the price is low. But you have been kind. You would be my first. They would have a good home. Etc, etc, etc. I paid $40 for 12 very small see through fry. They were very healthy and made it through a Western trip up and down the seaboard for several days. I got my shipping back. Mature ones are much much more on AB.

In contrast I got 10 fry minature LF albino BN from a local breeder, and only 2 servived to sort of adulthood.

 

[Xebadir]

For releasing my babies into the adult tank i generally wait until the baby is about 2-3 months, and is basically a parent minature. I do this as ive noticed a trend with deaths from 1-1.5months in, and adults can get a little agressive when theyre bite sized.

I know what you mean about longfins. My LFS just got a heap of cory's in(new manager is a catfish fiend, and he has good contacts), and pepper LF were there and omg they are sooo cool. Good luck with your hatching. Liquid food is a godsend for those first couple of weeks.

 

[jollysue]

Hey! Xebadir!

Long time!

I thought you were breeding pandas

How's it going. I know ICEEGRL won't mind a little side talk.

BTW what is an Xebadir?

Yes I released some juvie fry into the adult tank and lost a few of the smallest. So I pulled all out. I wanted to separate them anyway to pass along. I think they got runover a few times especially at feeding time. I also lost all my littler fry when I put them in the grow out with the larger juvies. Again I think it was feeding issues and getting socked around. They were really too large for the others to eat. Really all of them looked like miniture adults, so I am not sure what it means that they look like the parents. And growth is different with different species.

 

[jollysue]

Well, GRL, We are in luck. I am almost positive that I have at least 1 maybe 2 ladies with the 5 LF albino peppers. You will love them. Let me know when you would like them and next week I will get some price quotes on shipping. Do you want them shipped in one bag or individually? There are pros and cons to each. Frankly, although it is more stressful for the Cories, I like separately. If one dies, it will not kill the rest. I think I have what is needed for a small group.

 

[ICEEGRL]

I need about a week to get the tank ready.
Get a price and let me know.
As far as how to ship them... I have no idea. I have never done this before. I have always picked them up. What ever will give them the best chance of survival. You know more about this than I do.
I will start getting things ready. I am going to keep them in their own tank for a while.
What are they used to? I will try to get mine as close to yours as I can. Then I can change things very slowly. Do you have a pic of them and the tank they live in? What is your water like? This will tell me which tank they should get.
I also need to know what all you are feeding them so I can try to have the same things.
I want to try to make this as easy on them as possible. The trip will be stressful enough.
If there is anything special that they need, or that I will need to do for them let me know.
Thanks again.

I don't want them to lose the long fins. I guess I will keep the other peppers in a different tank. Will they be ok with other kinds of corys? What kinds should I avoid that they might breed with? I don't want half breeds if I can help it.

 

[Xebadir]

Hey! Xebadir!

Long time!

I thought you were breeding pandas

How's it going. I know ICEEGRL won't mind a little side talk.

BTW what is an Xebadir?

Hey Jolly, yeah it has been a long time...damn Uni has been running me pretty hard.
I was breeding pandas but found problems with my water Ts and so traded them for Similis and other stuff.
Everything in the tanks is good, but life is damn tough...was doing assignments for 5 weeks that totalled 35k words so pretty buggered. And now im in exam revision mode.

What is an Xebadir? Its me

Seriously though its a name i created for playing online RPGs and I use it for many online things.

 

[jollysue]

Pros and cons of shipping styles of Cories. One method is to put them each in a separate individual bag. Pros: If one dies they don't all get polluted and die. If one bag leaks the others are not affected. The other method is to put them all in one large bag. The pro is that they don't get lonely and therefore get stressed. But if there is a leak, they all lose water; if one dies they are all at risk.

People swear by one method or another. Having just lost many, expensive fish with the one bag method and never having lost any fish with the individual method, I favor the individual method. But as I say, many much more experienced Cory folk than me favor the one big group bag method.

The parents are in the low mid 70's, but these little upstarts are living in the mid seventies. I will test the water for you, but my tap water ph is in the mid 70's.

The originals (the ones I am sending you) will not lose their long fins, but when you want to breed for the long fins, they will be best kept with long fins. Other than that, they are just peppers--albino peppers. There is no reason they can not be kept with your other peppers for now.

I have access to a black worm wholesaler, so all my Cories eat black worms in the morning and usually get an Hikari Sinking Wafer or a Tetra Sinking Tablet in the evening. They will be fine with a good Cory wafer or tablet.

There is a driftwood piece with Java moss and Java sword and a shallow sand substrate. As albinos they look good on a darker sand, although it makes them hard to photograph. These are very healthy and should adapt quickly. As a matter of fact I had an incident with a new heater overheating the tank suddenly. I lost fry from other species, but these cuties didn't have a problem. I did not have to make any extra accommodations for their parents. I just stuck them right in a tank with Brochis splendens after a brief quarantine and a little growing out. None were lost. These guys are larger than their parents when I got them. They are getting ready to start spawning. One lady is starting to broaden.

I don't have air for the bags, so I have to research that as well as the shipping cost. I will be gone the end of the week, but then I will get on it.

Xebadir: You are in University? What year, what study? 35K words sounds like post grad.

One of our panda breeders, swears by cold water for his pandas. It killed some of mine. They did not like the low temps at all. I have just about decided that my Cories will all get mid 70's with only minor variations.

 

[Xebadir]

Yeah im a Uni bum *does his best nerd impression* Only a 3rd year though: thats just my assignments for 2 subjects. Doing a Bachelor of Science with majors in Atmospheric Science and Applied Mathematics. I only wish i was doing post grad(still gotta make it through this year first), im sick of listening to other peoples junk: i want to write some of my own .

The problem wasnt with cold water...it was the damn temperature fluctuations: we had a period from 38 degrees© to 16 degrees© in two days, and unfortunately I was away so i couldnt compensate( i have insulators and heaters for when this happens): had 35 fry deaths and 3 adults go in that single day(i was bawlin my eyes out when i eventually got home from work). The remainder i sent to someone with a better tank room in trade for some similis, and I changed my setup location and situation in order to remove the majority of such a threat. So far weve encounted a few temperature contrasts and had no problems. My tanks atm is at about 21-22C.

So yeah, sad story on both parts(im the idiot doin uni), but hopefully i have both problems solved soon.

 

[ICEEGRL]

Hey... do you have a small amount of moss that you could part with? If so how much would you want for it. I just want enough to put on the coconut caves (2) in their tank. It wouldn't take much. I have a few plants, but no mosses. I have a piece of wood for their tank too. I have some tahitian moon sand. Would a thin layer of that work? That is what I have in the other 10g. tank. It sounds like the 2 10g. tanks are going to be set up alike. That works for me.
Thanks

 

[ICEEGRL]

I finally figured out how to get the pic in the profile. I had to make it smaller... Something so easy should not have been so hard!

Where can I find worms? I must be looking in all of the wrong places. I have been hunting for over a month now.

 

[ICEEGRL]

Hey Guess what...
When we figured out what my albinos were I put my other 3 aeneus with them so they would not be alone.
They are doing the sexy dance! I even saw the 2 albinos T! She wouldn't let me see where she put the eggs though. 2 of the bronze ladies are trying to get involved too. They are going to stress my poor male clean out. What are my chances of getting good eggs with only one male to 3 females? Is it possible for him to keep up?

I think my bronze girls are eating my albinos eggs before she can even get them placed properly. I would love to take them out until the albino are through, but I know if I go fishing for them the spawn will be over. I am trying to watch fairly close so maybe I can get at least a few eggs.

I just saw her trying to place a few eggs. She is having trouble holding on to them. They fell out of her fins, and she took a little bit for her to realize they were gone. I hope she gets at least a few right for me. I would love to have more albinos!

Well... got to go see how much shopping I can do this week. I have got to get my order in so I can get it and get things set up in my big tank. I have to get a tank freed up for my new long fin corys.

 

[jollysue]

Yes I can stick some moss in. I am always salvaging a bunch from filters. Tahitian is fine. If the tank is outfitted with some moss and wood and caves and a shallow covering of Tahitian they will be ever so pleased. Did you mean a shallow substrate of sand or a shallow covering over some substrate? With the moss and the sand and wood and caves they don't need more unless you want it planted. I might have a tiny few leaves of Java sword to throw in too. It will take awhile but it is great stuff.

Don't worry, those babies will keep on spawning now they have started. You will certainly get some viable eggs. Congrats on the spawn!

I would just get on the phone and call around to the lfs and lps to see who might get you some worms. If no one is doing it already, ask around and see if someone will start stocking them. You could email my supplier and see if he supplies anyone close to you: Dan at [email protected] You could check to see if there is a local Cory group, I suppose. If so, they most certainly have access to them.

Sorry about the loses, X. I have had my share and it is a heart twister to lose our babies. I really don't try yet to save all the fry. I so far lose a good perentage. One day I will have a net full of babies dashing to and fro, and then daily they dwindle, until I have a solid group of very healthy and viable fry. I expect with time and experience I will see better results. But I don't worry about it. I know it is all about learning and practice. But I just can't seem to help myself yet from shaking the net to see them dash about. I am so BAD!