The Breeding Of Corydoras Catfish

[Inchworm]

Hi geo7x

That's a very interesting article. It has many important points about keeping and breeding corys.


EDIT: geo7x's article, The Breeding Of Corydoras Catfish, A Simple Guide for the Newbie has been moved into our new FAQ section. Please continue to make comments about it on this thread.

Here it is;

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=165155

 

[§tudz]

/me pokes geo7x n the eye

lol,

I'm working on one of these, but mine is a bit more detailed, up to about 7 word document pages so far

Is it ok If I add some of the points you made if I've missed any?
I'll give you credit for it, if I use any of it

 

[Inchworm]

Hi geo7x and §tudz

There are several reasons why there are no pinned topics in the Corydoras section.

First and perhaps most important, is that the cory forum has always been a friendly and interactive place with members helping each other as the need arises. It's personal and I'd like to see it stay that way. There is no shortage of information here or on other places online.

Second, there are a number of different ways to raise fry successfully. For example, some use sand and mulm on the bottom, others use a bare bottom tank and still other people have raised a few fry in breeding nets. Arguments can be made for and against all these methods. I do not want to endorse one over the other at this time, and although I have my preference, it's the reason I haven't written this kind of article myself. I'd like to see a variety of experience represented here.

It's obvious that you've put a lot of work into your article, geo7x, and it would be a shame to have it sink down the list, never to be seen again. I know §tudz has been working on something too. What I will do is ask William if we can have a FAQ section for corys so you can both have your articles in there. This way when other members write as well, we can show alternate methods without the top of the forum page becoming cluttered with too many pins.

HOWEVER, as I mentioned before, the cory forum should remain interactive and friendly. If the time comes that I see too many posts just telling other members to look in FAQ or to do a search, I will consider closing that section.

What do you think? Should I speak to William about this?

 

[geo7x]

thanks for the comments guys
studz: sorry, i didn't realise what you were writing was for use on this forum i just wrote it because someone said it would be good to have one, and that it would be good to give me something to do. By all means use any info from mine if you want.

inchy: thanks, and they are very valid points. It would be much appreciated if you could speak to william, and thanks for offering. People obviously have different experiences when it comes to breeding corydoras, just there is usually quite alot of posts asking how to breed etc, so I just thought that an easy guide for newbies to follow would be good to start them off, and as they gain experience, they can make the method their own, I have put a couple of possible variations in the article as you can see, about how some breeders have been successful in doing the following blah blah blah, but of course its more complicated than that. If you could speak to William it would be much appreciated as I said, and I understand your points.

 

[§tudz]

lol, no worries, but either of you know anything about putting the gunk from the filters into the fry tank, as a substrate type thing?

as I could do with a little peice on that, because I'm only used to the bare tank method

 

[Inchworm]

Sorry §tudz, but I use the bare bottom method myself. Perhaps it might be best if you just mention it and let's see if someone wants to write a complete article about it themselves. It would probably be better if everyone writes from their own experience, IMHO.

_____
OK, I'll ask William if we can have a FAQ. Take your time polishing up your articles. There's no hurry since I'll put them both up.

 

[vix]

Well done Geo was a good interesting read

 

[geo7x]

thanks vix xxxx

I have polished it up a bit, it had a couple of typos. You might also notice that it is sub-headed "the newbies guide", this way me and studz' articles can work together, mine for someone who's starting off and wants to get some kind of idea, and studz' for the more technical side, sounds like a good idea?
Sorry studz, I don't know much about the 'gunk' method, my knowledge only really comes from alot of research and one accidental unsuccessful spawn.
Thanks so much for your efforts inchworm, really appreciated

 

[-Deano-]

Sorry For Bein A N00b But Whats Substrate?

 

[§tudz]

All you need is a small 3 gallon tank for the eggs, make sure you heat it and have an airstone going in it too

 

[nmonks]

Sorry For Bein A N00b But Whats Substrate?

The bottom of the tank. So no substrate = bare glass. Substrate options include sand, gravel, peat, and a variety of other things depending on the fish being kept.

§tudz, geo7x, inchworm -- interesting thread. My gut feeling is that not all Corydoras need the same thing in terms of breeding conditions, so being too proscriptive about things is perhaps counterproductive. My baby peppered cats seem to be thriving in sand and mulm, and because of the stuff in this tank, I didn't need to provide any food for several days after they were free swimming (and I'm not entirely sure that even now they aren't mostly eating algae and the tiny pond animals in the mulm). But they're growing very well, and without any apparent losses. On the other hand, with more delicate species, there may well be reasons to keep the tank spotlessly clean, particularly those from soft water environments. By analogy with halfbeaks, when you take fish from zero hardness rivers and put them in regular tanks with measureable hardness, those fish get bombarded with bacteria for which they have no resistance. So cories from soft water places, especially as newborn kittens, may be intrinsically more resistant than ones from harder waters (like peppers). But those species that don't mind the bacteria may actually benefit from a "dirty" tank in the sense of having a diverse and constant food supply, especially during the early days.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[§tudz]

some valid points, I'm not covering rare species, or difficult species, only Bronze, peppered, sterbai and trilineatus.
Which need similar conditions for breeding, although bronze prefer lower temps.

 

[nmonks]

It sounds like your approach will be useful. Definitely, peppers and bronzies make sense for first egg-layer breeding attempts by any aquarist new to the hobby. Peppers and bronzies seem to be easier than any other egg-layer I've spawned, with the possible exception of kribs. Certainly much eaiser than danios, angels, or gobies. In terms of raising the fry, peppers seem easier than halfbeaks, which are obviously livebearers.

Everything I've read about peppers suggests they are definitely subtropical fishes in the wild, like Scleromystax barbartus. My experience is that they love being kept outdoors in summer, and thrive around the 15-18C mark. As soon as you bring them indoors and up to tropical temps, they start spawning. So possibly I'd put peppers and bronzies as subtropicals and sterbai and trilineatus as "true" tropicals.

Cheers,

Neale

some valid points, I'm not covering rare species, or difficult species, only Bronze, peppered, sterbai and trilineatus.
Which need similar conditions for breeding, although bronze prefer lower temps.

 

[geo7x]

Sorry For Bein A N00b But Whats Substrate?

The bottom of the tank. So no substrate = bare glass. Substrate options include sand, gravel, peat, and a variety of other things depending on the fish being kept.

§tudz, geo7x, inchworm -- interesting thread. My gut feeling is that not all Corydoras need the same thing in terms of breeding conditions, so being too proscriptive about things is perhaps counterproductive. My baby peppered cats seem to be thriving in sand and mulm, and because of the stuff in this tank, I didn't need to provide any food for several days after they were free swimming (and I'm not entirely sure that even now they aren't mostly eating algae and the tiny pond animals in the mulm). But they're growing very well, and without any apparent losses. On the other hand, with more delicate species, there may well be reasons to keep the tank spotlessly clean, particularly those from soft water environments. By analogy with halfbeaks, when you take fish from zero hardness rivers and put them in regular tanks with measureable hardness, those fish get bombarded with bacteria for which they have no resistance. So cories from soft water places, especially as newborn kittens, may be intrinsically more resistant than ones from harder waters (like peppers). But those species that don't mind the bacteria may actually benefit from a "dirty" tank in the sense of having a diverse and constant food supply, especially during the early days.

Cheers,

Neale

Hi Neale, thanks for replying. Of course different types of corydoras have slightly different preferances and tolerance. It's an interesting point you have made about the fry having a more constant food supply. Problem is about trying to write a general article aimed at everyone is that everyone has different species of corydoras. I suppose I had to choose between advising them on feeding lots and as you say, not necessarily cleaning the bottom of the tank loads to provide a contstant supply of food, at the risk of death due to bad water quality, or, to clean lots and make sure not to overfeed to try to prevent the risk of death due to bad water quality, at the risk of death due to lack of nutrition. I chose the latter, because personally I think it's important to stress to newcomers the issue of the fry being fragile, so then they would generally take more care over them, plus, correct me if I'm wrong, but I would suspect that fry in the early stages are not as prone to death due to underfeeding as they are due to uncleanliness in general. Especially seeing as I'm not trying to suggest not to feed them much, just trying to stress how important it is to keep good water quality and not overfeed.

 

[Inchworm]

I've sent a PM to William with our request.
_____
Hi nmonks,

Your experience with keeping your C. paleatus outside and their subsequent breeding would make a most excellent article. If you have the time and would like to put your information together in one place, I'd love to add it to the new section.

One of the things I most often heard at the Catfish Convention last week, was the need to document our experiences with corys and their breeding because (aside from the basics) there is little in the literature about them. An article about then would be a fine contribution.