They're hatching!

[guppler]

I was almost ready to give up on seeing any results from the second spawning, when a water change in the comunity tank got the cories all excited again and they started plastering eggs all over the walls. It had been just barely more than 2 weeks since their second try. I think part of the problem the first 2 times was that the water was not properly cycled, but now most of the snailypoo and debris was clustered into little brown balls on the floor of my fry tank, so I didn't change all the water, but cleaned out most of the really gross looking stuff before moving fresh eggs in. I didn't want to move them too soon, but my yellow danio was picking them off the wall, and some of the eggs fell straight down when Bc released them and were gobbled up before they had a chance to stick to anything. I also decided to leave some on the walls in case the process of moving them was what killed some.
Well last night I sprinkled in pinch of powdered fry food ("first bites")and watched a snail cralw around without a shel after another snail had apparently been chewing on it. these rams horn snails were getting so annoying I almost wanted to feed them all to my goldfish, but I had to wait and see if the cory eggs would do anything this time. In the morning I didn't see any changes, except that the unshelled snail looked deader. I was in the next room a few hours later and almost didn't even bother to look in and see if anything was happening in the fry tank, but decided to take a quick peek. I thought I saw an egg move, so I looked closer and there was a fish in there! It's tail was several times the length of the eggs, so I wasn't sure if it was from the second or third spawning. The body looked just small enough to fit into an egg with the tail wrapped around inside. Maybe 3-4 mm long counting the skinny long tail. i thought I saw a second fish pop out of an egg and swim away in a very fishlike wiggle, definitely not another snail, and bigger that newborn snails. I found a third baby at the other end of the tank, and pretty soon I wasn't sure if they were zipping around fast enough foer me to count the same one more than once , but I was pretty sure there were 5 or 6. By this time, I had dropped in a single drip of liquifry and was ready to go tell mom and be sure I had some baby brine shrimp hatched.
I was showing the babies to Mom when the phone rang and I had about half an hour to get ready to go someplace with a friend. when the friend arrived, she got to tsalk to Mom while I picked all the remaining eggs off the walls of the comunity tank and dropped them into a clear plastic box. I had decided I felt most comfortable with using my fingers to gently roll the egggs off the wall so I could easily tell how much presure ai was applying, and using my nails to scape off some of the more sticky eggs. By the time that I had all the eggs off the wall, there were a bout a half dozen already hatcched in the box, so I took them out in the sunlight to show my friend and her kids. (I also told them about the dove egg I had found on the porch this morning, apparently freshly hatched and dropped from the nest under the edge of the roof.) Then I handed the box of hatching eggs, hopefully not too prematureely released by my handling, so she could show my little sister and put them in the fry tank for me. I've been letting water into the box slowly and gave them their own drop of liquifry and some newly hatched shrimp, with more for the ones outside the box. When my brothe rdropped by to borrow my level a minute ago the little box was crawling with wiggly fry. There had to be more than a couple dozen and theoretically there should be more than that in the tank once they finnish hatching. I'm not going to try to get an official total today, and I don't know how many will actually grow up, but this is one of my most exciting fish days yet.

 

[newfishies]

congratulations!!!!

sounds very exciting!! can't wait to see how they do!

 

[Erised]

Yay Guppler!!!
I'm so happy for you! Good luck looking after them now Don't forget to do daily water changes

 

[guppler]

I can't get an exact count, but I'm pretty sure more than 100 hatched all together. I don't know how many will grow up. There must be a pretty high mortality rate normally. I do have some that spin in circles without really getting anywhere. They might have spinal deformities or something. (At least 2 like that. Some might have improved or stopped.) Others swim all the way up to the top when I drop in food or turn on lights or look at them. Mostly they sit all lined up together on the bottom, mostly at the front near a bubble wand, all staring in about the same direction as if they are watching a movie together.
I can't tell what colors they will be yet, but so far it looks like they might all be bronze, but I'm hoping for some albinos too. Bandit (C. schwartzii) was paying some attention to BC, but not as much as Pnki, and I don't know if anything would happen if Bandit did try to get in on the spawning. So far the babies look as much like bandit as anyone else, but they really aren't big enough to tell yet.
I'm thinking about throwing in all 11 of my remaining mystery snails. I wasn't sure how those would do with eggs and fungicide, but with water changes the fungicide will go away, and I don't think the snails would bother moving fishes much.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi guppler

Congratulations on all the fry!

Chances are they will be some bronze and some albino, but no other species. Since the bronze and albinos are both C. aeneus, they are the same species, just different colors, and can breed together with no problems.

I would keep the snails out of the fry tank because they will make the water dirty and clean water is the most important thing to consider when breeding corys. Do daily water changes to keep the tank clean.

Good luck and keep us informed of their progress!

 

[guppler]

O K InchWorm I'll keep the snails out, but does that mean I should also remove the little rams horn and pond snails that snuck in with the eggs and stuff? My goldfishes might be happy to take care of them. Is there any benefit to a few small snails helping to clean up waste or leftovers?
It's not real clear how much the little guys really need to eat. I've been feeding them at least 3 times a day with a sprinkle of first bites powder or a few drops or a squirt or 2 or liquifry or a cup of water wit baby brines that don't look like quite enough for everybody to catch one. the liquifry says a few drops for a small hatch of 3-10 fry, but it doesn't say what kind of fish. I was thinking whatever a few drops means, I should give a little more because it's a fairly large brood. My mom was wondering if they should get less because they are so tiny. The water has been a bit cloudy, so maybe I am over feeding some, but I don't know if they are all eating if I just drip one drop and it imediately disappears into the water. I was also wondering if they like me to leave the light on for a while after bed time feeding or if they might even be a little nocturnal.
(0ne book had a comment about C. aenus being fairly active"even during the day.")
The fry guys in general seem reasonably healthy and growing. Some look like they might be a little paler than others, but it's still early to be sure. There are still some curly twirly little ones. I counted at least 4 once. I'm a little surprised they've lasted this long. I don't know if they have injuries or genetic problems. One even spends most of it's time on its back with its little tail folded against its tummy. When I go look at them or feed them, especially when I first turn on the lights, they sort of swarm around like gnats around an old piece of fruit.
I'm changing water by scooping wioth a clear plastic box so I can check easily for fry. I have vacuumed guppies before. I was a little surprized how big and healthy the 2 month old guppy looked that I rescued from the bucket last week, mostly because I didn't think it was small enough to make it all thew way through the tube without being noticed or getting stuck.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi guppler

I would take all of the snails out to avoid them reproducing too. Snails seem to increase in proportion to the food available to them, and you will be encouraging them with all the food you put in for the fry.

The single most important thing to remember is that the little fry must have very, very clean water. If this means doing big water changes, do it. It you have to do it twice a day for a time, while you are using the Liquifry, do it. Just be sure it is dechlorinated and the same temperature as the tank water.

Does your tank have gravel or sand on the bottom, or is it bare? Does it have any plants?

Corys are naturally nocturnal fish, but they are often active during the day too. Don't worry about the little guys finding their food in the dark.

 

[guppler]

This tank has a bare bottom, mostly to make it easier for me to spot the fish and keep it clean. I did have a couple of plastic plants that went in with the second batch of eggs because they had eggs on them, but I took out the whole plants when the eggs on them got mouldy. What they do have is a small airstone and a bubble wand that function well and a sponge filter and a bigger air stone that isn't currently functioning , but ai think I could get it going and an older bubble wand thast isn;t even hiiked up because it was not working as well as the newer stuff and there's a plastick box that an ornamental scubadiver came in. I let the fry play in the box and use it for watyer changes because I can see throgh it and be sure I'm not "throwing the babies out with the bath water".
The problem now is I signed up to go camping this weekend and it's hard to get someone else to do those water changes for me.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi guppler

You still have a few days to teach someone the right way to do water changes for the fry. Everyone loves babies, so tell them they are likely to die without them. It's the truth. Corys, and especially tiny ones like this need clean water conditions and come down with bacterial infections if they do not have them.

Do you have this kind of sponge filter in the tank?

http/www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/produc...ategory_id=2979

If so, you can take everything else out. That kind of filter will begin to slowly develop beneficial bacteria and microscope creatures, that the fry will snack on, will soon grow on there too.

You did right by keeping the bottom of the tank bare. It will be much easier to keep it clean than one with gravel or sand.

 

[guppler]

As it turns out, I had problems with getting a ride to the campout, so it looks like I'm not going. I did tell my mom how to take care of the babies, and she does like to look at them. In fact she checks on all my critters whether I want her to or not, and asks about how the babies are doing pretty often whether she's home or not. It happens that she's out ou town at her parents' house right now, but was going to get back a little after I leave.
My sponge filter is a rlatively cheep kind that I got at walmart. It has a green plastick thing that holds the filter and sticks to the wall with suction cups and directs the airflow up through it. Then there are disposable cartidges that have charcoal in the top half and a sponge in the bottom half that turns from white to pink as it gets used and dirty. I have some similar light grey ones that use a shhet of charcoal stuff and a sponge about twice the size of the ones in the green brand. I don't know if there's much quality difference, but the green ones are a little easier find, especially when it's time to change them and Mom's doing the shopping for me. The fry tank is the biggest I've used sponge filters in.
And now a little bit of an update on the little fry guys. They look a lot like tad poles, as my mom likes to say, but they are looking more and more like their mom. I thought I saw a little red in some of their eyes, and some are a little paler than others, but none really look like they'll be as pink as Pinki. Maybe albino is reccesive and BC doesn't cary the gene. I was watching one of the crooked ones this morning for a while. I might name it "Screwy", and it will not be for sale or breeding just in case it's hereditary, but I think it could be a result of handling the eggs. Screwy is already lagging behind the others in growth, and I don't know how long it will live, but I didn't see any other crooked ones yet today, and last night I thought I saw some dead fish, maybe even 1 or 2 straight ones, but sometimes thit's hard to tell if they're dead or resting. I didn't see any that looked dead this morning, and there are still lots of healthy looking ones. Even screwy wiggles his little whiskers to get food from the bottom when his mouth is in the right position.

 

[guppler]

update
I'm pretty sure I still have over 150 of the babies, including at least one crooked one that swims in spirals, but it's not growing like the others. I even counted to 163 once, but they move around so much, it wouldn't be possible to get an exact count without taking them all out of the tank. They don't look very crowded yet, but I think they are big enough that if I had to, I could move some in with guppies. They are as big as some of my guppy fry, which are all older than the cories. (unless there are brand new guppies I haven't seen yet)
It looks like I don't have any albinos. That must be a recesive trait. Sometimes I think some of their eyes look slightly reddish, but they are all getting darker. Probably all will look like their mom when they grow up, unless she had genes I don't know about. I can imagine them going from speckled and spotted to more solid bronze or maybe a slightlly different color, but I doubt they will loose pigment and become albino.
I'll have to keep some, but I'm starting to wonder how big they have to be to sell them, and how many a store would want all at once. At least since they all look about the same, it shouldn't be as hard to decide which ones to give up as with the guppies. I won't have space for 150 big ones.
I don't know what I'll do if they spawn again soon. I'd move most of the eggs in with the fry i guess, but I'm almost afraid to change the comunity tank, in case they get all excited again. They might be almost ready already. I could separate the parents, but I think they like being together.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi guppler

I'm glad your cory fry are still doing well and growing.

I wouldn't suggest putting them in with guppies until they are a fairly good size. Guppies can get aggressive toward them, as I learned when I tried to save some baby guppies by putting them in with the cory fry.

I heard that a good way to count the number of fry you have is to take a picture of them and put it on the computer. Then you can count them "standing still." I haven't had any new fry hatch since I bought my camera, but it sounds like a good idea to me.

 

[guppler]

I'd have all kinds of pictures if I could figure out how to get them off my cameras. I think all 4 of my digital cameras are full now, and I haven't felt like taking time to figure them out lately. I also started buying them a little early and could get better ones for better prices now. I wonder if any of mine would capture the whole tank of tiny fry. the water has been a bit cloudy, but I think they're big enough to faze out the liquifry, and a sponge filter change should help. I'd do it now, but I have a mid term in 3 hours. Then again, typing takes me a lot more time than popping a couple of filter cartridges in and out, I guess I'll just do it.
I haven't seen the tiny twirly one today, but it might just be hiding. there were at least 3 a couple of days ago, but i would understand if they just aren't able to thrive or survive. I just have kind of a softspot for the "handicapped"ones.