Trying To Breed My Cories

[FishFanatic04]

I am glad you found it then. Its a smart little cory then.

Thanks Harlequins! I have future fun on the way I think. Coldcazzies, C. Sychri called out to me and I have found some. The seller does a 3 month QT though, so I have to wait a bit to order.

Do you like guppies Akasha? I have never had any and I thought having some fry around would be fun while I wait to order my planned stock. I had planned platies at first but.... guppies are cute.

 

[Akasha72]

Do you like guppies Akasha? I have never had any and I thought having some fry around would be fun while I wait to order my planned stock. I had planned platies at first but.... guppies are cute.

I like most fish, although I'm not a fan of plecs. I've had guppies and I'll never have them again - they breed too readily. I loves my platies though. They're fun and cute and don't drop as many fry as the guppies did so they're a bit more managable.

 

[FishFanatic04]

I thought about platies AND a few guppies so I know the platies would keep the fry numbers at bay. I wanted an active tank after going through ANOTHER month cycle.

Thanks for the thoughts! Sorry for taking over your thread Hope you get more cory babies soon. You still have an egg right?

 

[Akasha72]

I do still have an egg. It's darkened a bit and there is a dark centre now so I'm hopeful for it

I just want MORE now lol

 

[Akasha72]

serious question now ...

I'm seriously thinking about breeding the cories on a long term basis (my lfs has offered cash for young cories - result!)

At present the 2 fry and the solitary egg are in a little 10 litre tank borrowed from my Dad. I've just been looking for a replacement tank for them and thinking if this is just the start of rearing cories how big would a perminant tank need to be for cory fry?

Obviously I'll need to keep them until they are a sellable size (about 6 months old I'm guessing?) but I've no idea how many eggs I'm likely to get now they've started breeding. As things are now I've had the 2 eggs I found on the glass 9 days ago that are now growing fry. There was 3 more eggs on a leaf about 3 or 4 days ago, only one of which has survived and looks like it's going to hatch.

If I'm going to do this I want to do it properly and get a tank that will last me. I don't want to buy say a 30 litre and find in 12 months time I need double that size. Having said all of that I don't really have the room for another 3ft tank. Space wise, I could manage a 2ft at the max. There is an 18x10x10 inch (29 litre by our calculator on here) tank at p@h. Would it be large enough to rear young cories in to a sellable size?

I'm grateful for any advice

 

[Harlequins]

2ft tank would be best if you got the room... length is better has corys will have more floor space, it is a time consuming game and like you said 6 months minimum before lfs would take them obviously dependant what size they are also...

Ideally if you want to bred them,then putting the corys into the new tank you get,let them spawn in there,you dont need much decor for a fry/breeding tank, therefore you'll find the eggs much quicker, peppered corys tend to hide and only lay a few at a time,whereas if/when the bronze start its possible you could get hundreds of eggs

And because the hardest part of breeding corys is the rearing,you'll more than likely lose a few along the way,survival of the fittest has they say... which can be dis-heartening...

I would up the number of peppers you have

 

[Akasha72]

I was going to up the peppered to 6 anyway at some point so I'd like to keep the first 2 babies or will that weaken their genetics for breeding etc?

I'll look at getting a clear seal 24" tank aswell

 

[Harlequins]

Personally i would up the numbers to 6 anyway, then hopefully the 2 babes will make it to adulthood, although from this stage they wont breed until they're mature, so possibly a good 12 months away anyway...

 

[Akasha72]

okay, well I've just gone back on this thread and looking at the dates the other egg should be hatching maybe tomorrow. It's 5 days today since I found it so by morning I may have another to rear

I called at the lfs where the peppered lot came from to get the first bites. I told them I'd got babies. They were really chuffed and asked to be kept updated. I'll pop back for another 2 peppered and I can update them on the wrigglers while I'm there

 

[Akasha72]

I've done a water test this morning and I'm still getting a very low reading for ammonia. On the plus side the PH appears to be about 6 which could be keeping ammonia as ammonium - so a bit less toxic.

It's maintenance day anyway so water changes on all 3 tanks coming up.

The egg is seriously dark this morning so I think I'll be introducing another wriggler within the next 24 hours

No new eggs though

 

[Akasha72]

Got the saddest news I'm pretty deverstated right now.

One cory is dead, the other barely alive.

The egg has just hatched aswell but I can't even get excited about it

I've got the barely alive cory in the pot with the newly hatched so I can keep an eye on it. I've also added 6 newly born platies to the 10 litre tank to try and keep the bacteria in the filter going.

The platies are really tiny so they are no threat to the new cory when I let it go - if it survives

 

[Akasha72]

baby cory 2 has now died and baby cory 3 don't look so great

 

[Akasha72]

baby cory number 3 also dead.

 

[coldcazzie]

Awww hun I'm so sorry *hug*

 

[Akasha72]

trying to find a positive now and trying to figure out where I went wrong.

I guess the positive is the learning curve and having the knowledge of cory eggs etc and through that knowledge if/when I find some more I know what to do with them.

As for where I went wrong, I think it was the food. Not knowing how much to give, not knowing if they were actually eating anything anyway and I think I was probably giving them too much and that was what turned the water bad. In hindsight I should've put these new born platies in sooner so they would eat any excess food.

I'm still seriously upset - I could easily sit and cry but that's more to do with the excitement and coming down with a HUGE bump than the fact they've died. I got myself too excited instead of keeping a sensible, level head.

Anyway, onwards ... clean slate. I'm actually glad baby 3 didn't survive as I don't think I could've cared for it properly the way I'm feeling.
I'll be watching for more cory eggs. If they do the same as last time they'll lay some in 2 days time - the last ones were layed 2 days after the first 2 hatched - it'll be interesting to see if there's a pattern or not.

When I go shopping this week I'll see if I can get some cocktail sticks as wetting the end and dipping it in food and then into the tank may be the best way to feed smaller amounts.
I've also done away with the piece of bogwood for now. In future it will enable me to keep a closer watch on them. I have no idea how long baby 1 had been dead as it was under the bog wood so it's death could have contributed to the ammonia rise that probably killed number 2. I think me catching baby 2 with the turkey baster and squirting it into the pot with newly hatched baby 3 is what did that one in.

Anyway, I'll keep posting any news

Awww hun I'm so sorry *hug*

thanks Caz, it means a lot x