What Temperature Is Best

[juliehainsworth]

I was just wondering what sort of temperature would be best to encourage my peppered cory's to spawn? And at what age do they usually start to spawn

 

[dwarfgourami]

If you want to encourage them, it's a good idea to start by feeding them lots of live food, frozen or jellied will do, plenty of it. Then after a few days of this do a water change and add slightly cooler water- simulates the onset of the rainy season in the Amazon which is the time of year when they breed. If you want to make it extra lifelike you can "rain" the new water down on them with a (new) watering can. I don't think there is any need to flash a torch at them and shout bang bang (though my husband did).

To rear the fry, you first need to make sure the parents (or other fish) don't eat the eggs. This is the one I've never managed. Then they need to be transferred to a rearing tank with good oxygenation. They hatch in about 4 days, I think, and then take an extra few days to consume their yolk sac before you need to start feeding them.

Mine started spawning just before they reached adult size.

 

[juliehainsworth]

I might try that in a month or so then when my nursery tank is empty of platies........

Might be a bit easier to prevent other fish from getting the eggs if theyre on their own!

Thanks for the tip

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Natsuko

That's a good idea, although the biggest problem will be to save the eggs from the spawning group itself. Peppered corys are the biggest egg eaters I've seen among the corys I've spawned.

Once you have them in their spawning tank, feed them heavily on meaty food such as live or frozen bloodworms or blackworms. This will cause them to have a larger number of eggs than they would if you just feed them a mixed diet.

When you are ready to have them spawn, do a big water change and unplug their heater. Leave it off overnight and plug it back in the next day. They should spawn within a day or two, if they are ready. If not, wait a couple of weeks, while continuing to feed them conditioning food, and try again.