Which Corries?

[Ben M]

hi, i would like a group of corydoras catfish. my tank is a 4 ft community with 20 copper harlequins, 5 sae, a few small tetras and 4 kribs. which corries are best for me? i would like to breed them. not very experienced with breeding fish. bred mollies, and guppies, and had a few baby kribs which died after a few days. so any ideas as to which corries that are easy to breed?
thanks

 

[mattlee]

hi, i would like a group of corydoras catfish. my tank is a 4 ft community with 20 copper harlequins, 5 sae, a few small tetras and 4 kribs. which corries are best for me? i would like to breed them. not very experienced with breeding fish. bred mollies, and guppies, and had a few baby kribs which died after a few days. so any ideas as to which corries that are easy to breed?
thanks

to breed fish they really need to be in a species/breeding tank not a community tank as any eggs or fry you get if you get may well be eaten, either by the other fish of the parents.... if any do survive they will probably get sucked into the filter or again eaten. if they survive all of this then they will be competing for food along with all the other hungry fish in the tank so may not get enough to survive!
as far as easiest to breed alot of people say bronze corys which are very available at lfs but it all depends on the fish, if they are happy they may well breed other people have had fish in immaculate water conditions and had no breeding....
corys are also quite hard to sex as they look almost the same with the female being slightly more rounder in the body but unless they are fairly large then its hard to tell.
i has a group of corys in my com tank and they did breed but i didnt know about it until i cleaned my external filter out and found 1 survivor living inside! i have since set up a species tank and they have spawned twice in 3 weeks. the eggs were easy to find as nothing ate them so i could take them out and raise the fry in another tank. i really would recommend doing it this way as its a hell of alot easier and the fish are alot happier
also my water is not perfect for the type of cory i have and they have still spawned, i have pH of 8 and hard water which is quite a way out but regular water changes and good maintenance means they must be happy therefor they had babies
if you want any gold stripe corys then i will have some for sale once they are big enough, also harlequins on here has bred another species and im sure the same applies as soon as theyre big enough.....

 

[lilacamy931]

I have to agree with what mattlee has said. I have two groups of cories (caudimaculatus and gold stripes) in a community. They bred once and was lucky to get the eggs out, they have bred at least once to my knowledge as saw the behaviour in the morning, when got home saw one lone egg that then got snatched by the angel before I got to it The tank mates do seem to learn about the tasty treats when the cories go spawning (my angel really has it down to a knack).I have had successful spawn with my pygmy cories but kept them on their own, raising the fry is another matter

 

[Harlequins]

Has matt said you are probably better off setting up a cory tank if you want them to breed without the eggs being munched.

I do have my trilineatus/skunk/pygmy cories in the main community tank,and i have been lucky enough to save some eggs when the trilineatus have spawned,but it does make hard work of it

If you want cories reasonably easy with the right water quality,w/c etc then best opt for bronze/albino or peppers seem to be common.

I also have hard water and ph of 7.8-8,but has matt said if they're well balanced diet,regular w/c's and they're happy then they will spawn in the right conditions.

On a side note,you have 4 kribs,putting cories in a tank with kribs,may ask for trouble has kribs become very possessive of the bottom of the tank especially when they're breeding and the cories may come off worse.

 

[Ben M]

my brother is setting up a 2 ft tank, i might ask if he can spare any room for a group of maybe sterbai corries, he'll only have small fish i think.

 

[Harlequins]

Unless you have a well cycled tank or have mature filter its best to wait before adding them

Cories are sensitive to water quality and might not do well in a new set up.

 

[Ben M]

i could give him some of my filter media and water.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi pest control

i could give him some of my filter media and water.

That would help get his tank going nicely, but start adding fish slowly. The amount of fish wastes the media will handle is proportionate to the amount it started in the original tank. Give it a couple of weeks to be sure it is established and then start adding more, a few at a time. The bacteria will increase to take care of them.

C. sterbai require warm water, so be sure that he is planning on keeping fish that need the same temperature. The sterbai will often spawn in a home tank but are not as easy to get going as the C. aeneus. I agree that they are best not kept with kribs or other cichlids.

 

[Ben M]

thanks, i think he's getting endlers livebearers or something like that. and maybe some red cherry shrimp.