Breeding Cories- Take 2

[keithk831]

Alright, so my cories have finally decided to spawn again. Unfortunately, very few eggs survived (the tetras were practically attacking my female trying to get eggs...i'm still pissed at them). As I saw the female laying eggs, I immediately got them out of the main tank and into my makeshift "hatchery" (see pictures below).

I'm hoping they are fertilized, since these were toward the end of the breeding day, so we'll see. I managed to save 8 eggs.

Question is: If they hatch (which I believe takes about a week), at what point can they go back into the main part of the tank? I dont want them getting eaten by platys, tetras or cories. Is this a suitable environment for them? I was thinking about (if they hatch) feeding them the normal pellets I feed the cories. They break apart into very fine bits after a few hours, so i'm assuming that's good. I have shrimp and algae pellets.

Oh and yes...my "hatchery" is the upper part of a CD case (the kind you buy blank CDs in).

 

[Kissyboots]

I can't remember how long my guys took to grow up, but as long as they are larger than a fish mouth, they should be fine.

 

[Lakea]

Hey there, I wish you luck with hatching those eggs. My cory's eggs have always hatched in two-three days, but conditions vary hatching times, so it could take up to a week. I don't know much about the plastic in cd cases, but some plastics can be harmful, you may think about getting something you know is fish safe. But I would do daily water changes on their 'hatchery', I don't know much about hatching eggs in anything but a net, Kissy may be able to tell you more.

As far as food though, I would go ahead and crush the pellets up into really fine powder, that is what I did for my fry. Feed 'em like three-four times a day after the first day they hatch (when they first hatch they live of their yolk sac/egg whatever.)

Unfertilized eggs turn white and should be removed, fertilized eggs are more transluscent gray/brown

But you probably know this if you've read up on breeding corys!

Just wanted to add, I would think at maybe 1 or 2 months old they will be fine, I think I had one 3 week old cory living in with the adults, if you feel they won't be eaten they should be fine.

 

[Kissyboots]

If you've read my "update on cory fry" thread, then you know what I used. At first I had them in a tiny container and basically did daily water changes. Then I upgraded to the bowl which also didn't work so well. The best thing you can do is have a separate tank for them. Like I did with my 6.6g. I just had to cover the intake filter tube so they wouldn't get sucked in!
I fed them Hikari First Bites. First I just had crushed flakes but the bites were much better.
Just make sure your water is always clean because they are so tiny and fragile. I lost most of them to some kind of disease, which I'm thinking was caused by ammonia.
Good luck and if you haven't read through "cory spawning habits" then I suggest you do. It doesn't really explain how to raise fry properly, it just shows what I did. Maybe I'll write another one that shows you step by step how to do it.

 

[Lakea]

Yeah, I agree with kissy, better that they have their own tank. I started a 20g just for the fry, I haven't had time to grab my cory's eggs, so I haven't tried hatching 'em out in the 20 yet, but I haven't had any problems hatching them in a breeder net.

As far as first bites, I have read someplaces where people could not get their babies to eat the first bites. I make a mix of food, crushed up flakes, tetra sinking granules, and the first bites, my corys love it!

One good thing though with having the babies in the tank with the parents is they'll have lots of microorganisms to chow down on, but I wouldn't be comfortable leaving such fry in with the older fish.

One thing I want to add, whatever you decide to do, you should have some kind of cover over their container, it is important that the air outside the water is about the same temp as the water itself, if you water is at room temp, as it might be with a container, I think you should be fine.

 

[keithk831]

Great advice...thanks! Unfortunately I don't have another tank (sold the 5-gal a couple weeks ago), so it's either this or they would have to be in an open pyrex bowl on top of the kitchen counter. Bad idea for temperature reasons.

The water I have in their "hatchery" is straight from the tank, which is fully cycled (ammonia and nitrites at zero, nitrates in safe range), and the heater keeps it at a solid 78 degrees. The hood is closed to keep it from cooling down as well. As for water changes, I can simply pour out half of the water and refill it at the same time just by tipping it a little (the CD tower case i'm using floats nicely).

One alternative is to have them hatch in my fish net (small net for catching the fish), but i'm not sure that's such a good idea because of the size.

 

[keithk831]

Oh, and another thing. Once the tetras caught on that my female cory was laying eggs, they started following her around the tank, and even started attacking her fins (mainly on her underbelly where she had the eggs) to try to get them. I wanted to reach in there and smash those guys I was so mad! So, now she has a few fins that are a little torn. I dont think it's anything serious, it just looks like she got roughed up a little. Is there anything I can do to prevent this in the future (aside from getting rid of the tetras)?

 

[Lakea]

yeah hatching them in a fish net won't work, and watch when you 'change' the water, the eggs may try to escape on you .

There is nothing really you can do about the tetras, I had the same problem with guppies, they would do the same thing to my female cory. She eventually learned to avoid them. Have you try feeding them a bit when the cory is laying the eggs, maybe it will distract them. Maybe try something scrumptious to them, like some frozen bloodworms.

 

[Kissyboots]

Yup, I agree with Lakea, feed the fish while she's laying eggs. Then they'll be distracted.

 

[keithk831]

She's Dead!!!!

I'm so mad! I came home from work and my grown female (the one that laid the eggs and got attacked) was floating on the top of the water. I'm thinking it was the tetras, since the rest of my fish are fine.

Even though it's only been a day, the eggs havent changed color yet. I guess we'll see what happens.