Coryndory

Hopefully someone can speak to this but Nick mentions he has a water softener, would the sodium added by the softener inhibit plant growth?

Are they crashing as if it was an ammonia spike due to waste/uneaten food building up? Do you change the water out every so often or have you tested for ammonia?

Between the large water changes and plants the effects of the aragonite are prob minimal. If trying to reduce nitrates to extend water changes, what ferts are you dosing? Does it have nitrates in it? With the bio load in the tank, wouldn’t think you would need the additional nitrogen. Hornwort should consume a good amount of nitrates, as would any other floating plant if there is a good amount of it. Ultimately, the easiest way to reduce nitrates would be to reduce bioload. I agree that stable conditions are important. For reference, my water is soft, avgs 6.2-6.4 ph, and has pretty much zero kh. I change water to maintain nitrates and try to keep the water I am changing pretty close in temp to what is in the tank. In a ten gallon with 10+ Corys this for me is 40-50% a week, in my 20s I only change 20-30% every week or even every other week in my 29. Despite the difference in amount of water changes I am spawning Corys in all of these tanks with 2 spawns a week in the same tank being not uncommon, albeit they aren’t species which are known to be difficult to spawn like a weiztmani or eques. I live in GA and in the summer my water comes out of the tap warmer than some of my tanks by 5+ degrees and I don’t cool it yet the Corys will still spawn, this is why I don’t think the cool water change is a necessity. FWIW I tried running hard water in one of my tanks for a while by dosing Equilibrium and it did slow the Corys spawning in there. You can also get RO at most grocery stores at those jug filling machines if you wanted to go down that route at some point.

I would maybe try smaller more frequent water changes with less temp fluctuation for a period and see how that goes and then hit them with the cooler 50% if need be. Sometimes we try too hard and change things too much. I know I'm guilty of this. Other options: Mixing your water with RO to cut the TDS when doing a water change. Could be worth a try, but watch ph as you already have no buffering. Can also tag team this with a large pressure swing due to incoming storm. Since you have another tank with Corys, you could try pulling water from that tank when they are spawning and changing it into this tank. This is a trick used by some breeders as it is believed chemical compounds are released in the water that can trigger spawning in other groups. I wish you luck! http://www.planetcatfish.com//favicon-16x16.png Breeding Corydoras aeneus 'Peru Green' • Reproduction • Shane's World • www.planetcatfish.com WWW.PLANETCATFISH.COM The Aquarium Catfish Website. Images are copyright and may not be reproduced without permission of the copyright holder.

Just throwing out some ideas since I’ve not kept these specific Corydoras. How much food is actually making to the Corys? Considering the tetras and swordtails, which can be aggressive feeders, make sure the Corys are getting good access to the food. Sometimes it can take a good amount of food over a course of time to get them conditioned and ready. I feel this is more important than the cool water changes. With females of that age they should appear quite full/round when conditioned. Yes, Corys will devour some baby brine. Works great for raising the fry as well. I’ve found mixed results with the repashy community blend. Some of my groups really like it, others don’t show a ton of interest. But it can be an easy way to put on weight as it stays stable in the water for a long time. Don’t over feed with dried tubifex though as it can foul the water very easily. Frozen bloodworms work great. Also hikari vibra bites work good too. 70 degrees seems toward the cooler end to me. Hopefully someone that has worked with these will be able to speak to that. If the tank is 70, how cool is the water you are changing 65? cooler? Are you changing 50% a week to control nitrates or just to induce spawning? Have you tried maintaining a stable temp for weeks and not changing so much water at once? For me, first thing in the morning is when I notice most spawning activity. May be way before your tank lights come on if there is a window nearby or some other light source. Some species of Corys themselves can be real aggressive at eating their eggs as well. If they are, sometimes you will spot half eaten eggs or the outline of where an egg used to be on the glass. They will also lay on rocks, wood, plants and in the sand so check there too.

Congrats, that’s awesome! The Weitzmani are such a cool fish.

I’ve seen males dance/flutter like that over the top of a female’s head in the days leading up to a spawn but I’ve not personally seen two flutter around each other like that. Your video wouldn’t be an example of the T position though.

For what it’s worth alder cones can also be used as an anti-fungal treatment for the eggs. I also believe that hydrogen peroxide is used in commercial hatcheries to prevent eggs fungusing although I haven’t personally tried it. I’ve found that if I pull the eggs and place them on the side of a container with an air stone running from underneath them I don’t really have issues with fungus. Also, spacing the eggs out a bit will allow you to remove any not viable eggs and keep them from spreading fungus to others.