sumplkrum

That makes sense. Your last pic a few comments ago, the female looks a little small. My breeding females are generally quite large compared to the males.

For the most part, I think you can just replant the tall plants in the back rather than the front. You'd usually stagger stuff like: short, medium, tall - from front to back. I usually like to leave an open spot in the middle so you can see the fish even in a very overgrown tank.

You don't want algae to build up to the point that it's competing with the plants. That being said, lots of algae growth is usually a sign that there's too much light, or your water chemistry is off. It might be best if you want a specific looking green rock, ask around to see if someone else has one like that. That way you're not growing random algae in your tank. You could also experiment in a separate spare tank or tub. Partially fill with water and rocks add light and try to get algae to grow on it ... that way you're not messing with your established aquarium chemistry.

8-10 tanks is if you want to do selective breeding over many generations. You generally line breed two lines (a couple tanks each). Then cross them every 3-4 generations to keep them in decent shape. They are assuming you need a couple tanks for your breeding pairs for each line and grow out tanks for babies - that's where those numbers are coming from. You can reasonably community breed them in two tanks. Cull any bad fish immediately. Cross fish between communities every few generations to keep them from inbreeding too hard. It won't necessarily keep them 'show quality' if you're not line breeding, but you don't need to go crazy with selective breeding if you just want nice fish to look at.

I have the same issue with Pepper Corys. I stopped pulling eggs years ago, but they still breed like crazy. I'm resetting my tanks and keeping the biggest ones, but I have 40 young-adult fish to take to my local store just to reduce the population. I had one 45 gallon tank I only put two in. When I cleaned it out, there were over a dozen. It seems that if they're happy enough to breed, they just just get 'morning wood' and go through the mating routine every morning.

I have salt and pepper corys and can't get them to stop breeding. 🙃 As far as I can tell they only need a decent amount of food and a well-planted tank. For me, I have noticed that they tend to be a bit seasonal. I have 8 tanks and a colony in each. Around winter time (New England) all of the tanks will start getting a lot of eggs. Almost every day I'll see them on the glass. Other times of the year, not so much at all. No idea if that helps. I started out with a couple in each tank to clean up the bottom and now I have well over 60. I stopped collecting the eggs because I end up with more corys than the local fish store can take. Personally, I only do water changes about once a month. Plants are a big part of my maintenance and I tend to keep more natural jungle-looking tanks.

I can tell you that the koi 'orange nose' trait is recessive. To have it show up consistently you need to breed two orange-nose fish together, otherwise it only shows every other generation. If it doesn't show up on a dumbo-earred fish, don't just toss it. The fish might have it as recessive. So it doesn't show on this fish, but it's babies might have it. You're basically trying to find these fish that have one trait you want and carry the recessive for the other. (although they may not be compatible genes at all) It comes down to careful notes and several generations of testing pairs to find out which fish can reproduce the trait and which fish are dead ends for what you're trying to do.

Any time you do a cross between strains you are effectively scrambling the genetics. You might get something you like, but most of the time you get trash. It's never as simple as A + B = C. And like Cinnebuns said, the children won't breed true. You might get one fish that looks good, but you're basically ruining your original strains. That's something you can try to experiment with, but no one can tell you what will happen. Even if someone else has similar looking fish, the genetics in their fish may be very different from what's in your fish depending on where they came from and who breed them.

If the building is modern construction, you should be fine. Your tanks aren't big at all. Figure 1 gallon of water is like 8lbs. So your 40 gallon tank is about 320lbs. ... which is still way lighter than a refrigerator full of food. If it's an old building and you're worried, you can place the tanks along exterior load-bearing walls. Avoid placing tanks in the center of the room or along interior non-load-bearing walls. A third floor concern is more about a potential leak and water damage. If you're on the bottom floor, you clean up the spill. If you're on an upper floor and something happens, the water runs down and potentially damages the apartment beneath you.

The benefit of sponge filters is mainly utility. Simple, quick, and easy. Setting up a new tank? Grab an extra sponge filter from one of your other tanks, throw it in, and the new tank is instantly ready to go. If you have lots of tanks or setup seasonal tubs outside, maybe that's a plus. Otherwise, both work fine. Undergravel filters work great even with plants. No worries.

I'm a little late here, but I would say your original tin was probably a little old. The co-op eggs are really well packed, but still have a shelf life. The fresher they are, the better they hatch. If the old eggs weren't hatching, they would sink instead of the casings rising to the surface. My water is similar to yours and I've never used baking soda. I'd say it's probably not needed. It looks like your water is warm enough and you have light on them, they should hatch fine with a newer tin of eggs. I'd say the first tin was just old. I keep my extra tins in the freezer to prolong their viability, then in the fridge once they are opened and in use.

Yes, they store sperm ... but it's not like they keep churning out babies until it's gone. They drop a batch, and at some point get pregnant again and have more babies. From one mating it's possible for them to spawn up to eight broods ... but they're not machines. They need food and good health to produce another batch. Also tend to slow down as they get older, and can still breed just fine with other males. The saving of sperm is a survival technique in case they end up in an isolated puddle. It basically gives them the ability to get pregnant whenever they want to.

If it was her first time, it's not uncommon for them to fail. Young females tend to not know what's happening. They drop their first batch wherever. Tend to be more stressed and confused. Older females tend to prepare, find a patch of weeds to spawn near, or even peck other fish away before they drop. They're also bigger and handle it better. Stress can also cause them to fail. It is possible for them to eject eggs before they even turn into baby fish. Usually that's caused by something traumatic like transportation. If the fish looks healthy I wouldn't worry about it. If the fish doesn't look healthy and is acting oddly, something may be going on. Poor environment, hidden disease, or maybe the fish has a natural medical issue.

Yeah. A pic would help. I second the 'add fake plants' or floating plants if you have them. If there's no place to hide, she might not want to drop them.

I keep mine at around 40-50% for a 12 hour cycle. However, my tanks are heavily planted 'jungles' because I just let the plants fill in. — You would probably want to go quite a bit lower.