Aldofi or Snow White Cories? Also, How do I breed them?

[Yanni]

Hi everybody! I have had the rare opportunity from somebody to get 4 aldofi or 4 snow white corydoras. I don't know which ones I should choose. They both are really cool and rare cories but I am trying to sell them in the future if I can potentially breed them. Which cory should I pick? Also, does anyone have any advice on how to breed corydoras in a community tank or just how to breed them in general?

[swivvr]

That's pretty nice! I don't know which one for you to choose since I don't know what you like or not. Corydoras are bred simararily so I don't think it would matter which one you choose. I would personally choose the Adophi since the snow white might look like albino cories to people. As for breeding, feed them lots of food to fatten them up and put in water a few degrees cooler than normal during a water change. This will trigger them to breed. Remember that corydoras need timne to sexually mature so if they are young, it might take some time for them to mature. Also remember that corydoras will eat their own eggs and if you have fry in with other fish, they might get eaten. I advise you to watch Irene's video about raising corydora's fry as it is pretty helpful. Other than that, good luck! 

[CorydorasEthan]

8 hours ago, Yanni said:

Hi everybody! I have had the rare opportunity from somebody to get 4 aldofi or 4 snow white corydoras. I don't know which ones I should choose. They both are really cool and rare cories but I am trying to sell them in the future if I can potentially breed them. Which cory should I pick? Also, does anyone have any advice on how to breed corydoras in a community tank or just how to breed them in general?

Wow this is great! I would personally do both if possible, but if only one, I would go for the... while, it's hard to decide. The C. adolfoi have pretty coloration and patterning, and I heard they are pretty easy to breed in terms of Corydoras. The snow white cories are (correct me if I'm wrong) a leucistic variant of the panda cory (C. panda), which means that they will also be very easy to breed. Both are about equal when it comes to aesthetic appeal. In terms of size, the panda cories will stay smaller, making them slightly more appealing to people with smaller tanks. As you can tell by the few comparisons above, the two cories are probably worth an equal value to each other (to a nerm). So if you are concerned about this, just pick which one you like the best. But here is where what @swivvr said comes in. Regular people seeing the white panda cories would not be able to tell the difference between them and the albino cory. This would mean choosing the adolfoi cories is a better move when trying to maximize profit.

Okay, so on to breeding. I have bred my peppered cories (C. paleatus) and spawned my albino cories (C. aeneus) multiple times in my community tank.

Here is @Irene's video for breeding cories in case you are interested.

Here is my experience and explanation. So follow @swivvr's suggestions on conditioning. Then, use a spawning trigger. Many sources say that a cooler water change will work to get them spawning. To do this, take out around 30% of the aquarium water, then top off the aquarium with water that's around 5-7 degrees (Fahrenheit). I also found that cories prefer spawning when they are in much cooler water in general, especially for subtropical/lower-tropical region species such as C. paleatus , C. panda, and C. trilineatus. My cories spawned when I (unbeknownst to me) left the heater for the aquarium completetly unplugged, and the water was somewhere around 72 degrees (Fahrenheit) or less.

Of course, now here comes the hard part - taking care of the eggs. The best bet here is to removing the eggs from the community tank. The other fish (especially other cories) love to eat the eggs. I found that the peppered cory parents actually somewhat cared for their eggs, and did not eat them. They cleaned off a spot on the glass and laid their eggs there. Once they found out the albino cories were trying to eat their eggs, they would lay them somewhere else. However, they do not show any parental care otherwise, so the eggs should be removed to safer conditions.

A good container for the eggs is a plastic tub or small aquarium (only a few gallons are necessary). To ensure no eggs have fungus, use chemicals like methylene blue or botanicals such as alder cones. Also, remove any eggs that turn a pure solid white, as those are infertile eggs which could quickly grow fungus and corrupt the other eggs. The cories will hatch in a few days, probably 3-5 days at most.

To take care of the fry, follow the instructions in the above video. Finally comes the re-introduction into the community tank. I made the mistake of introducing my batch of over 30 babies into the tank slightly too early, and lost all but 3 of them. Don't make the same mistake as me! I would wait about a month or more before setting the babies loose. Remember, they have to be big enough to not fit into anyone's mouth, while also being big enough to compete for food.

Anyways, I hope this helps. Good luck with those cories!