This corydoras shouldn't be here

[Lowells Fish Lab]

Hi all,

For the past two weeks I've been tearing down and rebuilding a rack of aquariums and I just had to stop what I was doing and show you all something. On that rack I had a 5 gallon attached to a 7 gallon plastic tote acting as an above tank sump. After tearing it all down I've had that plastic tote sitting on the floor in my project wreckage with about 2 inches of water in it. Today I went to clean it up and found an adult cory splashing around it. Earlier this year I had cory eggs hatching and growing out in the lower part of this system and at some point an egg or fry must have found its way through a submersible pump, through layers of foam covering all the intakes and outlets of the system, and somehow survived for months living in the sump. I fed frequently with baby brine shrimp so I can see how it got fed but still - wow. I'm pretty awestruck. Here's the cory and the tote where I found it:

 

Edited May 16, 2021 by Lowells Fish Lab

[Wesley]

Always nice to find a little surprise. Though this one isnt so little anymore.

[CalmedByFish]

Wow! That's amazing. He even looks healthy.

Where will he get to live now?

[Lowells Fish Lab]

1 minute ago, CalmedByFish said:

Wow! That's amazing. He even looks healthy.

Where will he get to live now?

It does look healthy doesn't it? I sold the whole spawn and the original adults to a store a while back. I moved the surprise cory to a tank running at the same temperature with low light and after it calms down and stabilizes I will probably take it to the same store so that it can hang out with more of the same species. I only have sterbai in the house now so this one will need to go be with some buddies.

[CalmedByFish]

4 minutes ago, Lowells Fish Lab said:

 I only have sterbai in the house now so this one will need to go be with some buddies.

Sort of a bummer that you can't keep the finned miracle. 🙂 But that totally makes sense.