My (Accidental) Breeding Journal

[ChemBob]

So I've been increasing the number and types of foods I feed lately. On July 3 and 4, I fed Repashy Community Plus and freeze dried tubifex worms in my 40 breeder.

On July 5, I also fed relatively heavy. I did a water change on either the 4th or 5th. On the 5th, I noticed breeding behavior in my Corydoras sterbai sometime late morning or early afternoon. Here's one of my adult cories being monitored by one of my Bolivian Rams. 

Later that evening, I found some eggs on the glass near my canister filter outflow! I was able to move 3 eggs to a breeder net. I dropped 1 or 2 other eggs, and saw a few others that had gotten taken by fish in the tank. There could easily have been more eggs on the hardscape or plants, but I'm not willing to tear my tank apart at this point for potential eggs. 

A kept an eye on the eggs, and a few days ago noticed they hatched. After a bit of searching, I found a single fry. I have kept my eye on them the past few days, and observed 2 fry at once for the first time this evening. Here's hoping number 3 is hiding in there from me! 

A day after hatching, I started feeding Easy Fry food. Thank goodness I had picked this up for a just in case scenario. I have been feeding once per day when I get home from work. The mesh breeder box is working well as I am getting the benefit of the main tank water circulation, filtration, and temperature stability. I have positioned it in an area of moderate flow to ensure some water turnover occurs, but not so much flow it is blowing around the fry. 

My water temperature runs about 76F, pH around 7.6, GH around 300ppm, and KH around 120 ppm. I am running an Fluval 207, a medium Cool sponge filter on a nano USB pump, and a 2nd nano pump on just an air stone. Tank mates are my school of about 10 cories, 3 Bolivian Rams, about 8 marble hatchetfish, a school of Beckfords pencilfish (they have been spawning over the past year and I don't know how many are in there any more),  some amano shrimp, and the obligatory group of snails. 

[Casual aquatics]

I’m not sure if there’s a question in this but this is amazing I would love to see my Corys successfully breed I have seen eggs on the glass but I wasn’t able to get to them I guess when I scrape them off they might’ve busted but this is amazing news and I’m happy for you I’m hoping to start breeding some Coreys in my 300 gallon grow out . Just not sure if it be possible outside 

[ChemBob]

@Casual aquatics no question, just documenting my journal. For egg removal, I did not use a scraper. I tried to use a credit card in the past, and always dropped the eggs. This time, I rolled the eggs off the glass onto my finger. This was MUCH easier for me than a credit card. I then rolled them off my finger into the breeder box. On the recent Aquarium Coop video with @Dean’s Fishroom, he removed some cory eggs by rolling them off. That's the way I did it. I believe this is the correct video. 

 

[smoore]

I like using my fingers to remove the Cory eggs from the glass and clip plants with eggs.  That works the best for me.  I have lots of plants in my community tank so eggs that I drop accidentally do have a chance to hatch and grow, but chances are much better if I remove them as eggs.  I use the net like you do, ChemBob.  After the eggs hatch, I move the fry to a grow out tank.

[Isaac M]

I also use my finger to roll the cory eggs off of the glass, it provides the most control.

@ChemBob I also had success breeding my sterbai corydoras using heavy feedings with freeze dried tubifix worms. I got the idea from eric bodrock, the aquarium co-op have a video uploaded of one of his talks discussing all things corydoras. I am now using frozen tubifex worms and boy do they love them haha 

It is also kind of funny because your water parameters are similar to mine. I do not run a heater though so my water temperature was like 68-70 degrees Fahrenheit when they initially spawned. I also do not do water changes too often but the corys keep spawning nonetheless. 

@Casual aquatics I would recommend feeding heavy to get your corys to breed. I have been using one of the aquarium co-op automatic feeders to feed twice a day, once with the feeder (Carnivore pellets and broken up bug bites wafers) and another time later in the day manually with frozen foods (Tubifex worms or blood worms). With this schedule, they are spawning at least once a week with 20-30+ eggs. 

[smoore]

@Isaac M, I'm breeding and raising Corydoras Paleatus and I am feeding a variety of foods with Repashy Spawn and Grow and frozen blood worms being their favorites.  My adults are over 5 years old so the egg count is less than it used to be.  My tank is planted so my water parameters stay stable without water changes.  I installed a small fan (the type you would put in a computer cpu) under the tanks wooden canopy and have glass covers over most of the aquarium, leaving the back strip of the tank open for evaporation.  I have found with the back strip uncovered and the small fan, I get just enough evaporation to add water once a week.  The water I add has been sitting in a bucket for a week, so there is no chlorine to consider.  Every time I add water, the Corys spawn for a couple of days.  I'll switch to a more normal diet soon so they stop the spawning.  It sounds like you and I are doing many of the same things.

[Isaac M]

@smoore it does sound like we are doing many of the same things! My tank does not have a top so I get some evaporation as well, I top off maybe once a week or every other week. My tank is also heavily planted. The tank being heavily planted does make it difficult to get all the eggs though, I found a cory fry that has made it to a decent size in the display tank a few days ago haha 

[smoore]

@Isaac MLOL!  I have two fry that I've noticed in the community tank.  One is about 1/2 and inch long now the other is beginning to hang out with the adults and is about an inch long.  When I placed my hard scape (logs and rocks) I made lots of cubbies for small fry.  I ended up with 13 leopard danios! 😁 I didn't even know they had spawned!

[Isaac M]

@smoore oh my, nice!!! I did the same but my tank has shrimp in it so I just assume the shrimp get to the eggs haha I have only had 2 fry grow to adult size in the display tank. That is so cool about the leopard danios though! It is amazing the little ecosystems we can create inside of a glass box haha 

[smoore]

@Isaac MMy tank has shrimp.  Not sure how the eggs survived, but they did.  I didn't even notice the fry until they got larger because I thought they were tiny shrimp.  Then noticed that they had a different swimming pattern so I looked more carefully.  This hobby is so fun!

[smoore]

@Isaac M, @ChemBobHere are a couple of my males.  They are in different tanks and you can see the color of the water in the tank where the spawning occurs has more tannins in it.  The other tank is planted as well, but has a different type of wood.  Less staining of the water, I guess.

[Isaac M]

@smoore that male with the high fin looks awesome! I agree, this hobby is a lot of fun haha 

My aquarium also has tannins, I think they mostly come from the organic soil in the substrate however. My aquarium is a 40 breeder:

Here are the male and female chasing each other around looking for a place to spawn (if you look closely, you can see the clamped fins of the female holding the egg):

This is the most recent corydora fry I found in my display tank:

[smoore]

OH, How fun is that?  VERY FUN!!!  That little one is so cute!  I love your tank, btw!  My females are camera shy.  The males will come out and wink at me.   LOL!  

[smoore]

@Isaac M Here's a couple of pics of one of my females.  The other one is busy cleaning plants for her eggs. She is fairly old... over 5 years old now. 

[Isaac M]

@smoore thank you! And very fun haha wow, she has absolutely beautiful coloration, I do not think I have seen a paleatus with that type of striping color before, great job on caring for that fish!    

[smoore]

@Isaac M Thank you.  I used to have 15 adults but they have been slowly passing away which is why I decided to collect eggs from them.  During spawning they get a reddish stripe underneath the black stripe.  It's difficult to capture with my phone.  Most of my Corydoras have a dark stripe the length of their bodies and three large stripes that rise out of it.  The females have white tummies.  The original fish purchase was 6 juveniles from The Wet Spot in Portland, OR.  Here's one of the juveniles that hatched in the community tank and survived.  She (I think) is about an inch long now.  Her stripe is interrupted, but she's a healthy girl.

[Isaac M]

@smoore she is definitely a healthy girl! I may need to do an order from The Wet Spot, I have heard and now seen great things from them haha 

[ChemBob]

I ordered my Bolivian Rams and Marbled Hatchetfish from the Wet Spot. Good experience for me as well, @Isaac M.

@smoore i have had a similar experience with my beckford pencilfish. One day, I just had babies swimming around my tank. They apparently spawn frequently, because I often find a new fish, usually in the 1/2" size. Most get picked off, but I must have enough plants and hidey holes in the hardscape that the occasional fry grows out. 

[smoore]

@Isaac M Thank you.  I used to have 15 adults but they have been slowly passing away which is why I decided to collect eggs from them.  During spawning they get a reddish stripe underneath the black stripe.  It's difficult to capture with my phone.  Most of my Corydoras have a dark stripe the length of their bodies and three large stripes that rise out of it.  The females have white tummies.  The original fish purchase was 6 juveniles from The Wet Spot in Portland, OR.