Corydora Paleatus mating observations

[Dancing Matt]

I was sitting in my chair reading and noticed my corydoras were spawning. I have seen the Females clutching before but this was the first time for me to watch the activity from start to finish. This was quite exciting and allowed me to confirm that the first three I bought were all females and the second three were all males. I thought the second three just had more growing but no, Females are really that much bigger than males.

The males seemed to initiate by swimming on top/above the females and if the female was receptive they would form a T position with the male forming the top and releasing the milt while the female interacted with the males midsection. (two examples taken after ,assumed, copulation)

The female then stays in that position and releases her eggs into her pelvic fins where she clutches them. My observations were they would lay 2-3 at a time. The Female then finds a spot, and seems to prep it, then lays. I managed to capture three photos in succession where she has two eggs and lays one while holding on to the other. (two)

Deposit

One egg

Of course they were all ready to eat them right after, some of the males not even waiting a second. The eggs appeared clear and took some time to "opaque up". I am curious as to how the fertilization actually happens. One source talked about the females swallowing the milt but can that pass through the intestine? Or does it get powered out the gills like they do with food? Or does it just get released into the water column and the eggs are externally fertilized that way?

Either way I was happy to get to watch and document these behaviors (I have many more blurry and obscured photos). I am a major proponent for placing your aquariums where they are accessible and easy to view. That is the only reason I was able to see all this.

Here are some babies from a previous spawn that I have raised and am planning on transferring to the main tank soon. They are maybe 3/4 inch long and have fat bellies. It is interesting to see the difference from their parents whom I purchased.

This makes me quite excited for possible future fish findings. Have an excellent day fish friends!

[Guppysnail]

This was terrific thanks for sharing. You have confirmed what I was seeing in my pandas this weekend 😍

[AndEEss]

My peppered have far and away the most sexual dimorphism of any of the cory species I have (peppered, bronze, panda). I'd estimate that the females are 3-4x the weight of the males. 

I haven't had any babies yet, though, despite hundreds of eggs. The loaches and tetras take care of that, I'm guessing.

[Torrey]

Thank you so much for the excellent description, and the pictures!

It's looking like panda cories are going to be in my future, based on enthusiasm from spouse.😁

[Dancing Matt]

On 1/26/2022 at 8:02 AM, AndEEss said:

I haven't had any babies yet, though, despite hundreds of eggs. The loaches and tetras take care of that, I'm guessing.

I had to remove the eggs to get fry though one somehow managed to survive in my last setup.

[Levi_Aquatics]

That is fascinating! Thanks for sharing!