Journal - 29G Black Schultzei Corydoras Breeding Project

[Odd Duck]

On 11/30/2022 at 1:02 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

How are yours looking?

Looking very bronze so far.  I really hoped there would be some trilineatus since there were soooooo many eggs and I thought the tris were doing some zipping around, too.  Plus some were getting pretty big without looking very bronze.  But now I’m afraid that was just wishful thinking since all the biggest are showing as clearly bronze.  There are little ones that could still turn out to be tris, but I need to not get my hopes up too much.  🤷🏻‍♀️ 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

So glad I got caught up! Excellent works with the black corys. 
Anything you’re doing for that S. Repens you in the black substrate tank?

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/30/2022 at 11:23 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

Anything you’re doing for that S. Repens you in the black substrate tank?

what do you mean?  I have the light basically tuned JUST for that plant.  it's not doing great, not doing badly. 

I need to pop in more root tabs around the border, but it's one of those "what lies beneath" type of things.  It does well because of the CO2, because it's lean dosing (I think it helps), but it definitely has algae all over it because everything uses it as cover right now.  It's basically where the gigantic corydoras think they can hide and not be seen.

[nabokovfan87]

You can kind of see it here marked with the red arrow.




Some of the leaves look tattered/worn because of the pruning, algae is there and I try to keep it off and pick those leaves. I haven't ever since I got fry because I assume they'll use it to hide out in.  I siphon out algae and bits of food and moss from the S. Repens specifically.  New growth looks fine, but I would say it always looks pale in photos.  The black spots is often food, substrate bits, or just general junk on the surface.  The glass has spots of the black algae, so part of that speckling on the leaves is misleading.

The plant in the background (through the red arrow) is in good shape and I've been trying to propogate the plant "north" in the tank up towards the hygro area.  I want the S/R to carpet, the hygro to get tall, and the moss to just overtake everything.  I have some stems in the back right of the tank that no one ever sees, but they are there trying to take hold and it's a 50/50 show whether they are bacopa or S/R.

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Thanks for that @nabokovfan87. Take a look at the updated pics on the build thread for the 60 and let me know what you think about a repens planting in the foreground around the rocks. 

[nabokovfan87]

Weird @Beardedbillygoat1975 it's not letting me click the link in your signature.  I'll get there, but not sure if it's just me and this browser or if something broke on ya.

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/20/2022 at 10:41 PM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Thanks for posting this ! 👍 

I found this! Really cool to see it fully edited together and see the growth.

 

[nabokovfan87]

Oh man. This is just.... Perfection.

@Guppysnail From what we were discussing in the other thread, I give you this masterpiece.

 

[nabokovfan87]

From this morning.

It's been a day, but this was a nice way to wake up.  Pups are chilling, I'm going to go and clean the fry tank and then give them some new food for the night.

Hope everyone is doing well.

 

[nabokovfan87]

Looks like Cory's tank has the same black algae (grows in high flow, etc) that I've been dealing with.  It's on his vlog video from today and is in Ladybird's tank. 

It'll be interesting to see how he handles it and what works.

[nabokovfan87]

Well, the big female has definitely decided she is happy, comfortable, and feeding some frozen brine that one night seemed to have helped the efforts.  Storm came in, this is a few days later.  Totally could be me mixing up days and timeline, but I think it helped.  Has not been a WC yet, today is maintenance day for that tank.

Not sure what to do with these.

at least 60% of them look non-fertile, and I am leaning towards leaving these as-is and not using the tumbler or moving the eggs to the fry box.  I might move some, but hard to know what is the right call right now.

[nabokovfan87]

I found some more eggs when the lid was opened and doing my cleanings.  I also found some pretty alarming (?) water changes yet again when testing.

Might have to try to make a fish mop out of airline tubing.... 🤔

Because of those eggs there I did not want to drop waterline. again, not all of those eggs are fertile, but I do think some are.

Test Results:
Temperature - 72.7
Phosphate - 3.0 ppm
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 15 ppm
PH - 6.8
KH - 80 (AWESOME)
GH - 150 (Could be 100, but that's way less than usual, ~400 ppm)

Ever since September and October I've seen my GH slowly drop from the tap.  It was 400, then 250, then 150, now we're in the 75-100 range.  Maybe this is just due to the tank itself using up the minerals in the water, but changing large volumes of water isn't keeping things stable.  Fluctuations aren't good, and the instability out of my hand is pretty frustrating to say the least.  I'll keep an eye on the shrimp, but they seem ok.

Of note...
-High phosphates does mean this algae is doing more damage and growing (not good)
-Nitrates are higher than normal just because I am feeding a lot, not really an issue.
-Moss falling off in the S. Repens and things all over the substrate lead to more phosphates too.
-Seachem Tidal stuff I think is "wrapped up" and I need to formulate some final results.  Not sure where to go with that.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 12/5/2022 at 12:41 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

High phosphates does mean this algae is doing more damage and growing (not good)

You can always add a pouch of phospure to the hob.

Your mama cories are super happy! I see they’ve hung the ornaments on your Christmas tree.

Edited December 5, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[nabokovfan87]

On 12/5/2022 at 2:00 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Your mama cories are super happy! I see they’ve hung the ornaments on your Christmas tree.

Lol, it was just on the glass but the photo made it look like it was on the Moss. 😂

[nabokovfan87]

More cleaning of their little home for now. Got a picture of them being very upset with me but trying to hide under the moss. I move it to one side and try to get them away from my cleaning agitation.

 

Not quite fully colored up but close. You can still see some stripes and stuff if you get a clear look.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Let’s gooooo! Cory babies all around!

[nabokovfan87]

Officially colored up now. Size difference is pretty interesting to see. Some are about 1/4 the length of others.  Too young to determine anything, but an interesting note.

[nabokovfan87]

I tested the tap water, 50 ppm GH, compared to normally 400 ppm.  Not sure why that's happening, but that's definitely not fun or easy on my tank.

I cleaned the breeder box out because of the mulm and leftovers at the bottom.  It sticks to the moss and it just starts to fungus and it's not great.  I clean it daily or every other day when I see it start to get bad.  I assume a layer is good for them to have to graze on, but I generally try to dump in food for them to have fresh.  Probably a sign that I keep overfeeding them.

SO.  bad news.

I had the initial batch of fry, that is now a few weeks old. I have some other fry that are slightly smaller but are from the same batch.  They look like about a week younger, but they were born at the same time.

I had the latest batch of eggs that produced another 30+ fry.  I added them to the breeder box.  I see 1, maybe 2 left from that new batch.

I would hope some of them swam out of the gate and are in the tank.  I can't say that's the case, but that would be "best case" for some of them that were following the flow of the water.  What likely happened was the bigger fry ate the wigglers.  I'll tag this up to my own inexperience raising fry, but I thought they'd be ok together. 😞

When I raised the first batch I had a piece of filter floss in the gate so they couldn't swim through, but that also dangerously raises the water level for corydoras because the air gap is gone in most cases and it's easy for them to get stuck somewhere the lid interfaces with the container.  That's how I lost one from the first batch.  Why the water level needs to be so tight against the lid I really don't understand the design.  One little chunk of food in the gate or moss and the thing is right on the cusp of overflowing.   (not to mention how it's a pain to get level because of the adjustment they use that isn't the one the seachem tidal version's worm gear)

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 12/8/2022 at 4:57 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

latest batch of eggs that produced another 30+ fry.  I added them to the breeder box. 

I would have done the same thing actually. 

On 12/8/2022 at 4:57 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

filter floss in the gate

Sounds kinda like a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation.

Can you float the breeder box in the tank using styrofoam?

Maybe one day you’ll be surprised when you see some emerge from random places in your tank. @Guppysnail recently found like 3 baby cories she didn’t even know she had. 

 

Edited December 9, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[nabokovfan87]

On 12/8/2022 at 4:11 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Can you float the breeder box in the tank using styrofoam?

Maybe? But that tank runs two pumps as is and the tidal is literally a monsoon of sorts when it comes to flow. (which is good, just not for floating things)

On 12/8/2022 at 4:11 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Maybe one day you’ll be surprised when you see some emerge from random places in your tank. @Guppysnail recently found like 3 baby cories she didn’t even know she had. 

Yeah that's my hope. I'll check tonight. Corydoras do enjoy flow and they generally follow it. I wouldn't be surprised if they did make it that way, but I also wouldn't be surprised if their brothers and sisters were just a bit feisty. Needless to say the little ones grow up fast. Coloration is just... Awesome. I'll try to get a decent pic tomorrow.

On 12/8/2022 at 4:11 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I would have done the same thing actually. 

Yeah, I was more concerned about getting the methylene blue off the fry than I was the fry having issues with the fry. My hope was that of the new fry ~50-75% survived and it didn't throw off my timing too much being weeks apart to release them in the tank.  The parents have been showing colors and brightened up just being happy. This time of year with the weather and everything I guess.  I was staring at the tank today and just trying to breathe. I am always at a loss for works how big the corydoras parents are.  I'll keep at it, keep trying to grow them out and just see what happens.

I need to have a few 5G or 20L tanks for fry whenever I do get proper fry setups. The hang on stuff works, but when fish spawn it's like you're going to just not have enough room to work, clean, etc.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 12/8/2022 at 8:15 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

need to have a few 5G or 20L tanks for fry whenever I do get proper fry setups. The hang on stuff works, but when fish spawn it's like you're going to just not have enough room to work, clean, etc

A 5G would be tricky. It’s fine when the fry are small, but as they grow, that bioload can crash the cycle suddenly. There will be a point where the bacteria is not keeping up, then it will recover and get used to the new requirements. I wouldn’t recommend it. 10g minimum, a tote, or the 20L.

[nabokovfan87]

On 12/8/2022 at 5:29 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

A 5G would be tricky. It’s fine when the fry are small, but as they grow, that bioload can crash the cycle suddenly. There will be a point where the bacteria is not keeping up, then it will recover and get used to the new requirements. I wouldn’t recommend it. 10g minimum, a tote, or the 20L.

100% agreed. In a dream world. I would have a few 20L or 15L for the fish I want to raise. It's tough. I have a 29 ready to go for them. But would need to move two tanks, make one disappear, and I have that 75 just staring at me ready to go for the colony when it's set. I keep staring at the wall and how I want to have literally just +1 tank. Right now I'm using a 5G bucket to QT a fish because I couldn't get a 10G in time for what I needed. I have the filter, lid, everything, but just not the glass. It sucks because I know the fish act differently, very differently depending what tank, space, flow, and light.

I feel much better when I see the fish happy, colored up, excited to see you, and interacting like they should.

Totally get it.... One day I'll have a spare tank. Wasn't in the cards this week/month.

I also have a stand for a 30L that is ridiculously annoying because that would be perfect for my plants only needs to grow out some moss and stems.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 12/8/2022 at 10:40 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Right now I'm using a 5G bucket to QT a fish because I couldn't get a 10G in time for what I needed

Don’t forget about clear totes. Very handy and you can add decor and plastic plants so they feel safer. Roy just did his time in a tote.

[nabokovfan87]

On 12/9/2022 at 1:37 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Don’t forget about clear totes. Very handy and you can add decor and plastic plants so they feel safer. Roy just did his time in a tote.

Definitely a good choice. 👍

[nabokovfan87]

Blackened form. Some are about 1/4" and ready to go into the tank. Others are 3 days old. Others are about half that size and still developing their patterns.  Definitely odd to see so much variation on just a day or two days apart on a spawn. (Of course the youngest is from the second spawn)