Journal - 29G Black Schultzei Corydoras Breeding Project

[nabokovfan87]

I spent a minute or two searching the tank for little fry to see if a bunch of them had jumped out of the Hang-on box.  I was staring at the S. Repens roots at the front glass, looked up at the substrate line and staring back at me was this little one.

From batch 1, in the tank (colony bred style, she's definitely a fighter)


I checked the rest of the tank, I did find 1 (potentially 2) of the fry from the second spawn. Not a ton, but at least some did make it.  I will try to circle it, but best of luck. I promise it's there!


Very hard to see, I think this is it. Staring right at me.

[TheSwissAquarist]

Awww 🥰 Nice pics! I’m surprised the RTBS hasn’t eaten them.

[nabokovfan87]

On 12/10/2022 at 1:51 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Awww 🥰 Nice pics! I’m surprised the RTBS hasn’t eaten them.

She protects them!

She's honestly very good. Always takes care of her pandas and would keep the parents away from the fry.

She's in the other tank, I moved her back with her pandas when I was able to get a tank for them. 🙂

This tank just had the black corydoras and then it has 2 male swordtails, amano shrimp, otos, and a clown pleco.

[nabokovfan87]

No pictures, nothing fancy....

The Black Cory Herd is officially released into their tank.  I also moved in the male sword.  He was ok, but I wanted to try to move him to distract the other swords from pestering the fry.  No.... not like that.  He's about 30% bigger than the other two sword males. 

I moved them into the tank for a few reasons. 

It's not a predator heavy tank. The amanos are literally the biggest thing in there.  The little mites are all over the substrate and there is a good amount of hiding holes for the fish.  There is cover, there is moss, there is a forest of S. Repens, and it has better cleanliness than the little box.  The one corydoras I found in the tank was about 30-50% larger size than it's brothers and sisters and I am confident that they will grow better having the full tank at their disposal to search for food.

I really do cherish these fish and I want them to do good.  Here's to hoping it was the right choice.

I glued all the moss I could onto the wood and pulled off a big clump that was basically falling off from my previous attempt to attach it.  Hopefully things take hold and hopefully things start to flourish again. 

Sidenote, I really, really detest this black (red) algae.

[nabokovfan87]

0 days since last accident.

Why isn't it just impossible for me to not have a nick or cut or whatever on my hands on maintenance day?

 

[Odd Duck]

On 12/13/2022 at 5:34 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

0 days since last accident.

Why isn't it just impossible for me to not have a nick or cut or whatever on my hands on maintenance day?

 

Story of my life. I work with animals. Not as bad since I don’t work with exotics at this clinic and don’t get bird or reptile toenail scratches. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 12/13/2022 at 6:34 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

0 days since last accident.

Why isn't it just impossible for me to not have a nick or cut or whatever on my hands on maintenance day?

 

Oh man, you ok?  Superglue that cut. That’s what I do.

[nabokovfan87]

On 12/13/2022 at 5:39 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Oh man, you ok?  Superglue that cut. That’s what I do.

I think I bruised my knuckle? Literally no idea how I got cut by plastic wrap and a breeder box.

The stinking diffuser, taking out the old one, trying this one (smaller diameter, integrated bubble counter) and then I could just reduce algae.

NOPE.

I couldn't get the suction cup on, tight fit on the glass tube, eventually got that on. Went to get the tube on the end, nope. Soaked it 2-3x in warm water to get it on there. I had to cut the end of to get enough of it pliable, but it just took me a good 20 minutes of struggling.

After all that. I get it in the tank, go to press the suction cup on the wall.

Snaps.

Check for glass and stuff, don't see anything, siphon it out just in case.

It is what it is.

Now running the old neo diffuser. Bubble size is a LOT better. I really want to get one of the version 2 neo diffusers.

Sidenote: on the same hand (right) I have another knuckle that just has a cut. No idea how.

Left hand I have 4-5 scars healing from the oven and whatever else that happened.

Yep. Lots of projects, lots of Knicks.

Water change day tomorrow!

[nabokovfan87]

On 12/10/2022 at 1:51 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Awww 🥰 Nice pics! I’m surprised the RTBS hasn’t eaten them.

Found this today. Made me smile.

She really does love her Coydoras Bros

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 12/14/2022 at 8:09 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

Found this today. Made me smile.

She really does love her Coydoras Bros

Awww 🥰 Nice seeing them ‘playing’ together!

[nabokovfan87]

Just a FYI post for those who want to "colony breed" corydoras.  It's been 5 weeks at this point with my fry.  Normally I will see them in the colony anywhere from 3-6 weeks after eggs.  Not a joke, they are just microscopic or very good at hiding unless you know what to look for.

I tent to go the route of checking on things late at night, trying to see the fry do their thing while the rest of the tank sleeps.  This is also a great time to feed repashy or some pellets too and give them a chance to get some food without the stress of waking monster fish looming around them. 

But, the real mention here is that if you are specifically raising fry, you want to release them back into your community tank, and you're limited on space.  I would not release them prior to 6 weeks, I would opt for 10 weeks if you can keep them in the breeder box for that long or the QT tank/tub setup.  There's a few reasons for this and perhaps that makes sense for another post on another day. 

I'll run some water tests tomorrow.  I am hoping to be allowed out of the house and get some air (and coffee) for the sake of it.  I am off to go stare at the fry in awe, watch them eat some stuff and then hopefully get some rest. 



Still cloudy on the right.  One day it'll be clear again!

Edit: here is some pictures of fish doing their thing. Something cool of note, the fish that grew up in the tank is about 1/2" long now. Pretty big by comparison to the hand raised fry which are about 1/4" or smaller.

The bigger of the fry, colony raised style, is sleeping in the cave with the parents without fear while all of the other fry are eating and hiding in the S. Repens garden. I didn't see anyone hiding in the moss shelf, probably because of flow, but there is some nice cover there. 

I did catch this little on at the front glass as well as this other dry napping on a tiny hole in the seiryu stone. It does give you perspective of the scale and how some cracks or edges in your hardscape can give you that additional haven for the fry to hide when raising up. Plants are cover, but corydoras do love their rock shelves to nestle on.

The small lip on the rock to the right protects the fish from flow, I would imagine it feels camouflaged against the rock, especially at night without the flashlight on it.

Edit 2:

I won't do this every time, but here's two tanks.  I am thankful things are similar this week (fixed my dosing difference).  I do plan to run an off-gas test and figure out what's going on with my water from the tap losing GH.

Black Schultzei Corydoras Tank Test Results:
Note: water changes done on Sunday afternoons.
Temp: 72
Phosphate: 3.0-4.0 ppm
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 20 ppm
PH: 6.8
KH: 80 ppm
GH: 150 ppm

Panda Corydoras Tank Test Results:
Note: water changes done on Wednesday afternoons.
Temp: 71.5
Phosphate: 2.5 ppm
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 25 ppm
PH: 7.0
KH: 70 ppm
GH: 150 ppm

Edited December 17, 2022 by nabokovfan87

[nabokovfan87]

Testing results this week PRIOR to changing water.  I also decided to run a test comparing what my tap is, just to verify what on earth is going on with the GH dropping off.

Testing Results: Black Corydoras (Tap water)
Temp - 71.6 (N/A)
Phosphate - 2.0 ppm (0 ppm)
Nitrite - 0 ppm (0 ppm)
Nitrate - 0 ppm (30-35 ppm)
GH - 150 ppm (300+ ppm)
KH - 70-75 ppm (60 ppm)
PH - 7.0-7.2 (6.5-6.8)
Chlorine - 0 (0.8)

I spent a bit of time watching the fish and just breathing.  I don't know how the video came out, but hopefully it's easy to see some of the fry 🙂
 

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

They look great @nabokovfan87. Mama cat is huge!  So is amano shrimp. I am not seeing any BBA. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 12/14/2022 at 2:09 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

Found this today. Made me smile.

She really does love her Coydoras Bros

They are playing! ORD

[nabokovfan87]

On 12/28/2022 at 4:33 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

They look great @nabokovfan87. Mama cat is huge!  So is amano shrimp. I am not seeing any BBA. 

 Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. It looks slightly reduced.

[nabokovfan87]

I need a shrimp tank.... Such a beautiful setup shown off.

I'd love to get a carpet.

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 12/31/2022 at 1:13 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

I need a shrimp tank.... Such a beautiful setup shown off.

I'd love to get a carpet.

 

Looks beautiful at first. But when mixing colors all the offspring are gonna be brown!  He knows that though. He said something like the red gene skips a generation or whatnot.

Edited December 31, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[nabokovfan87]

On 12/31/2022 at 12:24 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Looks beautiful at first. But when mixing colors all the offspring are gonna be brown!  He knows that though. He said something like the red gene skips a generation or whatnot.

Yeah, I don't plan to mix colors. Just have a nice green tank!

[nabokovfan87]

The fry that was hatched in the tank is about 2x the size of the others still. It's currently about 1.25" long! The others are just hitting 1" right now. Keep in mind these are a slightly bigger/longer corydoras which is why you see those dimensions, but still... Loving how active and happy the parents are to see more fry around. Even if it does make them move a bit. I'm loving the behavior the herd has now.

Time for some repashy

[nabokovfan87]

One step forward, two steps back....

Well, some filter testing stuff going on, but I'll post that in the appropriate thread here shortly.

Not going to test anything this week because I really don't feel a need to.  I just tested and I can tell the tank is doing ok.  Filter was generally clean and seems I am past the worst of things for the algae battle.

I lost a fish today. 😞

I think it was just one that was crushed when I was trying to remove the prefilter sponge, got pinched on some wood or against the glass or something.  I saw a white belly and knew what it was right away.  I feel really bad because this is the second of the fry I've lose purely by my own fault.  Never good and always very disappointed in myself when mistakes / accidents like this happen.

I have really, really enjoyed watching the fry in the tank and issues like room to work just make me really want to push that 75 into place and get it setup.  It's gotta be what.... 6 buckets during a water change? Frustrating.

I wanted to take time to record a video, show some things off for the sake of posterity.  I have good growth since swapping out the diffuser.  I am tempted to go in with some root tabs tomorrow for a few plants.  The hygro is again, just stagnant and not really growing.  I have one piece glued to wood, might end up putting the rest on the same section.  It's the front glass / save a plant section of the scape.  Not great to look at when nothing grows, but it's the type of thing where I can really, really monitor those plants every morning.

I will keep an eye on things, but I am glad maintenance is done, on schedule, without too much hassle.  That's the way it should be!  It's so nice the filter actually works, tank is doing fine, and everything is just on a sit back and enjoy mode.

The hardest thing is deciding what food to toss in! 🙂

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Sorry you lost a fry. It’s easy to lose track of small creatures. You wouldn’t be the first person to have an accident like this during routine maintenance. 

[itsfoxtail]

I'm so glad to have finally caught up so I can just tell you how ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE your black cories are!!! I'm in love. The vid of them just chilling out with the parents is quite possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen and I also must know if your bala shark has a name! Hearing how she is with the fish and being so good-natured and motherly is just wild to hear and I love it! She needs an appreciation post!

I cannot wait to see how the future pans out with these guys! I personally have a theory (I'm sure someone out there can prove or disprove it) that the black Venezuelan cories are seasonal breeders and go through a period every year where they don't breed at all. I know some cories do this and some don't but I'm not sure of which ones. I'm so super curious and excited to see how often and when you get eggs! Nothing is better than lil bitty wiggly cories!

I will throw out there one piece of advice I've learned for breeding cories in communities and with limited space. The little specimen boxes (ACO sells some awesome ones) are going to be your best friend. So are shrimp. I always toss eggs in a specimen container hung on the inside of the tank with an airstone and some moss. Doesn't take up much space and if you fill it with aquarium water there's really no need to do a water change until they're free-swimming. Also I saw @Chick-In-Of-TheSea mention she read shrimp are egg nannies from someone and that someone was me! 😂 Shrimp are PERFECT little egg nannies. I don't use Meth-Blue anymore at all and now opt solely for shrimp. They eat any of the fungus, or non-viable eggs and leave the wigglers and good eggs alone completely. They. Are. Amazing. 

Also is the correct plural: cories or corys.... unrelated but I've always wondered and typing it so many times makes me wonder if I'm spelling it wrong lol.

[nabokovfan87]

On 1/11/2023 at 5:38 PM, itsfoxtail said:

The vid of them just chilling out with the parents is quite possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen and I also must know if your bala shark has a name! Hearing how she is with the fish and being so good-natured and motherly is just wild to hear and I love it! She needs an appreciation post!

Grace the shark!?  She's a Red-Tailed Black Shark.  🙂
 

On 1/11/2023 at 5:38 PM, itsfoxtail said:

I cannot wait to see how the future pans out with these guys! I personally have a theory (I'm sure someone out there can prove or disprove it) that the black Venezuelan cories are seasonal breeders and go through a period every year where they don't breed at all. I know some cories do this and some don't but I'm not sure of which ones. I'm so super curious and excited to see how often and when you get eggs! Nothing is better than lil bitty wiggly cories!

I believe it!  I've had eggs almost the same week / day years apart.  I do see a lot of people successful with them constantly, so we'll see.  Having a herd again is a nice thing.  It was very stressful trying to get eggs from 1 fish in the group.
 

On 1/11/2023 at 5:38 PM, itsfoxtail said:

I will throw out there one piece of advice I've learned for breeding cories in communities and with limited space. The little specimen boxes (ACO sells some awesome ones) are going to be your best friend. So are shrimp. I always toss eggs in a specimen container hung on the inside of the tank with an airstone and some moss. Doesn't take up much space and if you fill it with aquarium water there's really no need to do a water change until they're free-swimming. Also I saw @Chick-In-Of-TheSea mention she read shrimp are egg nannies from someone and that someone was me! 😂 Shrimp are PERFECT little egg nannies. I don't use Meth-Blue anymore at all and now opt solely for shrimp. They eat any of the fungus, or non-viable eggs and leave the wigglers and good eggs alone completely. They. Are. Amazing. 

There are shrimp in the tank 🙂 .  It's a very interesting procedure.  My last batch, my plecos went to town and ate a lot of the spawn.  They have since been moved so hopefully that helps things out!  I do have 2 specimen containers as well as hang on and internal breeder boxes.  Was my first time pulling / raising eggs, so that was a first step in that learning process.  Fun, tense, exciting, exhausting, but rewarding.
 

On 1/11/2023 at 5:38 PM, itsfoxtail said:

Also is the correct plural: cories or corys.... unrelated but I've always wondered and typing it so many times makes me wonder if I'm spelling it wrong lol.

I try to say "corydoras" but when I do get shorthanded I just say "black corys."  Right or wrong, eh, I have heard people get upset if you don't type the full word out or say "corydoras catfish" but it's all good.  Not that big of a deal for me personally!

[itsfoxtail]

On 1/11/2023 at 7:45 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Grace the shark!?  She's a Red-Tailed Black Shark.  🙂

ORZ I've typed the words 'bala shark' so many times I think my brain auto-corrected my fingers. Yes, the black shark; I'm so sorry. Grace! What a fitting name! 😍

On 1/11/2023 at 7:45 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I believe it!  I've had eggs almost the same week / day years apart.  I do see a lot of people successful with them constantly, so we'll see.  Having a herd again is a nice thing.  It was very stressful trying to get eggs from 1 fish in the group.

There are shrimp in the tank 🙂 .  It's a very interesting procedure.  My last batch, my plecos went to town and ate a lot of the spawn.  They have since been moved so hopefully that helps things out!  I do have 2 specimen containers as well as hang on and internal breeder boxes.  Was my first time pulling / raising eggs, so that was a first step in that learning process.  Fun, tense, exciting, exhausting, but rewarding.

So how many do you think you have right now in the tank? You got a bunch of them grown up from the first batch it looks like! Are you planning on keeping them and growing your colony? A tank full of those monster cory mamas would be a dream! 😍

Have you had any luck with the Amanos cleaning the eggs? My Amanos appear to not care less about fish eggs one way or another and instead opt to swipe food from the other fish in the tank. Neos think eggs are super neat. I had one little dude get so excited about a newly laid cory egg he literally got it stuck to his little front legs. I called him 'egg hands' until he finally got it off about two days later. He wouldn't let me help him. 

On 1/11/2023 at 7:45 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I try to say "corydoras" but when I do get shorthanded I just say "black corys."  Right or wrong, eh, I have heard people get upset if you don't type the full word out or say "corydoras catfish" but it's all good.  Not that big of a deal for me personally!

I need to get my laziness in check and start typing out the full name. 🙃 

[nabokovfan87]

On 1/11/2023 at 6:01 PM, itsfoxtail said:

So how many do you think you have right now in the tank? You got a bunch of them grown up from the first batch it looks like! Are you planning on keeping them and growing your colony? A tank full of those monster cory mamas would be a dream! 😍

I definitely want to keep 25+ of them.  We will see how many I have.  I would like to get a good series of them in the 75 whenever time and space makes sense. You'd think that's a lot, but definitely can handle 50 I think.  I think in terms of fry, there's 15-20.  I did count, but can't remember at all what there was.  I've lost 2 from that point. 😞   I also found some in the tank, so maybe that makes up for it.

On 1/11/2023 at 6:01 PM, itsfoxtail said:

Have you had any luck with the Amanos cleaning the eggs? My Amanos appear to not care less about fish eggs one way or another and instead opt to swipe food from the other fish in the tank. Neos think eggs are super neat. I had one little dude get so excited about a newly laid cory egg he literally got it stuck to his little front legs. I called him 'egg hands' until he finally got it off about two days later. He wouldn't let me help him. 

I guess I hesitated to trust them! I do see them go around the tank, sometimes they clean, sometimes they don't.  The tank in question has a ridiculous BBA/Staghorn algae issue and it's not been fun.  The eggs have issues being too close to the light and the algae everywhere, which the amanos refuse to help with some weeks.