My cory breeding setup and how to get cories to - new info added spawn

[Cinnebuns]

Edit to add:  This info is in a comment in another thread. It's info about what to do before you collect the eggs. The rest of this thread deals with different methods I have used to hatch the eggs. 

Keep in mind there are other methods you can try too. This is just things I have tried and have found work for me. There are other very viable options as well. 

I've decided to share my breeding setup for 2 reasons. 1.  Someone may learn from what I have found to work for me and 2.  Even though it is working for me, I always welcome feedback and new ideas. I typed out a long almost mini guide as to what I do before and while collecting eggs but this is what happens to the eggs after they are pulled. 

Breeder Box

This is a throwback to how I originally handled my cory eggs and I have revisited this method in the past week. The reason I stopped using it is because I got shrimp to do this job for me. The reason I am currently revisiting it is because I am wanting to add sand to the bottom of my fry/shrimp tank. I want to make sure there are no unhatched eggs or super young fry that will get buried by the addition of the sand. It makes for a nice opportunity to show how I used to hatch in a breeder box though. I have heard of people hatching in a jar but I have never done it personally. 

I use the fluval medium hang on breeder box for this. I add some moss to the box mostly to help the fry feel safe and hidden after they hatch. I try to keep the eggs spread out as much as possible to prevent fungus from spreading. Every day, and sometimes a couple times a day, I check every egg. Fertile eggs will turn beige and then darken more and more unt they hatch. Infertile eggs will become white and develop fuzzy fungus on them. These need to be removed. I use a turkey baster to do that. 

The eggs hatch in 3-5 days. I have seen some go a little longer but that's a typical time window. When they hatch they have a yolk attached and do not need to be fed for the first 3 days. That is the point in which I move them to the tank to fed. I use a turkey baster to suck them up and deposit them into the tank. They are far too tiny for a net.

 

It isn't the best video in the world but here is my most recent fry

 

This is a fun picture. The fry in the front is hours old. The fry in the back is about a day old. So much development in just one day!  It's gained notable size and even a stripe. 

 

Fry Tank

The next step on their journey is the fry tank. Currently this tank is bare bottom and has been my whole time doing this, but I am working on adding a thin layer of sand. The addition of neocaridina shrimp was a huge game changer in breeding these cories. I have noticed an increase in my hatch rate and my job is much easier. They do all the work for me hatching the eggs. The entire process I discussed about the breeder box can be skipped and the shrimp will do it all for you! They clean fungus off of all eggs and will eat infertile ones while leaving the fertile ones. 

Here I keep the typical "dirty fry tank" to cultivate micro organisms and biofilm and such for the fry and the shrimp both. Foods that are dropped in include: Hikari first bites, shrimp cuisine, algae wafers, bacter ae, and occasionally veggies.

When fry are hatched in this tank I usually won't see them very much until about 2 weeks of age. I try to not keep them in this tank too long so I can make sure the shrimp aren't getting out eaten.

Once they get full finage I tend to graduate them. Currently there are some who need to be moved on!  You can see that in the video. I tried to catch some of the smaller fry in the video. I saw them right before I started to film but of course they hide most of the time so are hard to catch. 

Added later:  

I have since added black sand to the tank. I think it's a welcome change. I added it mostly because the shrimp were needing a dark background. I think it looks much nicer. Either barebottom or sand would both work. 

Here's a video of some of the fry enjoying some first bites on the sand:

 

Juvenile Tank

Now that they have full finage, they just need to gain size. They do this in my juvenile tank. This tank also contains ramshorn snail culls (I am selective breeding for colors) and usually has young unsexed guppy fry. I recently sexed this group of fry so there are no guppies in there currently. Here I feed them the same as the adults. Sinking pellets and wafers with the occasional veggie. 

 

My New Keepers

Recently I decided to keep some of my babies. I had my eye on one for a very long time but a bunch of them around the same age were looking beautiful. I couldn't decide if I just wanted the one or more. They decided for me. While trying to net the one, 2 others swam in too!  I guess they chose me. I kept all three. They are all both long and high fin. There was a 4th in the group that was both as well and a few others just long fin. Typically I get 50/50 long and standard but this group was 4 standard and 7 long with 4 of those long also being high!

They are a little freaked out in this video because I had just pulled them but here they are!

 

I added them to the main tank with the adults and fully did not expect to see them for a few days before they felt safe. I caught one of them while the lights were turned off tho!

 

Edited January 15, 2023 by Cinnebuns

[anitstuk]

They are literally the cutest things in the world!  My next breeding project is definetely some Corys

[Cinnebuns]

On 8/23/2022 at 3:44 AM, anitstuk said:

They are literally the cutest things in the world!  My next breeding project is definetely some Corys

I agree. I don't actually find guppy fry all that cute but these cories get me. I really want to do similis cories some day! If it weren't for the fact they can breed with pandas I would just add adults to the same tank and breed them side by side. 

[FLFishChik]

This is awesome info! Thank you for sharing! I am most definitely interested!!!!

[Guppysnail]

Thank you for sharing your setup. Giving others the opportunity to learn is what makes knowledge valuable in my opinion. And in this hobby the more I learn the more I realize I don’t know even after decades.  This old dog goes out of her way to learn new tricks 🤣🤗

[FLFishChik]

@Cinnebuns do you separate a breeding pair out or are they just breeding in the home tank?

[Cinnebuns]

On 8/23/2022 at 6:07 AM, FLFishChik said:

@Cinnebuns do you separate a breeding pair out or are they just breeding in the home tank?

They are just breeding in the home tank. I have 2 female long fin and the rest are standard fin. I'm not 100% sure of the male to female ratio of the standards tbh but I know of 1 female standard that has recently started spawning. Most of the spawning is done by the same long fin female tho. I get about 50/50 long fin and standard total. 

To add:  ideal ratio is 2m to 1f. I def don't have that and it's not a requirement like with some fish. It just helps. 

[Fishy101]

Lovely setups and they look beautiful! How long did it take for them to be able to grow to the size in the last photo?

[Cinnebuns]

On 8/29/2022 at 7:19 AM, Fishy101 said:

Lovely setups and they look beautiful! How long did it take for them to be able to grow to the size in the last photo?

That was about 2 months I believe. They grow super fast at first. It slows down after about that size but the first month or 2 is fast. 

[Cinnebuns]

It's possible it's closer to 3 months tbh. I'm on sick brain rn and can't be trusted to be 100% accurate haha

[SimmonsSnailsNScales]

This is fantastic! Thanks so much for sharing the info. I am in the middle of basement renovations and will be expanding my breeding setup as soon as the renovations are complete. I hope to be making lots of fish babies soon!

[Levi_Aquatics]

Very helpful! Thank you! I am thinking about trying some panda corys soon. 

 

[RyanM]

Cheers for sharing, I am about to start on breeding corys. Bought 3 albino and 3 bronze last week to start the project. 

[Anjum]

First time I've even peeked into this sub forum, but here I am! Just found 3 Cory eggs in my tank yesterday. They quickly disappeared, but now I'll do the crash course on Cory breeding. Love the way you use the shrimp! Now I'm even more motivated to convert my 10g to a shrimp tank! 

[KittenFishMom]

@Cinnebuns I just started a shrimp tank with about 30 shrimp. it is a 10 gallon tank tall half cylinder with a sponge filter and and air stone. The substrate in organic potting soil capped with black sand.  I was doing reverse respiration on a bunch of hornwort, and forgot it for well over 24 hours. It pretty much all melted in the tank after I added it, so the floor of the tank has a lot of bio-film sort of stuff. Do you think I can just put corry eggs in this tank and let the shrimp care for them? I put some in an HOB breeder box with 4 shrimp. they have not hatched, but the shrimp have not eaten them either. The shrimp are the blue dream Neocaridina. Davidi. 

I would like to try some of these new eggs, but I want to keep them separate from the older eggs. With the shrimp tank not being bare bottomed, I don't know if the shrimp will find and care for the eggs. Should I try to stick them on the wall of the tank, or drop them to the bottom.

I need to decide soon, before the flagfish eat the eggs. The corys have been spawning off and on since Wednesday, and the flagfish are growing very fast.

[Cinnebuns]

I think it will be fine. Mine is no longer bare bottom but now has sand and they find them just fine. I have a lower shrimp population so I sometimes still grab a few if there are a lot of infertile ones but I think it would work in your case. I might pull some of the dead plant matter so they are more encouraged to clean the eggs but otherwise it should still work. 

This is my shrimp and cory fry tank now. 

[Brainsponge]

Thank you for sharing you're setup and process. Yesterday I woke up to emerald green cory eggs on the glass and a few plants for the first time. This post helped point me in the right direction. Thanks again

[Fresh Princess]

Curious.... would amano shrimp work too?

[Cinnebuns]

On 9/26/2023 at 10:36 AM, Fresh Princess said:

Curious.... would amano shrimp work too?

I doubt it but I don't know for sure. Most likely they would eat the eggs.