Coffee with Teejay

[TeeJay]

On 7/31/2022 at 1:44 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Yeah, that's one of my favorite reasons to challenge someone to sit in front of their tank for 15+ minutes.  They take a few minutes, but they definitely will begin to ignore you as they have and that is a great bonus as a fishkeeper.  I think you're also spot on, less activity on the tank means they are more comfortable to explore.  They will always be a little hesitant, but big bushy plants like you have mean that they will feel a little bit more safety in the midwater regions.  This also gives them more places to lay!

My thoughts exactly. I mean that's the whole reason we keep fish is to enjoy and watch them. I mean I still love my 29 gal guppy tank. But I pretty much know what they are going to do. Don't get me wrong I love the scaping of the tanks and doing water changes and learning how to get a balanced ecosystem. But once you can get a fair balance it's nice to just watch and observe. And see how much they thrive and appreciate what you do for them. They may not be able to talk and say thank you but you can see it in how they interact with the tank. Just brings out the personalities you will probably miss otherwise.

[nabokovfan87]

And that's when the breeder that did that cataclysm talk, I think he's in Seattle region, but.... his phrase of "be the fish, try to be the fish" rings so true.

[TeeJay]

Just got back from taking my girls camping for a couple days so the shrimps had a vacation from the old man lol. Came home today and all looks great in the tank.the floating plants are really doing well and starting to give the tank a real forest/jungle vibe that I'm digging. Not very good cell service at the campground that we were at so I was going through forum withdrawals.

[BradleyH20]

Glad to see you finally have some shrimp and they're acclimating nicely. You might have shrimplettes much sooner than you anticipate. I had four females berried in less than 3 weeks after getting mine. I think it depends on the environment and I think you've done a good job with yours. 

I need to get me some hornwort for my Neo tank, who'd you source that from?

[TeeJay]

On 8/4/2022 at 3:25 PM, BradleyH20 said:

Glad to see you finally have some shrimp and they're acclimating nicely. You might have shrimplettes much sooner than you anticipate. I had four females berried in less than 3 weeks after getting mine. I think it depends on the environment and I think you've done a good job with yours. 

I need to get me some hornwort for my Neo tank, who'd you source that from?

It was actually a very small bit that came with my bladder snails a couple of months ago. And just from that one bit I have grown enough for my shrimp tank and my Cory tank.

[TeeJay]

A couple of new pics from the tank today.

[BradleyH20]

Very nice bro! Looking great! I'll have to find some online I guess...The Co-op hasn't had any for a minute. 

[TeeJay]

Not much new exciting news to report. Did add a floating water sprite to the mix. Just enjoying the Cory's having a tank all to themselves. I think the next time we have a low pressure front and rain I'll try a cool water change to see if that stimulates any action. I keep the tank set at about 77 so I'll try a 2 degree difference when I do.

[nabokovfan87]

I was doing some research that said the "water change" might be replicating PH swings.  Some people use dosing to try to trigger activity as well.  It might be something to dig into if you ever have struggles.

You'll get there. You're doing everything right. 🙂

[TeeJay]

On 8/4/2022 at 6:16 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I was doing some research that said the "water change" might be replicating PH swings.  Some people use dosing to try to trigger activity as well.  It might be something to dig into if you ever have struggles.

You'll get there. You're doing everything right. 🙂

Half of the fun is in the learning and trying.  I'm sure as well the longer they are in there just by themselves that will def help with spawning. Nobody zipping around the tank to bother them. I think they are already getting used to it. The don't dart and hide nearly as much as they used to.

[Rusty Sprinkler]

Hoping Im not butting in, but sounds like your trying to spawn your paleatus ???? Ive had best luck keeping water temp cooler than 75 degrees, 72-74 degrees for paleatus. Also mine never laid large bunches of eggs at a time, 7 or 8 here and there at a time. I keep 4 females and 2 males per breeding group. The biggest challenge for me is plaeatus are notorious egg eaters ! My groups will eat eggs as fast as the female is laying them ! So its possible they are spawning and eating eggs during lights off leaving you never to see an egg. Something you can try is cool water change 4 degrees lower than tank temp., then 1/2 hr before lights out feed them heavy frozen blood worms or frozen brine shrimp enough for them to feed during the night, when your lights come on in the morning they should spawn. be ready to collect the eggs as they lay them. I found it very hard to get eggs with paleatus its a timing thing. Aneaus however are much more easy and lay hundreds of eggs at a time. Good luck with your venture !

[TeeJay]

On 8/4/2022 at 7:33 PM, Rusty Sprinkler said:

Hoping Im not butting in, but sounds like your trying to spawn your paleatus ???? Ive had best luck keeping water temp cooler than 75 degrees, 72-74 degrees for paleatus. Also mine never laid large bunches of eggs at a time, 7 or 8 here and there at a time. I keep 4 females and 2 males per breeding group. The biggest challenge for me is plaeatus are notorious egg eaters ! My groups will eat eggs as fast as the female is laying them ! So its possible they are spawning and eating eggs during lights off leaving you never to see an egg. Something you can try is cool water change 4 degrees lower than tank temp., then 1/2 hr before lights out feed them heavy frozen blood worms or frozen brine shrimp enough for them to feed during the night, when your lights come on in the morning they should spawn. be ready to collect the eggs as they lay them. I found it very hard to get eggs with paleatus its a timing thing. Aneaus however are much more easy and lay hundreds of eggs at a time. Good luck with your venture !

That's def a good idea. I'll plan on trying that the night before I have a day off work so I can be here to watch out for eggs. If so I have a breeder box I put on the tank to keep them in while they hatch.

[nabokovfan87]

On 8/4/2022 at 4:33 PM, Rusty Sprinkler said:

I keep 4 females and 2 males per breeding group.

I try to have more females also.  I've heard others recommending the opposite, so it seems like both works well enough.
 

On 8/4/2022 at 4:33 PM, Rusty Sprinkler said:

Something you can try is cool water change 4 degrees lower than tank temp., then 1/2 hr before lights out feed them heavy frozen blood worms or frozen brine shrimp enough for them to feed during the night, when your lights come on in the morning they should spawn. be ready to collect the eggs as they lay them. I found it very hard to get eggs with paleatus its a timing thing.

Have you played with the time when you do water changes and spacing things out before the lights go out?  One of the things for me that I've been trying to do is exactly what you're discussing whenever the "weather looks good" or a storm is on the way.  Barometric pressure is a difficult one to get right for sure.  The other issue I've had is the bloodworms being too big based on brand. Just a weird issue to have happen and I can't locally find any of the smaller worms.  Mysis is the new one I'm trying to get heavy protein into them.

[TeeJay]

Yes I could never seem to find any. I just got lucky with my snails. I been looking for suswassertang as well with not much luck. And even if I could it would be to hard to order right now with how hot it is in Ohio. Any future plants I may order will have to be put on hold until at least end of September. Unless I want a pile of mush in a box when they arrive.

[Brandon p]

I how long have they been together? One trick I use is to add a small wonder shell after the cool water change. I’m normally one the same page as @nabokovfan87 but I don’t think more females than males is the right way to go. Plecos it’s good to do that but I disagree with doing that with corys

[Rusty Sprinkler]

On 8/4/2022 at 8:42 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I try to have more females also.  I've heard others recommending the opposite, so it seems like both works well enough.
 

 In my case I noticed the spawning female picks a male to spawn with, the males that were not spawning ate the most eggs..maybe they felt left out LOL, So I figured 2 males offered a choice for the female but less hungry males with nothing to do but eat eggs. Also this is with established breeding groups with selected males and females.

 

[TeeJay]

I have had them for 2 months now. I usually don't like to use wonder shells since I have very very hard water straight out of the tap.

[Guppysnail]

Interestingly enough the largest spawn I had from my Pygmy and the only one they laid on the glass went like this

I fed live BBS and smooshed a hikari tubifex cube cube low on the glass in “their clubhouse” area. That I do often. 
 

I did a large water change since it was that day for all tanks. That tank runs 74-75. In-going water was 72-73. I forgot to turn the hob back on and the canister flow was restricted very low. I also have ugf so it did not affect parameters. 
 

I was feeding sera micron to that tank for CPD fry as some fish may not spawn unless food for fry is already present. 
 

I woke up to the front glass polluted with Pygmy eggs. 
 

2-3 boys to one girl are the ratios I have found with albino, panda and Pygmy to be best to get them to spawn. 
 

I had my Pygmy for 8 months before I seen any spawning activity. Now the do it pretty regularly but lay on leaves. I have only had 2 survivors that I know of in the tank. 

Edited August 5, 2022 by Guppysnail

[Brandon p]

On 8/5/2022 at 6:39 AM, TeeJay said:

I have had them for 2 months now. I usually don't like to use wonder shells since I have very very hard water straight out of the tap.

I have super hard water but it helps to spawn my fish. I put them in last week and within 1 some angels layed by day 3 all 6 pairs angels had laid and the aeneus corys laid a few eggs but they are so old they lay very few and the pandas laid. The Sterbai did not. 
you are way to earlier to be breeding.

 

You are way to early to be breeding most likely

It takes 9 -12 months for paleatus corys to really be ready to breed.  I would say that for many corys. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 8/4/2022 at 9:14 PM, TeeJay said:

Yes I could never seem to find any. I just got lucky with my snails. I been looking for suswassertang as well with not much luck. And even if I could it would be to hard to order right now with how hot it is in Ohio. Any future plants I may order will have to be put on hold until at least end of September. Unless I want a pile of mush in a box when they arrive.

Try to find mom & pop LFS, you may be surprised what they carry.

[TeeJay]

So I came home from work today and found a surprise. We have a mystery snail clutch on the tank glass. So I whipped up a quick incubator for them and got that floating in the tank. This is my first time trying to hatch snails so I'm exited for this. 

As well I have a 2.5 gal tank I'm going to set up for them to grow out in.so now I know flotsam and jetsam are a pair! Wasn't quite sure if they were both male or both female so now we know.

[Ken Burke]

On 8/5/2022 at 7:02 AM, Brandon p said:

I have super hard water but it helps to spawn my fish. I put them in last week and within 1 some angels layed by day 3 all 6 pairs angels had laid and the aeneus corys laid a few eggs but they are so old they lay very few and the pandas laid. The Sterbai did not. 
you are way to earlier to be breeding.

 

You are way to early to be breeding most likely

It takes 9 -12 months for paleatus corys to really be ready to breed.  I would say that for many corys. 

I’m with Brandon here.  The trick here is feed them well, keep the water clean, give it time.

[nabokovfan87]

On 8/4/2022 at 11:42 PM, Brandon p said:

I’m normally one the same page as @nabokovfan87 but I don’t think more females than males is the right way to go. Plecos it’s good to do that but I disagree with doing that with corys

EH.... let me elaborate. I want to have 2-3 females so that one doesn't get harassed too much. beyond that, I just don't worry about it. It's a colony and not a specific breeding for profit setup right now.  With my black corys, I don't have enough. (1 female, 2 males) Over 2 years I've gotten 1 spawn and 2 fry to full size.  It's not easy when you lose the female, ever.

[Brandon p]

On 8/5/2022 at 9:43 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

EH.... let me elaborate. I want to have 2-3 females so that one doesn't get harassed too much. beyond that, I just don't worry about it. It's a colony and not a specific breeding for profit setup right now.  With my black corys, I don't have enough. (1 female, 2 males) Over 2 years I've gotten 1 spawn and 2 fry to full size.  It's not easy when you lose the female, ever.

The issue with that is you may get more eggs but the chances are that the eggs will not be fertile, one male has a hard time fertilizing several females.
This for plateaus corys other types are similar.

 
“The males initiate the courtship ritual, which entails chasing the females around the tank. The female darts away, and the males search for her and find her a few moments later. The males shiver all over the female and may lie down on top of her. When she is ready to spawn, she turns to the male next to her and pounds below his ventral fin. The pair go into the "T-position" with the male releasing the sperm into the female's mouth before the sperm fertilizes the eggs. The female cups her ventral fins and lays a few eggs (usually between 4 and 12 eggs in her her fins.

  After depositing a group of eggs closely together, the female rests for a few moments. The males regroup and start chasing each other and then resume chasing the female. The males are so relentless in this pursuit that they try to mate with the female even while she is busy laying her eggs. The spawning lasts more than an hour, and many eggs are laid in different places. On average, about 50 to 150 eggs are laid during a single spawning“

Haveing more males is part of the natural breeding behavior so I would not suggest have it the other way around. If you buy a group an the numbers just turn out that way they do but to have the best breeding in a more male tank configuration.

I see a lot of people having issues breeding corys and one the things I see is the tank is not heavily planted. I have the best luck when a tank is over planted. Second is constant water conditions and at breeding time the water changes and so on. Find parameters that you can keep steady is more important than constantly adjusting to fit the numbers. They time you would have to do that is with wild caught fish.

[Ken Burke]

I’m mostly with @Brandon p here.  The males do initiate courtship, but if you have one or two males it can work even if there are more females.