Coffee with Teejay

[Guppysnail]

One critters unwanted me is another snails feast 🤗

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Shrimpies are out and about and it looks like they are having a good time.

[anitstuk]

They must like to explore!

[TeeJay]

I have been thinking about this ever since I got my paleatus Cory's almost 2 months ago. I have fallen in love with there personalities. 

I have bred guppy's for awhile now but let's be honest there's not much to getting them going. Stable water and good food and your off to the races. 

I have never tried egg layers before so I know this is going to bring a whole new element into this adventure. I'm starting with a group of 6 Cory's. From the best I can tell I think I have 2 males and 4 females. I may try and get a couple more before I get really going into full breeding.

Im not looking to do this for profit really. I would mostly just like to be able to supply my own Cory's for my other tanks.

It's a 10 gal that is established and been set up for 6 months. I'm running a small co op sponge filter and a tidal 35 hob. It's planted with a couple small Anubias, a small flame sword and one java Fern wind. The only other tank mates are some bladder snails from the one and only @Guppysnail.

I'm nervous but excited to try this just because of going from live bearers to egg layers. But from the help I have received from many on here so far I think it's something I have a fair chance at having success with. So I hope you will follow along with me on this new adventure. Below is a pic of the tank setup as of right now.

[TeeJay]

As I was sitting here thinking about the new adventure I thought hmmm I wonder if the bladder snails would snack on the Cory eggs before I would get a chance to put them into a separate container. I'm still researching there spawning habits. My concern would be if they lay eggs overnight and the snails got to them before I was awake. I know I don't want to get rid of the snails. As with many things in life there are always more questions than answers.

[Guppysnail]

I have been able to collect eggs from the front glass once. I have seen one baby Pygmy. Mine spawn but it’s a community tank so I’m uncertain who eats them. I’m definitely following this journey. It sounds like wonder fun. 

[nabokovfan87]

hehe.... @Guppysnailcan correct me if I'm wrong, but I'll poke a little fun at snails.  I think they would be too slow to get them all or to get a majority of them in time. 

I haven't had any of the pygmy corydoras yet, but in stuff I've seen with orange lasers, my black corys, pandas, julii's, etc.  They usually lay a massive amount of eggs or they lay pockets all over the tank in small clumps of 3-10 eggs.  You'll see them in a few spots and the snails might get a few, if any, but generally I don't think they'd take all the eggs down overnight. 

Last spawn I had, the actual water flow, algae, and the plecos went to town on the eggs. 

If you check every night for behavior, check each morning when you feed... If you're trying really hard to get a good spawn, that would be sufficient.

[TeeJay]

On 7/28/2022 at 10:15 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

hehe.... @Guppysnailcan correct me if I'm wrong, but I'll poke a little fun at snails.  I think they would be too slow to get them all or to get a majority of them in time. 

I haven't had any of the pygmy corydoras yet, but in stuff I've seen with orange lasers, my black corys, pandas, julii's, etc.  They usually lay a massive amount of eggs or they lay pockets all over the tank in small clumps of 3-10 eggs.  You'll see them in a few spots and the snails might get a few, if any, but generally I don't think they'd take all the eggs down overnight. 

Last spawn I had, the actual water flow, algae, and the plecos went to town on the eggs. 

If you check every night for behavior, check each morning when you feed... If you're trying really hard to get a good spawn, that would be sufficient.

Ok good deal I didn't figure they could get them all. I'm not trying to get a massive turnout. Just trying to get enough to make another nice group or 2 for my other tanks. If it turns out well I would consider setting up a new bigger tank to just breed more for maybe a bit of profit. Ya know to help buy fish food and plants!

 

 

 

[Guppysnail]

On 7/28/2022 at 10:15 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Guppysnailcan correct me if I'm wrong, but I'll poke a little fun at snails.  I think they would be too slow to get them all or to get a majority of them in time. 

Yes this imagery is quite fun 😁

the reality is when they start breeding there are lots of them. Any other snail would be slow. A single bladder snail can lap a 20 long in 10 minutes or less. Those guys are fast unlike other snails.
 Most bladder snails in my tanks stay in the substrate during daylight when young. Flip the light on after dark and the glass and plants are covered. 
I have had baby a Pygmy show up in the parent tank so they don’t get them all you are correct but if you are trying to maximize it would be a problem. I tank breed and don’t remove the eggs. My goal is to have an environment where a few young survive therefore keeping the population going not necessarily growing enough to sell. It’s more an amusement thing for me. So over the time it takes for them to hatch most get eaten by something.

Teejay for what you are doing I think you will be fine collecting in the morning. If you were breeding for profit then you would need be concerned about the few that get eaten. 

[Ken Burke]

@TeeJay if your serious about breeding corydoras you’ll want 2 males per female.  I don’t collect the eggs from my corys, but provide lots of hidey spots for babies.  They are fairly easy to breed, once you get them to adult size.  Good luck

[TeeJay]

On 7/28/2022 at 10:29 PM, Guppysnail said:

Yes this imagery is quite fun 😁

the reality is when they start breeding there are lots of them. Any other snail would be slow. A single bladder snail can lap a 20 long in 10 minutes or less. Those guys are fast unlike other snails.
 Most bladder snails in my tanks stay in the substrate during daylight when young. Flip the light on after dark and the glass and plants are covered. 
I have had baby a Pygmy show up in the parent tank so they don’t get them all you are correct but if you are trying to maximize it would be a problem. I tank breed and don’t remove the eggs. My goal is to have an environment where a few young survive therefore keeping the population going not necessarily growing enough to sell. It’s more an amusement thing for me. So over the time it takes for them to hatch most get eaten by something.

Teejay for what you are doing I think you will be fine collecting in the morning. If you were breeding for profit then you would need be concerned about the few that get eaten. 

This true I have watched those little buggers cruse around the tank at a pretty good pace. I have quite a few. Enough to where I could start to smoosh some for the fish to snack on as well. 

On 7/28/2022 at 10:38 PM, Ken Burke said:

@TeeJay if your serious about breeding corydoras you’ll want 2 males per female.  I don’t collect the eggs from my corys, but provide lots of hidey spots for babies.  They are fairly easy to breed, once you get them to adult size.  Good luck

Good to know. I still have to really look closely at the group I have to make sure I know exactly what ratio I have. If need be I don't mind it buying a few more of whatever sex I need to help give me the best chances of a spawn. Yes I'm serious about wanting to breed some but it's not for profit. My main objective it's to mostly learn there spawning habits and behaviors and what to expect. I would consider it a success if I could raise up a dozen or so fry.

 

 

 

[Ken Burke]

On 7/28/2022 at 9:40 PM, TeeJay said:

This true I have watched those little buggers cruse around the tank at a pretty good pace. I have quite a few. Enough to where I could start to smoosh some for the fish to snack on as well. 

Good to know. I still have to really look closely at the group I have to make sure I know exactly what ratio I have. If need be I don't mind it buying a few more of whatever sex I need to help give me the best chances of a spawn. Yes I'm serious about wanting to breed some but it's not for profit. My main objective it's to mostly learn there spawning habits and behaviors and what to expect. I would consider it a success if I could raise up a dozen or so fry.

 

 

 

That’s a good goal.  

[TeeJay]

Good morning everyone. Just got up for my morning coffee and to check on our shrimpy friends. And try a light feeding. So far I have tried 3 different times with the shrimpy sticks or a micro alge wafer to see if I can get them to come to the glass feeding dish for family breakfast. I have only been able to get 2 to come to the dish once so far. I am pretty sure where they came from they were not used to this type of feeding. So it may take awhile to get them used to it 

They have plenty of other things to snack on other than that so I am not concerned. With each day they get a bit more active and more out and about. They definitely enjoy grazing on the drift wood. They didn't go after the carrot for there first time with veggies. So flotsam and jetsam the mysteries snails took care of that. Tomorrow we.will try some zucchini or green pepper and see how that goes.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 7/28/2022 at 9:12 PM, TeeJay said:

tidal 35 hob

Can't tell from the pic, but do you have a prefilter sponge?  Wouldn't want any little ones to get slurped!

On 7/28/2022 at 9:29 PM, TeeJay said:

I wonder if the bladder snails would snack on the Cory eggs

You could always keep the bladder snails in a breeder box with a lid.  You'd need to drop in some food for them, but that would solve the problem, just until the eggs hatch.

[TeeJay]

On 7/29/2022 at 8:32 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Can't tell from the pic, but do you have a prefilter sponge?  Wouldn't want any little ones to get slurped!

You could always keep the bladder snails in a breeder box with a lid.  You'd need to drop in some food for them, but that would solve the problem, just until the eggs hatch.

That's true. I don't think I would be able to get them all into a breeder box but even if I could get the majority of them into one. It would definitely increase my chances of egg survival. And make a couple of spawning mops to help the cause.

[TeeJay]

On 7/29/2022 at 8:38 AM, TeeJay said:

That's true. I don't think I would be able to get them all into a breeder box but even if I could get the majority of them into one. It would definitely increase my chances of egg survival. And make a couple of spawning mops to help the cause.

No unfortunately that's the tidal 35 so I haven't come up with a way to block of the skimmer type intake that that particular filter has on it. I think I saw someone that has been doing a journal on kids for it I'm tryin to find it.

[TeeJay]

The plan for today is to move the guppy's that are in the tank with the Cory's into my 29 gal guppy tanks this way it's only the Cory's and bladder snails. As well I need to access and see what my male/female ratio is. Good mg to check in with my lfs and see if they have more Cory's in stock in case I need to get a few more to make a good ratio for breeding. My plan is to give them at least 4-6 weeks after making it a species only tank before I actively try to start spawning. As well I want to do more research on the spawning process before I get really going.

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/29/2022 at 10:22 AM, TeeJay said:

As well I need to access and see what my male/female ratio is.

I wouldn't worry about it.  As long as you have 2-3 females (they are typically just bigger size, but there are other ways to tell) then you'll be fine.

Especially in this type of a colony breeding setup, you just provide the fish what they like and watch them do their thing.  It's not meant as a race or a speed contest.  I never would've imagined mine doing what they did and it just happened because they liked the tank 🙂

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 7/29/2022 at 10:24 AM, TeeJay said:

No unfortunately that's the tidal 35 so I haven't come up with a way to block of the skimmer type intake that that particular filter has on it.

Yeah I looked on this chart but the tidal 35 sure isn’t on there.
 

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/faqs/which-pre-filter-sponge-should-i-get

Maybe @nabokovfan87 can help. He keeps filter diagrams in his back pocket.

 

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/29/2022 at 11:07 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

He keeps filter diagrams in his back pocket.

Just sent him one.

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/29/2022 at 7:24 AM, TeeJay said:

No unfortunately that's the tidal 35 so I haven't come up with a way to block of the skimmer type intake that that particular filter has on it.

Take a piece of AC 75 or AC 110 foam block and cut that to size.  Just something like this 🙂

[Odd Duck]

You can try nestling the dish into the gravel so there isn’t an “invisible wall” blocking their entry into the dish.  Once they figure it out it doesn’t need to be sunken, but starting with it sunk down will likely speed up their acceptance of the dish,

[TeeJay]

So just got done with a water change on the Cory cats tank. Figured since I was moving the guppy's out of there over to the 29gal tank I would get that done as well. And always a bit easier to catch fish when the water level is lower. Or at least I tell myself that lol

But it's all changed and now the Cory's can get back to there regular activities. As well I cleaned out the tidal 35 and increased the flow a little bit since the guppy's are no longer in there. Going to check the full moon cycle and when the next low pressure front is coming in and I will do a cool water change to see if that stimulates and spawning activity. As well thanks to everyone who has given me some pointers on getting started in the right direction especially @nabokovfan87 and @Brandon p

[TeeJay]

On 7/29/2022 at 5:08 PM, Odd Duck said:

You can try nestling the dish into the gravel so there isn’t an “invisible wall” blocking their entry into the dish.  Once they figure it out it doesn’t need to be sunken, but starting with it sunk down will likely speed up their acceptance of the dish,

Oh that's a great idea. I never even thought of that. I'll give that a try this evening when I give them and the mystery snails some zucchini for the first time.

[TeeJay]

Now that they have calmed down a bit from the water change and taking the guppy's out let's see some pics. Again the camera on my phone stinks so bare with me. From best I can tell I believe I have 2 females and 4 males but still not quite sure. But I think I should be able to get a small spawn or two to get started. And tonight for dinner it will be repashy grub pie!

Edited July 29, 2022 by TeeJay