When to do cool water change for corys before a storm?

[KittenFishMom]

We are expecting a storm with low pressure on Friday. When should I do a cool water change to encourage the corys to spawn?

[The endler guy]

On 12/19/2022 at 12:17 PM, KittenFishMom said:

We are expecting a storm with low pressure on Friday. When should I do a cool water change to encourage the corys to spawn?

Don’t quote me, but I assume after/ during the storm, this is because the barometric pressure after a storm will simulate the rainy season (due to the ending of a storm simulating the end of a storm in their natural habitat)

 

I could be totally wrong, (especially because in the wild the rainy season last for months) but that is just what I think makes sense

 

anyway good luck! 

[rockfisher]

It won’t hurt I tend to drop it 5 degrees although I have hear of 10 degrees.  I think it depends on the amount of water you remove and add. I place my bucket on top shelf and have a hose connected to a pipe with small holes drilled in so it “rains” I’m not sure it helps and it may be more entertaining for me than does anything for the fish. After Hurricane Ian corys went crazy with the large pressure drop I thing.

[KittenFishMom]

@rockfisher I would guess the pressure has a great deal to do with it. People often comment that the corys spawn when it is raining outside. I think they must sense the pressure change.

We checked the barometer all the time when I was growing up. A tap or 2 told us more than the radio. We never took the sailboat out without checking the barometer.

[The endler guy]

You also could use ro rain water to simulate… well, rain water

[rockfisher]

@KittenFishMomi do believe the pressure has a lot to do with it. The temps changes help as well but I do  tried to wait until I know a front is going come through at least during dry season. I’m in a place that it rains every afternoon during the summer and I don’t think the pressure plays as big a role as the temp change in the summer here but I think that in most places if you match fronts with artificial rain/temp chance probably increase

[reefhugger]

On 12/19/2022 at 11:02 PM, rockfisher said:

hose connected to a pipe with small holes drilled in so it “rains”

What a splendid idea!

[KittenFishMom]

@Aiden Carter and @rockfisher I did a cool water change as the front hit this morning. The corys are spawning! out side temp dropped from 41 to 24 in about 1 hour. Windchill is 10 to 15 f now.

[nabokovfan87]

I would say try 24 hours before, with a heavy feeding that night. 

Say the storm is tomorrow, then I would do a big water change the day before, feed them at night a good meal, and then the storm hits in 8-12 hours after the big feed.

On 12/19/2022 at 9:37 PM, KittenFishMom said:

@rockfisher I would guess the pressure has a great deal to do with it. People often comment that the corys spawn when it is raining outside. I think they must sense the pressure change.

I can attest to this.  It's not a pure... it's raining and now they are showing behavior..... type of thing.  They have to be ready to and that can be one of the triggers.  I've had probably 4-5 storms where I had the window open, noise, even simulated noise during a storm outside (tablet near the tank), and they still were being stubborn with me.  It takes time.  Sometimes weeks to get some fish to spawn, and others it's ridiculously easy. 

Sometimes there is a water hardness component as well.  Water evaporates, hardness changes, new storm has a certain PH/KH/GH and that's the trigger as well as the temperature.

[KittenFishMom]

@nabokovfan87 Thanks. I did it this morning and the corys spawned, but the flagfish enjoyed the eggs. I sort figured they would. I hoped it was worth a try.

[nabokovfan87]

It happens.  What kind of corydoras?  My apologies if I should know this! 😞

[KittenFishMom]

@nabokovfan87 I also think baby brine shrimp and other high quality food help gets the eggs ready so they can spawn.

"9 women + 1 month = 1 baby" only works in a manager's mind when the manager wants to throw extra people at a project that is behind schedule. Prepping for spawning takes time to feed them to grow the eggs to the right stage for spawning. I stop hatching bbs when I was seeing hydra, and got out of the habit. 

[nabokovfan87]

Very, very true.

[KittenFishMom]

@nabokovfan87They are sweet peppered corys. The males are young and small and might not have mature ammunition to fertilize the eggs. Between the 2 tiny female flagfish cleaning the eggs off the glass, and the neon tetras hovering around the tank looking for fry and the big male betta looking for snack, the cards were stacked against the cory's eggs. I wanted to see if I could trigger a spawning and hope the flagfish might miss a few. There is a lot of java moss on the bottom of the tank, so it might have worked on paper, but I wasn't really expecting it to work in real life. And who knows, maybe one of the cory females hide a few eggs where the flagfish didn't find them. The tank is 21 inches deep, so the fry might not have been able to get to the surface without being gobbled. It was a long shot all the way around.

The hifin/long fins are really cool. I might try triggering a spawn and collecting eggs in the future, if I can line up a few homes for the fry ahead of time. Some of the little males have side fins reaching to their start of the tail. The flagfish seem to enjoy startling the big corys. The flagfish appear suddenly and the corys jump and swim a way for a few moments while the flagfish check out what the corys were trying to get out from under the snails. That reminds me, I will need to thin the snail sometime soon. The snails like the RO water with Equilibrium and the big wondershell.. 

Normally to thin the snails in the guppy tanks I put in a ladle with lots of small holes holding a single algae wafer. the snail would climb in to eat and I would lift them out. The problem is the corys are apt to eat the wafer before the snails get there. I was looking at using an empty spice bottle, but worry the silly kuhli loaches would get their head stuck in the holes. a clutch of snails hatched recently, and there are a bunch of tiny snail in the tank.

Edited December 24, 2022 by KittenFishMom