lmhicks101 Posted January 2, 2023 Share Posted January 2, 2023 (edited) So I came down stairs today to find my cories going crazy. Sat down and saw the bigger one up against the glass and was like well I guess she’s hungry and went to get them their food but realized there were eggs on the glass and they’re breeding. This tank is my guppy breeding tank (my 5 year old calls it the Gumpy house) and it’s just them, a couple emerald Cory’s, and a few ottos. Are the eggs okay and how do I know they’re fertilized? I’ve only bread guppies and my Pygmy Cory’s. (The Pygmy’s were accidental and I only noticed later when I had more than I started with). This tank is my natural tank that I only change the filter on and add top off with water. I only change the water when I see the need for it or someone’s sick. To many small fry swimming around and the females hide in the top leaves of the Amazon. I used to change every other week 20% but it stressed them out and they died. Not worth it when everyone’s healthy and happy. PS - I’ve been reading up and it’s mentioning the T pose is the breeding and just saw an emerald and albino in the pose. Guess they’re cross breeding. Sorry for the bad picture quality. When I realized what they’re doing, I stayed away and took zoomed in pics. Edited January 2, 2023 by lmhicks101 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSwissAquarist Posted January 2, 2023 Share Posted January 2, 2023 Do you have a small container you can setup with an airstone for them? Gently remove the eggs from the glass/decorations through a rolling motion and deposit the eggs in there. @nabokovfan87 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmhicks101 Posted January 2, 2023 Author Share Posted January 2, 2023 I do. I’m waiting for them to be done with all the shenanigans. Are the fry hard to raise? There’s about 40-50 eggs right now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted January 2, 2023 Share Posted January 2, 2023 On 1/2/2023 at 7:05 AM, lmhicks101 said: This tank is my guppy breeding tank (my 5 year old calls it the Gumpy house) and it’s just them, a couple emerald Cory’s, and a few ottos. Are the eggs okay and how do I know they’re fertilized? I’ve only bread guppies and my Pygmy Cory’s. (The Pygmy’s were accidental and I only noticed later when I had more than I started with). Look at the eggs themselves. Solid white usually means it's a dud. If you see an egg that's translucent it could be one that bursted open or was infertile as well. Generally you'll see "something" when you look at the egg. An outer wall with an inner wall, usually something opaque with detail inside of some kind. On 1/2/2023 at 7:23 AM, lmhicks101 said: I do. I’m waiting for them to be done with all the shenanigans. Are the fry hard to raise? There’s about 40-50 eggs right now. I would recommend just letting the eggs do their thing. If anything, add rocks or something for the fry to hide in / around. I generally use moss for this. You have a really heavily planted tank, but something like a hairgrass/microsword/s.repens forest is what the fry are looking for. Something where they can hide all day, pop out at night to search for food. It doesn't really take much, but just that little tweak might really up your success rate here. I do expect a few to always survive a spawn, usually 1-3 is the common number. If you have hiding spots you might get 3-10+ To clarify that last bit, I mean "if you have a lot of good hiding spots" The final task is just making sure there is mulm / food for them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmhicks101 Posted January 2, 2023 Author Share Posted January 2, 2023 On 1/2/2023 at 12:37 PM, nabokovfan87 said: The final task is just making sure there is mulm / food for them. I have some s/repens starting in the front, dwarf swords on the side, a large pirate ship near the middle, and baby wendti I just planted in the back. I don’t have any mulm in the tank that I can tell but I do feed frozen baby brine and powdered bug bite food for the baby guppies. I also do the frozen emerald entre which is spiralla, brine, and other goodies. I’m thinking of getting a colony of black worms started in there. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theplatymaster Posted January 3, 2023 Share Posted January 3, 2023 On 1/2/2023 at 4:13 PM, lmhicks101 said: I have some s/repens starting in the front, dwarf swords on the side, a large pirate ship near the middle, and baby wendti I just planted in the back. I don’t have any mulm in the tank that I can tell but I do feed frozen baby brine and powdered bug bite food for the baby guppies. I also do the frozen emerald entre which is spiralla, brine, and other goodies. I’m thinking of getting a colony of black worms started in there. Some advice would be to tank some sponge from a filter, whether its a sponge filter, HOB, canister, it doesnt really matter. Than once the eggs hatch, squeeze that sponge into the fry container. It will look dirty, but it will really be full of tiny detritivores the fry can eat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmhicks101 Posted January 3, 2023 Author Share Posted January 3, 2023 @Theplatymaster I had planaria not long ago so I dosed my tank and all my plants with the no planaria and only the Ramshorns survived. I just recently could start putting assassins back in there. I wish I could get some detritice worms back in. My substrate is hth pool filter sand and I haven’t seen any in there or the sponges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theplatymaster Posted January 3, 2023 Share Posted January 3, 2023 On 1/3/2023 at 10:18 AM, lmhicks101 said: @Theplatymaster I had planaria not long ago so I dosed my tank and all my plants with the no planaria and only the Ramshorns survived. I just recently could start putting assassins back in there. I wish I could get some detritice worms back in. My substrate is hth pool filter sand and I haven’t seen any in there or the sponges. it doesnt matter if you see them, and its not just worms. They are very small and the fry will be able to eat them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmhicks101 Posted January 3, 2023 Author Share Posted January 3, 2023 @Theplatymaster gotcha. I’m going to leave the eggs in the main tank and go from there. I really didn’t have anything set up or ready for this. I’m guessing this started because I do tank top offs and feed crushed snails a lot. I’m super curious if the emeralds and albinos actually cross-bread and see if anything comes of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmhicks101 Posted January 3, 2023 Author Share Posted January 3, 2023 @Theplatymaster okay after looking more into mulm and ditritus, I now realize I was confusing it for something else. I have a good bit of mulm in the back of my tank. Every week when I top off the tank I pore a heavy amount of water in the front and sides to push it all in the back under the plants and next to the sponge intake of my HOB. I’ve always thought of it as simply fish waste and used it as fertilizer and didn’t think of the organisms in there. I still have a lot to learn. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMP Posted January 4, 2023 Share Posted January 4, 2023 I’ve had good luck raising Cory Cats in a tank by having moss or a thick grouping of plants near the surface for the babies to stay in. Even with well oxygenated water the Cory’s do like to break the surface for air. A deep tank is more difficult for the babies to do this in. I plant Java Moss on wood to support it near the water surface. Within 2 to 3 inches seems to work well. Using this method I was able to increase the number of survivors. Feeding the baby Cory is another challenge in a regular tank. Short of using a dedicated breeding tank I’ve had very good luck using a fish breeder net. I place it in the tank where it gets decent water circulation and put the Cory eggs in it after they harden up (at least a few hours). Once they hatch they will live off their yolk sack for a day or two. Using this method results in a higher survival rate. So if you don’t want a colony of Albino Cory’s in your tank, stick with leaving the eggs in the tank. You’ll think none survived and then one day these baby’s will just show up swimming with the bigger catfish. Very nice planted tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmhicks101 Posted January 4, 2023 Author Share Posted January 4, 2023 @JMP I’m not going to for this batch but in the future what’s the best method you’d found for removing the eggs off stuff to put them in another tank? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMP Posted January 4, 2023 Share Posted January 4, 2023 A single edge razor blade. The kind with the metal side for handling. Or the much safer (for you) option is To use an old credit card. The eggs are very sticky but they can drop when you remove them from the glass. I normally have a second person help by holding the net under the eggs when removing them to catch any that fall. The key is to be as gentle as you can removing the eggs from the glass. Then gently remove the eggs off the razor or card into the hatch out container. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmhicks101 Posted January 4, 2023 Author Share Posted January 4, 2023 On 1/4/2023 at 8:31 AM, JMP said: Then gently remove the eggs off the razor or card into the hatch out container. I have a few were the eggs are piled on each other. Any hope for them or they’re fine? It’s like a pile of 4-5. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMP Posted January 4, 2023 Share Posted January 4, 2023 On 1/4/2023 at 8:35 AM, lmhicks101 said: I have a few were the eggs are piled on each other. Any hope for them or they’re fine? It’s like a pile of 4-5. As long as they were fertilized they should hatch out ok. Attached is a picture of Albino Cory Eggs in one of my tanks. Mine typically lay them in groups like this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmhicks101 Posted January 4, 2023 Author Share Posted January 4, 2023 @JMP yep. That’s what the tank looks like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmhicks101 Posted January 20, 2023 Author Share Posted January 20, 2023 I got a baby Cory!!! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSwissAquarist Posted January 21, 2023 Share Posted January 21, 2023 On 1/20/2023 at 10:22 PM, lmhicks101 said: I got a baby Cory!!! Congratulations! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmhicks101 Posted January 21, 2023 Author Share Posted January 21, 2023 @TheSwissAquarist thank you. So far I only see the one but every weekend I come home I see a new batch on the side of the tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMP Posted January 21, 2023 Share Posted January 21, 2023 On 1/20/2023 at 3:22 PM, lmhicks101 said: I got a baby Cory!!! Congrats. From my experience with Albino Cory once they start breeding they keep going regularly like little Eveready battery bunnies. My group of Albino Cory started breeding about 15 years ago in a 29 gallon then got moved to a 75 gallon. I’ve been giving the juveniles away as the group gets big. Now I have them (about 30 adults) split between two 75 gallon tanks. The original big female lived over eight years. Good water parameters and diet will keep them breeding and living a long time. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theplatymaster Posted January 21, 2023 Share Posted January 21, 2023 On 1/21/2023 at 11:58 AM, lmhicks101 said: @TheSwissAquarist thank you. So far I only see the one but every weekend I come home I see a new batch on the side of the tank. Yeah mine breed weekly, i just always have trouble hatching the eggs. Im working on it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmhicks101 Posted January 22, 2023 Author Share Posted January 22, 2023 On 1/21/2023 at 6:48 PM, JMP said: I’ve been giving the juveniles away as the group gets big. Thank you. That’s why I chose not to take the eggs out or separate pregnant female guppies from the tank. If some live then great but I don’t want so many fish that I can’t get rid of them fast enough. On 1/21/2023 at 6:49 PM, Theplatymaster said: Yeah mine breed weekly, i just always have trouble hatching the eggs. Im working on it. Yeah. I travel for work and I’m only home on the weekends. Until now they’ve only lasted eggs on the last day I’m home but this time they did it a day before I got back. Looking at the eggs I can see about 50 of them but only about 5-10 are fertile. Another problem is the guppies are eating them from time to time. I do see a few hatched eggs though. Fingers crossed I’ll get a few out of this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birdsnstuff Posted January 22, 2023 Share Posted January 22, 2023 I own a restaurant. Every time I read Cory breading I think, well, what would a Cory taste like? 😆 But seriously yay for the baby Cory! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmhicks101 Posted January 22, 2023 Author Share Posted January 22, 2023 On 1/21/2023 at 7:38 PM, Birdsnstuff said: I own a restaurant. Every time I read Cory breading I think, well, what would a Cory taste like? 😆 But seriously yay for the baby Cory! Thank you. Probably like catfish lol 😂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 On 1/21/2023 at 4:38 PM, Birdsnstuff said: Every time I read Cory breading I think, well, what would a Cory taste like? Venomous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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