Pygmy Corydora breeding

[Neha]

I have a heavily planted tank with lots of christmas moss, java fern, dwarf hairgrass, and various cryts. The inhabitants are cherry shrimp, 4 amanos, and pygmy corys. Tank parameters are mid range gh, kh is very low but I'm working on it, pH is currently stable at 7.2 but I'm also struggling with this because of low kh.

Now the shrimp are breeding like crazy and the shrimplets are also growing up okay. I have seen several cory eggs, cory fry, but no juvenile corys. I feed the tank with Repashy community plus, frozen BBS, and frozen cyclops. I was hoping to see some juvenile corys but I don't know if they are dying or just not growing fast enough, even though the shrimps are?

I can't collect eggs and hatch and grow them out atm, but is there something I could do with the tank that will help cory fry survive?

[Theplatymaster]

move the cories till their own tank

[Cinnebuns]

My guess is the cory fry are being out competed by the shrimp. Adults don't necessarily compete with shrimp but the fry do. Especially pygmy who are extra tiny. For best success you may need to move the fry to another tank. The funny part is that cherry shrimp are actually amazing for keeping eggs alive but them they are direct competition for food for the fry. Fry are super hard to catch so I would probably pull eggs and put them in a breeder box with a few shrimp to nanny them. 

This actually gets me thinking about my own setup. I have a shrimp tank with cory eggs and fry. Right now it's not a big issue because the shrimp population is low but that won't be forever. Tbh, I might end up doing the breeder box thing too eventually. 

[Neha]

On 1/9/2023 at 9:21 PM, Cinnebuns said:

My guess is the cory fry are being out competed by the shrimp. Adults don't necessarily compete with shrimp but the fry do. Especially pygmy who are extra tiny. For best success you may need to move the fry to another tank. The funny part is that cherry shrimp are actually amazing for keeping eggs alive but them they are direct competition for food for the fry. Fry are super hard to catch so I would probably pull eggs and put them in a breeder box with a few shrimp to nanny them. 

This actually gets me thinking about my own setup. I have a shrimp tank with cory eggs and fry. Right now it's not a big issue because the shrimp population is low but that won't be forever. Tbh, I might end up doing the breeder box thing too eventually. 

That is some interesting bit of information! Shrimp nanny made me crack up😂 Do you have a suggestion for a breeder box that has minimal maintenance?

[Cinnebuns]

On 1/9/2023 at 8:28 PM, Neha said:

That is some interesting bit of information! Shrimp nanny made me crack up😂 Do you have a suggestion for a breeder box that has minimal maintenance?

I am very much in love with the fluval hang on breeder boxes. They work with an air pump. They basically extend your tank. It's also less chances of stuff going wrong like fry slipping through the slits and such.

[Neha]

On 1/9/2023 at 9:32 PM, Cinnebuns said:

I am very much in love with the fluval hang on breeder boxes. They work with an air pump. They basically extend your tank. It's also less chances of stuff going wrong like fry slipping through the slits and such.

Just ordered one, thanks!