One more cory breeding question

[tolstoy21]

Ok, so my Sterbai tend to lay eggs in clusters. When this happens, what does one do?

What I'm noticing is that viable are eggs stuck in a mass of non-viable eggs and this is becoming a bit of a problem if any of those eggs begins to fungus.

Is this normal with this species? Is there an easy fix for this? Alder cones? Meth blue? Separation?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Guppysnail]

I have had luck rolling my Aspidora egg clumps gently. Oh so gently.  Between my wet fingers. They come away from each other the same way they come off the glass. 
 

Secondly I’ve used the Ziss tumbler. That seems to keep the fungus from spreading to much but it’s not ideal and definitely does not maximize yield. 

[nabokovfan87]

Common advice I've heard is two fold.  First, make sure you're feeding enough protein for the females to develop the eggs properly.  Second, make sure there's more males in the tank to ensure the eggs get fertilized.  You should be able to cut the tip of a pipette and use that to pull apart eggs one a time, but I know it's not as easy as it could be.  Some species have really sticky eggs.

[Rube_Goldfish]

While I've never done it myself, I've heard of folks using Neocaridina shrimp as "nurse" or "tender" shrimp in whatever breeder box or tank you have the eggs in. Supposedly they'll clean off the fungus and (I think) even eat the infertile eggs while otherwise ignoring the fertile eggs.

[Guppysnail]

On 9/17/2023 at 9:31 AM, Rube_Goldfish said:

While I've never done it myself, I've heard of folks using Neocaridina shrimp as "nurse" or "tender" shrimp in whatever breeder box or tank you have the eggs in. Supposedly they'll clean off the fungus and (I think) even eat the infertile eggs while otherwise ignoring the fertile eggs.

I have done this and it works fine for me. I’ve never counted the fertile eggs going in vs the fry that make it though so I’m not certain if any viable eggs become casualties. I also only use a few shrimp. I would not trust putting them in a shrimp tank. 

[tolstoy21]

On 9/17/2023 at 9:37 AM, Guppysnail said:

I have done this and it works fine for me. I’ve never counted the fertile eggs going in vs the fry that make it though so I’m not certain if any viable eggs become casualties. I also only use a few shrimp. I would not trust putting them in a shrimp tank. 

Well I'm in luck then because right next to their tank is a tank full of neocaridina shrimp!

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 9/16/2023 at 11:54 PM, tolstoy21 said:

Ok, so my Sterbai tend to lay eggs in clusters. When this happens, what does one do?

What I'm noticing is that viable are eggs stuck in a mass of non-viable eggs and this is becoming a bit of a problem if any of those eggs begins to fungus.

Is this normal with this species? Is there an easy fix for this? Alder cones? Meth blue? Separation?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I use IALs and I try to separate the fungused ones as best as I can, and put the inseparable ones in my shrimp tank. 

[tolstoy21]

I figured out why they are so clumped up, and it's because of my spawning mops. 

It would seem that when the corys lay eggs in the mops, the fibers from the mops become sort of tangle up with the eggs and combine with their natural stickiness to bind them together.

I figured this out because I was looking at the egg clumps with a magnifying glass and was like "What's are these thin green threads attaching the eggs to one another?"  Meanwhile, anything laid on the glass does not suffer the same problem.

I have since stopped using the mops as the corys seems content laying eggs on the glass just as much as the mops.

Edited September 22, 2023 by tolstoy21

[Ken Burke]

They also like to hide them under plant leaves. I don’t think I’ve ever seen panda eggs on the glass, but babies appear like magic.