10g Breeding Projects

[Zeaqua]

Hi all! As some of you may have seen, I soon plan to move a breeding colony of pygmy corydoras from my last breeding project into a 40 breeder "species only" tank. Now that I'm moving them, I have a 10 gallon tank that I want to start a new breeding project in. I was considering trying either Corydoras Elegans,  Corydoras Hastatus (Dwarf Cory), some species of dwarf crayfish, or possibly an attempt to breed the shadow catfish, Hyalobagrus flavus. If anyone has any ideas, I'd really appreciate them, especially some oddball/less commonly bred fish!

[Fish Folk]

Well, I enjoy breeding nearly every species of freshwater fish . . . so LOTS of ideas come to mind!

You might enjoy trying some smaller, non-annual African Killifish. I find Fundulopanchax / Aphyosemion particularly attractive. You might like the Emerald Killifish (F. scheeli)...

OR the Aphyosemion striatum . . .

They have loads of colors! You'll just need mops or loads of java moss for them to spawn in. Fry will hatch. Parents generally leave them alone as long as you've got lots of cover for fry. Feed live BBS, nematodes, etc. for best results. You could easily breed these in a 10-gal.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Dwarf crayfish are essentially just bigger shrimp with claws. I was stoked on them when I first got them, but at this point they’re just big shrimp, lol. 

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 9/19/2023 at 2:44 PM, Zeaqua said:

really appreciate them, especially some oddball/less commonly bred fish!

Dwarf anchor cats ( @Guppysnail) or Pseudomugil rainbowfish. 

[Guppysnail]

On 9/20/2023 at 1:53 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Dwarf anchor cats ( @Guppysnail) or Pseudomugil rainbowfish. 

Yes anchor cats are great but they are not for most folks. They do not come out in daylight. So you rarely see them. 
Both psuedomugil luminatus and gertrudae I enjoy. 

[Comradovich]

Some considerations if you decide on Hastatus:

1. They're very seasonal. Right now, end of summer/early fall is about the only time you'll see some in shops. If you see some other times of year, either there's a local breeder or the wholesaler is down to the last of the tanks and discounted them. Thus, you want to make your decision quickly, or put that off until the end of next summer.

2. Wetspot sometimes has Hastatus, I think they've got some in now. Your other source is Aquabid. You rarely see them elsewhere. Aquabid is a bit like dealing with early Ebay, you'll need to familiarize yourself with the bidding and payment structure before you buy. Some of the buyers there aren't real patient with new users. A lot of sellers will send you paypal invoices, but some are still using postal money orders, which require you to visit the post office and buy/mail the MO to the seller before they'll ship. That last bit may be a non-starter for you, but know that anyone with over 100 positive feedback is usually a safe bet.

3. They're supposedly one of the harder pygmy cory species to breed.

4. As part of 3, you might need to get yourself some tetra to go into the tank. This might seem like an odd requirement, but you want the tetra species that look _*exactly*_ like hastatus. Hastatus are a mimic species, they shoal with fish that look like they do. The three species you want to consider are "Serapinnus Kreigi" (Kreigi Tetra), "Aphyocharax nattereri" (Dawn or Panda Tetra), and "Hyphessobrycon Elachys" (Reed or Veiltail Tetra). While these tetra are cheap, they're not real colorful, so it can sometimes be hard to find them. You might have enough hastatus to get them out and schooling in the mid-water without tetras. I've got 7 in a 20 H and they mostly hide in the back. I'm not sure if they'll calm down once they're no longer juveniles or if I'll have to bite the bullet on tetras. I'm in a "wait and see" mode. Rachel O'Leary had a video on Hastatus where she mentioned adding Tetras if you want confirmation. I don't think she told you which species to add, though. I had to do my own research.

 

If you want something closer to Pygmy corys in terms of breeding ability, look at Habrosus instead. I've got a school of 10 in with my Hastatus and they've decided to breed on their own long before I was going to try conditioning the Hastatus up. It's a nice surprise, but dang are they terrible at hiding eggs from other fish. Habrosus are prolific enough that I think Dan of Dan's Fish mentioned breeding them for college money. Maybe I'm mixing up my fish-tubers.

 

Triggers on all the dwarf/pygmy cory species are:

1. Presence of live/frozen foods. (Daphnia and blackworms seem like good choices here).

2. Soft water. (This can either be in a soft water change, or your house could be on a water softener system like mine is).

3. Storm front rolling into your area.

4. Cool water change as said storm front rolls into your area. (If you're on hard water, make this a cool and soft water change using R/O mix or the like).

You'll want to condition them up in the weeks before you intend to breed with some higher protein foods. Frozen daphnia and live blackworms pull double duty here. Once you see your females plump up, then you can start worrying about spawning triggers. Spawning is always one female chased by 1-2 males, with T-poses. You really can't miss it. If you see a small group motoring around the tank, see if it's one fat cory with two skinnier ones chasing it.

[Cinnebuns]

On 9/20/2023 at 12:53 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Dwarf anchor cats ( @Guppysnail) or Pseudomugil rainbowfish. 

Pseudomugil rainbowfish are very active so I personally wouldn't recommend them in a 10. They need space to dart around. 

They are sold out right now but I was tempted to try these I saw on Dan's fish. They might work!

https://dansfish.com/product.detail/4416/C123-Yellow-Cory-'Rio-Nanay'-(Corydoras-sp.-C123)

[beastie]

On 10/11/2023 at 9:51 AM, Cinnebuns said:

Pseudomugil rainbowfish are very active so I personally wouldn't recommend them in a 10

Agreed and not agreed. I have group of 10+fry luminatus in a 60x30x30 tank, so 13 gallon or so and they do just fine. They utilize the whole space of the tank top to bottom, hide in the plants, they dont seem unhappy about the lack of space, although how would I tell. A keeper here had them in a 200 liter tank, larger space and he said they were hidden all the time, not active at all. Once he moved them to a smaller tank, did they start to behave normally. May be there is a sweet spot that they need.

On the other hand, people recommend white cloud minnows for a 10 gallon tank and I have a group in 150 liters and they are super active and all over the place and I cant imagine them in a small tank. Unlike ember tetras, that do not utilize even third of my 120 cm long tank I have them in and mostly just sit in one spot. Those would do just fine in a 10 gallon. One might need to see experience from both sides to be able to fully tell

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 10/11/2023 at 10:18 AM, beastie said:

Once he moved them to a smaller tank, did they start to behave normally.

They come from shallow marshes in North Western Australia - may have something to do with it.