First Spawn! Corydoras sterbai Finally

[kitty2234]

Hi Fish Friends,

I bought some beautiful adult Sterbai about a year ago. I could not catch them spawning or find any eggs. I finally put them into a long tank and only gave them 6" of water in it. They stayed there for around 5 months.

I went to a Tropical Fish auction on Saturday and bought a bunch of angelfish, so I took the corys out and put them into another large tank with several feet of water. They spawned today! Apparently moving them from low water to high water is the trigger.

Now I was forced to catch all the fish in that tank and move them into another tank. The babies will be very tiny and almost invisible for awhile. Now to wait and see if the cory remembered to fertilize the eggs and if they left any intact eggs on the walls.

kitty2234

 

[Chileno]

Good luck

 

[Coursair]

If you read Planet Catfish, most breeders do large PWCs , sometimes with cooler water to induce spawning and changing tanks will often trigger breeding. I don't think the level of water had much to do with it.

My club member breeds lots of Corydoras species. He does water changes and switches them to a different tank if that doesn't work. He also conditions his breeders with lots of live food. Frozen is second best.

 

[pip walters]

In the wild, Corys are stimulated to spawn during spring floods when the depth of water is increased and the temperature falls due to the influx of flood water, so it makes sense that both increase in depth and decrease in temperature of the aquarium when you add new water, will induce spawning. I spawned sterbai once by adding fresh, cooler water. Unfortunately, the fry died early on.

 

[kitty2234]

Hi Fish Friends,

Thanks for the help. I have tried water changes for over 6 months with no change. I have even tried applying cooler water during those water changes. The only thing that triggered them was putting them into a much taller and warmer tank.

kitty2234

 

[pip walters]

That is very interesting - could be to do with the increase in pressure that deeper water brings. When I bred them, I did keep the water level lower, then just added cooler (much cooler) water, rather than removing water and topping up. So perhaps increase in pressure due to water depth mimics an increase in atmospheric pressure that would occur before storms that cause flooding in the wild.

Fascinating thing nature

That's weird, I am on here under two names... how did that happen!!

 

[J.Mcpeak]

Add a large amount of water @ 17 C' approx 62 F'
Works every time.
It replicates the rainy season in the amazon, let the ph down a bit with the new stuff, rain is pure.

You can use this method every 6 weeks, allow females time to recover.

Move to a spawning tank first, after eggs have been laid return stock to main system. 20-50 fry is not unusual. Expect a few runts. Deal with these accordingly.
EDIT- this should say per female

Allow plenty of tanks to break the fry out into.

3 off, 60x30x30cm 2x1x1Ft will be fine for most broods.

This works for all corydoras sp.

You will need liquifry or similar food for egg layers.

The eggs will drop after 3-5 days. Start feed at this time, after two weeks you will see the fry, before this time look closely you will see small flecks like glass shooting up and down, allow for the fact these fish take oxygen gulps from the surface.

After about 15 days from initial deposit of eggs you can begin feeding larger food stuffs. Sinking catfish pellets ground in a pestle and mortar to fine dust will be ok. Once the fish reach 1inch 2.5cm treat as adult fish.

An open ended airline is sufficient filtration until adult stage.

Monitor water, for changes, syphon slowly from the uppermost portion of the fry tanks.

 

[J.Mcpeak]

Corydoras Paleatus spawning. In the T position, the male appears to shimmy on the spot. The male releases milt the female ingests this. Then produces and lays the eggs. Both females are on the left of this picture.

 

[J.Mcpeak]

Eggs from C. Paleatus.
The female cleans a spot then carefully places the eggs with her ventral fins.
Egg size approx 3mm.

 

[kitty2234]

Hi Everyone,

My Colony of Corys consists of 15! I had wanted to make sure that it would be worth it, to me, to raise the fry. My colony is keep in a 55 gallon. I will just have to move them to a different 55 for breeding. Does anyone know if they are likely to eat their newborns?

kitty2234

 

[J.Mcpeak]

Hi Everyone,

My Colony of Corys consists of 15! I had wanted to make sure that it would be worth it, to me, to raise the fry. My colony is keep in a 55 gallon. I will just have to move them to a different 55 for breeding. Does anyone know if they are likely to eat their newborns?

kitty2234

Read post #7 #8 #9

Yes they will, even if by accident. Once hatched from the eggs the new born fry are microscopic. Egg numbers diminish if they breed in the main system, I can't say for sure it was the corydoras as there were other fish present.