cory catfish

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Fish_fanatic

Aquarium Advice Activist
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How hard is it to breed cory catfish? I have been reading how other people have been breeding them...like guppyman... and they seem to be easy to care for. I have been breeding guppies for a while with no problem at all (not that it is very hard to do lol) how do you tell apart a male from a female? how many should you buy at a time? where do they usually lay eggs? and about how many do they lay? Any info or web sites would be appreciated.

Thanks :!:
 
Cory catfish are not hard to breed. The hardest part actually, is telling apart the sexes. Females seem to be a bit bigger with a more plump body, but this can usually only be seen wjen viewed from above.

Best bet is to get at least 5 or 6, and that will ensre you have both sexes. To induce the breeding process, cold water should be added to the aquarium, which is why it is always a good idea to set up a breeding tank and not disturb the rest of the fish in a community tank. When a male is ready to spawn, he can be seen speeding around the tank, occasionally stopping to rub against the female. When the spawning takes place, the female can release up to ten eggs. These eggs have a sticky coating, and will adhere to whichever surface the female has deemed to be the best. Eggs will hatch in approximately 3-5 days.

Also check out www.planetcatfish.com as they are a great resource for anything catfish related. Good luck!
 
is it better to let the eggs hatch in the same tank as the cory catfish, or to take them out?
 
Some people leave the eggs in the breeding tank, but I think the more popular thing to do is carefully scrape the eggs off the glass with a razor blade and place them in a seperate tank with water from the breeding tank. If you have a 2.5 or 5 gallon tank, that will work.
 
ok thanks, and one last thing. Does the water temp. have to drop for them to breed? And to what temp. should it drop to?
 
Usually a drop of about 5 degrees is sufficient, but these fish do tolerate cooler temps than most of the fish we keep them with, so you can drop it down to 70 degrees if they are alone, and some take it down into the mid 60s.
 
My tank was at 82 I dropped it to 76 with the addition of my hillstream loach that likes cooler water. I had 350 eggs from one breeding pair on dec 26th. I had temp at 82 for my cardinals.....

IF you leave them in the tank with other occupants they will be considered food.. I was loosing them at about 30 an hour from my guppies.

Another thing that promotes cory breeding that wasn't mentioned is the sound of running water so if you lower your water level it will pour the water into the tank...

Corys breed in the rainy season in their natural habitat..

also a few extra feedings promote sexing (the females get big) and when they are full and content they tend to breed...
 
also a few extra feedings promote sexing (the females get big) and when they are full and content they tend to breed...
Right! I have read about this kind of conditioning for cory cats. Fattening them up with special meaty treats seems to be helpful. I think the whole thing is best accomplished in a species tank. Cory cats are usually responsible for egg-eating among heterospecifics, but apparently they don't eat their own. Maybe Guppyman needs to chime in here, as he has the cory cat mojo!
 
Cory Breeding

TankGirl said:
Cory cats are usually responsible for egg-eating among heterospecifics, but apparently they don't eat their own. Maybe Guppyman needs to chime in here, as he has the cory cat mojo!

Hi, my observations are the following. If I have 10 Corys in a breeding tank and a pair start to lay and fertilize eggs, the remaining cats will eat the eggs as fast as they are laid. I have to chase them away until the breeding pair are finished. I don't remove them immediately because the spawning of one pair, oftentimes triggers the others to start.

After finally removing the others and giving the original breeding pair a few hours to completely finish you have to be very careful, as at that time they will start to eat the eggs they laid and fertilized as a mating pair. Timing is everything. If you remove them to early, they wind up laying more eggs in the tank you just moved them to. If you move them too late, it's bye-bye eggs.

Again, these are my personal observations during my limited Cory breeding experience. YMMV and probably will. :)

Did you see the macro photos of my cory fry in my Photo Gallery. Check them out - they're pretty cool! - Frank/Guppyman

P.S. As far as "conditioning goes, I have only one word of advice to offer: Blackworms! Blackworms!! Blackworms!!!
 
Cory Breeding

lmw80 said:
I think the more popular thing to do is carefully scrape the eggs off the glass with a razor blade and place them in a seperate tank with water from the breeding tank.

This is fine as long as you give the outer membrane of the eggs a chance to harden. If you don't you will end up with a razor blade full of mush as they will instantly be destroyed. This can take about an hour or two - again - in my limited experience. I prefer moving the parents, putting in 1 drop of Methyline Blue for each gallon of water and putting an airstone in close proximity to the eggs to provide good water circulation. - Guppyman
 
Thanks for all the info guys, looks like I will be setting up two more tanks lol. Would a ten gallon tank be big enough for 6-8 cory catfish? And how big of a tank would you need for the cory fry? Also is it easier to breed certain types of cory catfish rather than others?

Hey Guppyman, those cory fry are pretty cool, how long have you had them for, and what do you feed them?
 
Fish_fanatic said:
Would a ten gallon tank be big enough for 6-8 cory catfish?

Yes, that is a pefect size for breeding Corys.

And how big of a tank would you need for the cory fry?

You can keep 200-300 in a 10 G. until they are a couple of weeks old.

Also is it easier to breed certain types of cory catfish rather than others?

Certainly. the albino C. aeneus are probably the easiest to breed, followed by C. paleatus. All you have to do is feed them. :) Some require years of patience. Some species have never been bred in captivity.

Hey Guppyman, those cory fry are pretty cool, how long have you had them for, and what do you feed them?

They are now about one week+ old. I feed them nothing for the first 3 days as they are born with a yolk sac which takes that long for them to absorb. Putting food in the tank for the first 3 days will only foul the water as they are unable to ingest it. I feed bbs starting on day 4 and powdered flake food about day 8. Please realize that they are also grazing on plants and animals that you are unable to see with the naked eye which are on the glass and bottom of the tank. Get out your microscope and you'll be very surprised at all the creatures that live harmoniously with your fish. All part of the food chain. Hope this helps. - Frank/Guppyman
 
Thanks alot for all your help Guppyman, but i have one more question lol. should there be a filter in either tank? cause there will only be 8 corys in one tank and the other tank has babies which might get sucked up. Do you use filters or just water changes

Thanks
 
Corys

Fish_fanatic said:
babies which might get sucked up. Do you use filters or just water changes.

Sponge filters, good. Box or HOB filters - bad. Very bad.

I use neither. They will get into the box filters and grow too large to get out - very quickly - as it's a great feeding ground. I don't have any sponge filters - or I'd use them. I don't do any water changes for the first 10 days. They are extremely vulnerable to pH shock and you can actually burn them. Leave them alone. I have had much better luck with all my fish since I stopped futzing with them so much. Less frequent water changes, no salt added, yada-yada-yada. They'll be fine. Trust the Guppyman. :D - Frank

As always YMMV!!!
 
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