Baby pepper cory's

[devin2112]

so here's the thing, last week my cories laid some eggs in my main community tank (55gal wide) we read to pick them out right away and transfer to a breeder or separate tank, so I moved them to a cycled 10gal I have in my bedroom which doesn't actually have any other fish in it, only substrate and a couple small plants/ single decoration.

problem is, after waiting and only yesterday seeing that a couple have indeed hatched and I saw a few, this morning I am looking and see that the other eggs have also hatched. but the babies are nowhere to be found.
I realize now that I made a mistake putting them in with the gravel layer on the bottom. I have to way to even know if they are still alive since there are so many little crevices between the rocks lol.

My question is, will they get lost inside the substrate and not be able to find their way out? are they smarter than that? lol, I expected to see some activity on the surface, but maybe they are hiding. I hope

next time I will be more prepared for sure. it really was a surprise when we found the eggs. anyway thanks.

 

[jake37]

I don't think there will be a problem with them getting back out but making sure they are fed or keeping the tank clean will be more difficult. frys are extremely sensitive to ammonia and food decaying in the gravel is a huge no no. If the gravel is old and has a well establish biofilm for them to feed off of that would be a bonus.

 

[devin2112]

thanks, yeah. I did actually see them for a second yesterday, though spotting them is very hard. the substrate should be established enough for them to find something to feed off. I have been putting in small amounts of ground up fry food too, it's just hard to know. my corys have laid more eggs just now also, this time I put them inside of a large tupperware container floating inside of my main tank, for now it's probably better. I will do water changes daily so it doesn't stagnate I guess. definitely new to this though and tips would always be good.

 

[Dallascowboys16]

In order to keep them fed properly, it wouldn't hurt to hatch some baby brine shrimp. You can usually buy a simple hatchery setup for about $20 at your local fish store and it only takes a couple of days to get them going. Young corys are very small and would benefit from supplementing their dry food with the brine. The gravel will certainly make your job harder, but not impossible. Be sure not to overfeed and do small water changes (<10%) frequently and you should be on your way to success.