Corydora Eggs

[AnimalKrazed]

Over the course of the last couple of days, I've woken up to find corydora eggs on the wall of my aquarium. I have only ever raised guppy fry successfully so I am uber nervous, but I kinda want to try and raise these guys if I can.

To prep myself, I have watched a few videos to get some advice, and put the eggs into a separate container dosed with M-Blue to prevent/help deal with any fungus. Even then, if fungus shows up, the container is home to a small grouping of bladder snails, which I think should eat the fungus if it shows up. I have done a daily 75% WC to prevent too much waste build-up, and replaced the water with stuff from the parents aquarium. I'm going to check the water parameters when I get home because I cannot recall the specifics while at university. I have some leaf litter I am going to shred and put into a tank to create infusoria for babies to feed soon.

I haven't had many eggs so far, I have only seen and pulled 6-10 eggs so far. I cannot even say if I done that right because I know I dropped a few to the bottom and don't know if I suctioned every single one of the three I dropped with the turkey baster (I do know I got at least one of those though). I can only assume if there were more eggs, they have been eaten by the other inhabitants in the tank and/or been laid on interior decorations/plants where I cannot see/reach.

First 4 Eggs I pulled, just as I found them during a Frozen BBS Feeding

Anyways, I have been treated right by everyone on AA in the past and was wondering what kind of advice you guys have for an absolute egg novice like me. Never had a successful egg fry raising and want all the advice I can get.

EDIT: Oh, forgot to mention that the Corydoras in question are Corydoras Paleatus. I have a small school of 6 in the tank, but only ever see 2 or 3 at a time. They seem to enjoy hiding throughout the scape.

 

[Barliman]

Congratulations! If they're rewarding you with eggs, that means you're doing something right. Keep us posted as they develop.

 

[AnimalKrazed]

Congratulations! If they're rewarding you with eggs, that means you're doing something right. Keep us posted as they develop.

Will do. I have decided doing such large water changes is probably more detrimental than helpful so I'm only doing 25% every day or so. I've put in some dried leaves I've had lying around. Going to be doing a WC tonight, I'll look around and see if the eggs have hatched since I last did a search.

Changes Since Last Post:
pH = 7.4 at last check
Dried Leaves moved into tank
Green Hair Algae bunches moved into tank
Trace Amounts of Mulm moved into tank.

 

[AnimalKrazed]

Couldn’t find any of the eggs or fry at last check. Going to hope that they are still around but I think Take 1 has fallen through.

Last night began Take 2. Going for this attempt with a Breeder Box that’ll stay in the parent tank. Dropped a lot of plants into the box, some because they had eggs others because they had green hair algae that I’ve heard has microorganisms that the fry can feed off of. I would also have had an air stone in the tank but for some reason the Tetra Whisper Air Pump I bought brand new won’t start. Any clues on that front?

Also found Swordtail fry last night so there’s a few that I managed to catch and put into the box with the Cory eggs. I’m hoping plenty survive cause they look kinda cute.

Readings
pH - 7.4 last check

 

[AnimalKrazed]

Take 2 didn't take, even with an air stone in the breeder box.

Starting Take 3 this morning. Moved the eggs I managed to find, just two this time, over to a bowl filled with water from the tank the parents are in. Moved the air stone into the bowl with the eggs to continually aerate the water. Added a little Meth Blue into the bowl as well. Will be interesting to see if this works.

 

[AnimalKrazed]

Decided to interrupt Take 3 and just move onto Take 4 pretty early on last week. Take 4 consisted of an airstone inside an enclosed tub that was inside the parents' tank. Managed to get the eggs to hatch Tuesday. So far, the offspring are doing well. I have moved over a marimo moss ball, some green hair algae, and some decaying plant matter into the tub so as to ensure that there is some form of microfauna and organic matter for the Corydoras fry to feed on since I am out of the house for 12hrs a day twice a week. I've counted about 5/6 surviving individuals as of the last WC I did on the tub. When I am home and feeding myself, I've been using a mix of North Fin's fry food (which is pretty much powdered krill), Hikari First Bites, and frozen BBS. I'll keep you guys updated on how things continue.

 

[AnimalKrazed]

Take 4 lasted about a week before they expired due to a mistake on my part. Going for Take 5 now. Left the eggs (4) on some Java Moss in a breeder box yesterday. Will update later.

 

[m.j.gomez]

Hello, when hatching albino cory fry in community tank I buy 2 breeding nets. Assemble 1 & fit 2nd net 3/4 way up on the assembled one leaving a 1/2" space on bottom. If you don't do this other fish will harass & suck tiny fry through net.
I set breeding net w/eggs so filter flows directly into breeding net this seems to keep fungus to a min. It takes 2-4 days for eggs to hatch. During this time I pull any eggs w/fungus using eye dropper. After fry hatch I wait 2 days then desolve a shrimp pellet in tank water, suck it up a few times w/eye dropper to break it up further then squirt it in one corner of net. I've raised a batch of 30+fry & 25+ fry w/this method. I've no more rm. so stopped pulling eggs! Hope this helps!

 

[AnimalKrazed]

So, my plan for hatching the eggs did work. The java moss + air bubbler + breeding box did work. Unfortunately, when I was moving the moss around trying to find all the eggs, some of the fry must of been in the moss still and wriggled free and into the tank (as I was inspecting the moss out of the water).

I had just rearranged the tank today, so as to create a shelter area for some wild type cherry shrimp. When I inspected the spot tonight to make sure the shelter was holding up alright I found a tiny little fry, probably not even a day old, holding out in the fluval stratum under the coconut and java moss shelter. That was the only one I've managed to find so far, but I think some of the others must of gotten free into the tank too.

I made several areas to provide shelter and relief for cherry shrimp in the tank...what are the chances the palateus cory fry end up surviving by taking shelter in those locations until their big enough to join the rest of the tank? I don't think I'll be able to find all the fry without either exposing them to the rest of the fish in the tank or missing some of them?

 

[Barliman]

Fry are pretty good hiders, particularly when there's moss or small caves. You might lose a few, but I bet some will survive to reach a safe size, too.

 

[fearlessfisch]

I have never used breeder boxes or any equipment whatsoever, but in my 55-gallon, my panda cories were always reproducing. Even when I had hungry angels in the tank, the fry always managed to hide somewhere, and I always had wonderful, jubilant schools of adults and little ones roaming all over the place. If your tank is healthy and there are hiding places, they will find a way to live!

I used to do pretty large water changes (50 percent). Making the water a little cooler than the tank water seems to encourage spawning.