Free Swimming Fry

[blang]

I have 6 cory babies. At what point should I feed them. some of the sacks are gone and some aren't. They are moving but not alot. How will they act when they are at the "free swimming stage"? This is the 3rd day since they have been born.

[Skyrmir]

I haven't raised cory fry yet, but I'd assume they're similar to others I have. The infusoria that I use myself says to actually start using it a day before the eggs hatch. Gives the microbes in it a chance to multiply before the babies get the munchies. Might wanna check the directions on the food your using if it's live stuff.

As for the 'free swimming' stage, that might be less obvious for cory's as they're a bottom type fish to begin with. Normally I'd say it's when they stop sticking to the glass most of the time.

[BillD]

They can be started on microworms or fresh hatched baby brine shrimp, which is kind of a pain when you only have six fry.

[blang]

I took a pellet and crushed it and dropped it into the water. No one went after it so I can only assume they aren't ready for real food. Most of the eggs are gone but there are a couple of them not totally eaten. Tomorrow will be day 4 for some of them so hopefully they will be ready to eat.

[blang]

OK, this is day 5 and I still don't see them eating. I tried baby brine shrimp and didn't see anyone come out. Some of them hide all day and others are out and about swimming around from time to time. Am I suppose to see them come running when food is dropped in?

[Steven A]

Any pics of them ? 8)

[blang]

I will try to get some pictures within the next couple of days. They started eating last night. I only saw five of them. I can't believe how cute they are.

[mjkelly]

Are you kidding me only 6?
I had some fish lay eggs a few weeks ago and there still in with the adult tank and I have like Hundreds..I still can't tell for what they are because there so small..but getting alot bigger..from what I can tell they are my cories..

get some pictures if you can

congrats

[PBirdsong]

Wow. I hope my Zebras start breeding sometime.

[Skyrmir]

Originally Posted by PBirdsong

Wow. I hope my Zebras start breeding sometime.

Throw some extra protien or live food into thier diet, then sit back and watch the fun the next morning. They put on a bit of a show. Fresh clean water and simulated 'bright sunny morning' seems to help out too.

[blang]

They probably laid a total of about 15-18 and I collected eight of them. Two of them weren't fertile. Maybe there were more as I noticed the cories doing their thing in the morning. My other fish were eating them pretty quickly.

In any event, I am so proud of my six. This way I can get to know each and everyone of them. And besides, I had planned to purchase about five more of them anyway. Now I don't have to choose which ones I want to keep.

I will try to get pictures tonight or tomorrow, I promise.

[msmonih]

I would like to know how you got your Cory to spawn? We have a good many of them and are very anxious to add their spawning to our breeding program.

[blang]

I did nothing special. They are in a community 10 gallon tank. I do weekly water changes and feed them flakes in the morning, 1/4 algae wafer in the evening and frozen bloodworms twice a week.

I had no plans to have any babies so this has been a complete surprise. I guess that is why I am so proud of my 6 babies!

[msmonih]

Thanks very much your tank sounds a lot like ours. We don't do anything overly special either and have babies in 3 of them. Hopefully our Cory will spawn like yours. Good luck with your new Cory Babies.

[blang]

I tried posting a picture but I couldn't get it to work. In any event, 4 of the babies died. I now have 3 left. So I didn't have 6 I had 7 babies. I have no idea why they died so I am not sure what happened. I was feeding them 3 times a day and cleaning about every 3 days. I'm thinking of feeding them 2 times a day since it is so hard to get the portion right for only 3 babies. Should I start doing water changes everyday or extend it out to once a week?