Breeding pygmy corys

[captmicha]

A couple of questions.

Can I breed together the three pygmy cory species? Or will they separate by species, or is interbreeding the different pygmy species frowned upon?

And, if you've successfully bred pygmy corys, please share what you did! What were your water parameters? Substrate? Lighting? What were you feeding? And any other tips please! I love these guys but they can be hard to find and expensive but I'd still like to have a large school of them.

[tanker]

I do not think they can nor will.

[beeZer350]

I would love to breed mine but haven't really put forth a solid effort.

[fishorama]

I do not think they can nor will.

:iagree:

[Bioshock]

I don't think they can interbreed. But you can successfully breed them if you take the time to condition them properly before hand then coax them using standard cory breeding techniques.

[captmicha]

But if I get a few of each species, since most fish stores sell these 3 species mixed, do you think it'll work? What I mean is, will each species breed with it's own species but I can keep all three species together? I'm thinking about doing this in my ten gallon quarantine when the new fish I have in there are done being QTed.

[tanker]

1) Yes, I think they CAN breed in a mixed cory tank, but only with their own kind.
2) They will all get along just fine. Corys do not fight other corys.
3) IMO--A 10 gal is too small for 3 kinds of corys and then expect them to breed, not impossible--- IMO-not likely.
4) (I know I will get flamed for this, but) Get either 2 species and about 6-8 of each in your 10gal----or get three 5gal tanks and get about 6-8 of each into their own tank.
5) Give them good food, good water, correct temp and then let mother nature do it's own thing.

[fishorama]

I won't flame you tanker, I think your advice was very good.

[Bioshock]

A ten gallon is plenty big enough with frequent water changes, every cory I've ever bred has been in ten gallons. It takes more work maintenance wise but I find a 10g with sand substrate perfect for breeding corys of all species, the smaller size helps you to locate the eggs after spawning and save as many as you can before they start eating them. For conditioning corys to spawn I find bloodworms to be the best food the frozen kind. It takes awhile to get your fish into spawning condition and they must be old enough or you'd be wasting your time. To induce spawning I always changed roughly 50% of the water with water a few degrees cooler and later before lights out I'd add a tray or so of ice cubes to the tank which would usually do the trick. You can often judge when your corys are ready to spawn by just looking at the females; when they look like they're ready to explode their so fat they're most likely ready and full of eggs.

[latdow]

if you do breed, i'd like pics! i <3 corys. =)

[captmicha]

Cool. Thanks for the advice everyone. I'll either do this in my ten gallon or in a spare 20 long. Probably in a spare 20 long and move the eggs to the 10 gallon then.

Do you think they'll breed in a Walstad tank? Or is sand really important?

[tanker]

I won't flame you tanker, I think your advice was very good.

Thanks Fisho. :)