Encouraging Cory aeneus to breed?

kj5kb

KEEPER OF CATS, FISH AND CATFISHES
Mar 1, 2007
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Spring Hill Kansas SW of Kansas City
Real Name
Don
I have 8 albino and 3 bronze C.aeneus in a 40 breeder with ~13 platys + 1 C.paleatus. One of the bronze spawned a few months ago, got one fry which didnt survive.

Hoping to try again, the bronze is very chubby, but nada. Twice I've done cool water changes when pressure is low, even spraying the water into the tank. Nuttin...

I don't even think they are spawning when i'm out & getting eaten; I don't see the residue of any eggs on the glass.

The tank gets one frozen cube every day, SF Bay Freshwater Multi-pack which has vegetables/bloodworms/brine shrimp/etc...maybe i'm not feeding ENOUGH? I also have dried bloodworms I could supplement 'em with....probably should.

ph~7.7, ammonia/nitrates/nitrites 0. Moderately hard, haven't checked GH/KH in awhile. Temp 78-79F. Moderatley planted, 60W of light. Everybody seems happy.

Any other suggestions? temp, water chemistry, patience?
What size should I expect them to breed at? Most are 1-1.25", the bronze momma is 1.5" ~3.7cm

--Don
 
The platys will likely eat the cory eggs. How are you comditioning them? Also try skipping a weekly wc while conditioning, then time your wc with a storm.
 
I'm going try breeding my panda cories as well. I have the environment set up. I'll turn on my rain system when I do water changes. Also have a bad light. It flashes many times before turning on. It will be like lightning. Tape black construction paper around the sides of the tank to make it look dark if its not already dark. Next I have to find something to make thundering noises. Then! add a frozen icecube(s) after the water change. I hope it will work.
 
I just had some albino paleatus eggs hatch about an hour ago (my first). The female is approx. 2 inches minus her tail, the male is just over an inch. I got them from my sister who was feeding frozen brine shrimp and blood worms. They're very healthy. I filled half the tank with room temp. water from another tank and 1/2 with cool water. I put an aged filter on and 2 small sponge filters plus a bubbler. I fed them a good quality flake and later some mysis shrimp. Within 2 days they spawned. I watched them breed and it was only the one little guy and the female so most of the eggs were not fertilized but I've got over 15 little albino babies in a floating breeder now covered tightly with a nylon so they can't swim through the slits on the side. I watched the little guys hatch so I was really lucky and got to see the entire process and it was amazing. Oh, there was a lot of rainy weather at the time and the pressure was down. I guess I got lucky.
 
Going' to rain all day today....pressure is down .35" since yesterday; not much but it's something. and Of course i have to work and can't do a WC...now if I'd had my brain ON last night I coulda done dat. I was busy fussing with another tank instead.

Conditioning...I figured the food i was feeding would be sufficient, last night I added a pinch of freezedried bloodworms and a dash of sinking pellets. I think all were gone in 30 minutes. perhaps i'll try to feed 'em twice daily.

Temp of ~78F OK?

and they just might not be old enough?
 
If your fish are old enough they'll breed. Keep the water clean and add an airstone to get lots of water movement and oxygen. I don't use a heater, the tank is at room temp. The ph is neutral where I live and the water is very soft. I'm new to this so I don't know exactly why they decided this was the right time to go for it. My 6 year old grand-daughter told me when I proudly showed her a new fry, "you didn't do that Nana, the fish did." lol
 
Live foods work best for conditioning. I had great success with live red worms. many breeders will use live blackworms. Next best is the highest protein, meaty foods you can find.

I have never resorted to lower temps to get spawns from pandas, paleatus, sterbai or somilis. The conditioning, storm and bug wc haveing skipped one wc is all it took. I dont use sprinkler, darken the tank or simulate thunder.

The same method works for my zebra and bn plecos, angels and farlowellas.
 
Had a GOOD look at them tonite...I have at least 3 obvious albino Females...and well, the one small bronze 'male...well, is WAY too chubby for a male. The big bronze can't even rest flat on her tummy. That leaves one bronze male, at least 3 albino males. Somethin's gotta pop soon.

Will keep them well fed. 11 platy youngsters just got added to the tank, maybe that'll shake things up a bit.
 
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