Corydora eggs

[DangerousMouse]

My peppered corys have laid eggs, which are now in a breeding trap in the tank, I haven't managed to move the eggs before so this is a first for me.

They have been in there on a piece of weed for a couple of days, they look like a bit of jelly with cream dots (eggs) inside - over the last couple of hours the dots have moves and a few have come away from the jelly onto the weed, does this mean they have hatched? I can't see any movement.

Sounds like they might have done! Most fish eggs hatch out after a few days. The newly-hatched fry don't move around much for the first day or so and they probably still have the yolk attached. If they've hatched then you should see some movement tomorrow or the next day. Congrats!

Yay! Thank you, I'll keep you posted. Eau you are really helpful, I'm so pleased I have found this section of MN.

That other tank I was talking about getting made in the other thread turns out to be 90l so plenty of room for baby corys.

Oh no, I think they may be snails - they look like little tiny snails, do snails lay eggs like corys? I don't have any fancy snails in the tank just a few normal ones which you can't avoid.

No, pest snails don't lay eggs like corys. Snails' eggs are like little blobs of jelly, cory eggs are much bigger and you can see the seperate eggs. V easy to tell the difference if you know what they both look like. Try doing a google image search for cory eggs.

Ok, I think they are cory eggs, you can see each egg and they look like the google pictures, they are individual eggs in a jelly which is really sticky.

They have defiantly hatched now, they look like little snails!

In jelly? They aren't cory eggs then, they aren't in jelly. They are just eggs stuck together in a cluster. You can see individual snail eggs in the jelly. Was it just a little round blob with the eggs inside? Cory eggs are much bigger than snail eggs too. A bit larger than this- O (unless you're reading this on your mobile, then they're much larger )

Cory eggs

Snail eggs

Hope that helps!

Bugger, first link doesn't work. Cory eggs. You can see how big they are here.

oh, they are snail eggs :(

I really wanted them to be cory eggs! I've never known pest snails to lay so many like this, they are all over the tank.

How can I make my corys happy so they lay?

What sort of corys are they? How long have you had them? Corys are pretty easy to breed so make a good first breeding project. As long as you've got enough of them and (obviously) have at least one male and female then it should be achievable.

Before you breed though, make sure you've got something to do with all the fry! Whether it's new homes or keeping them, you'll need a plan because you will end up with more than 5 or 6 of them.

They are peppered corys, I have had 2 of them about 5 months and the other about 2 months - I had 4 but 1 died. I would happily get a few more if it would be better for them, I can have about 6 in that tank.

I'm sure I can home the fry, I have 3 tanks myself with another 2 on the way!

I'm not sure how to tell the males from females so not sure what I have got.

Yes, if you can build up the shoal to 6 then they'll be much happier. You'll also have a better chance of having a mix of male/female. It's easier to tell as they get bigger, the males are smaller than females and more streamlined. Seeing spawning behaviour is a dead giveaway too! The males will chase and nudge the female in the stomach/bum.

To get them into breeding condition, make sure they are well fed (not overfed though!) with a varied diet then do a slightly larger than normal water change with cool water (not too cold!). This will mimic the start of the rainy season and trigger them to spawn.

What's the temp of the tank they are in now? Peppered corys prefer cooler water than most other tropical fish.

The temp is 73 at the moment, I have never seen any kind of spawning behavior so maybe I don't have a mix, I will get 3 more soon and see if that helps, they are so cute!

All my water changes are with cooler water, I think it's good for all the tropicals, I did a water change in my big tank today as I have a platty who looks like shes about to burst with fry but it's not helped yet, shes going to have loads!

Do you think 73 is ok for them? Its my fry tank so I don't want it much colder really

Yes, it should be fine for the corys. What kind of fry have you got in there?

Platties, guppies and endlers, only about 10 in total at the moment, will be more when my other platty has her fry.

Oh right. Livebearers need to be kept a bit warmer really. It's not that platys, guppies etc aren't compatible with peppered corys but because of the difference in temperature preference you'll never be able to keep both in ideal conditions in the same tank. A compromise is probably better than being too hot for the corys or too cold for the others though.

Hi DangerousMouse - just to reassure you that peppered corys do spawn quite easily, from what I've experienced. It's quite fascinating to watch her lay her eggs. She honestly almost looks like she's having contractions, at which point she drives herself into the male's side then a few eggs fall out!

In contrast, my albino corys tended to spray them all over the glass (a caviar feast for my loaches!)

Would love to hear if you successfully breed any.

Ive got 3 more now, they are much bigger than my original 3 so I think mine were quite young. So, I now have 6 corys, hopefully they will spawn soon!