Eggs any ideas

[ineke]

Hi All,

I have a aqua one 980 tank that is 60cm deep. Today I noticed some eggs on the thermometer and near the glass in the same area right up the top. I don't have snails and the tank has only been set up 1 week still cycling. The fish are 3 angels approx 6 months old, 6 corys breeding size,9 neons and 12 bettas including male. The eggs are very high so neons are out and they are egg scatterers I think, bettas are out - no bubble nest and eggs stuck to glass, I'm thinking the angels but they are not guarding the eggs and it is on a smooth straight surface rather than sloping which leaves the corys but would they deposit eggs that high? I have never bred egg layers before so would appreciate any thoughts. Funnily enough there is a betta girl entwining herself around the thermometer -I think she may be after a meal!!!! I have taken the thermometer out and put it in with the shrimp because I just saw the betta having a meal!!!

Cheers

Ineke

:confused:

[honcho]

id say .. it was the angels..

but its strange that the wuldnt be guarding the eggs..

try and take a pic. that might help

[ineke]

Hi Honcho,

As I updated I took the eggs out and the angels were very interested in what I was doing!! the betta female may have been chasing them away . I have left a few eggs on the side of the glass to see if they look after them. Will post picture a bit later today. I haven't seen any courtship rituals at all. Hopefully the shrimp might keep the eggs clean. Not really looking to breed so if eggs lost it's not a huge thing but it's interesting anyway.

Cheers

Ineke

[blindfisherman]

I would say it's the cories. mine layed in 3 spots in my tank and they were all close to the surface.

[ineke]

angels not happy

here are a few photos of the eggs on the thermometer I couldn't get ones in the tank because they are right in the curve so distort

cheers

Ineke

[ineke]

Thanks Blindfisherman,

I'm glad I took the thermometer out of the tank because the ones on the glass are all being eaten. I wouldn't mind a few more cories but don't want too many fish . I WANT SHRIMP!!!

Cheers

Ineke

[blindfisherman]

yeah I would be pretty sure they are Cory eggs.

what species are they?

[ineke]

I have three albino, 1 bronze and 2 longfin peppered cats. Don't know actual species names but just the normal cory. The Longfin look impressive and the albino are huge but I think the little bronze one is the male because he keeps pestering the albinos. Is there anything I should do with the eggs?

Cheers

Ineke

[blindfisherman]

you can put them into a.container with meth blue or just spread them out in a separate tank to prevent them getting eaten or fungus spreading between the eggs.

as for food. I found they grew much faster with just cleaning the mulm out of the main tank filter into the fry tank and they will feed on the microorganisms there. saves the need to feed them twice a day and wc can be done every few days as opposed to daily.

[ineke]

Thanks for that, I have them in the shrimp tank which will have food for them if they hatch. As I am not that bothered one way or the other I will let nature take its course and see what happens

Cheers

Ineke

[OzShrimp]

I have heard that shrimp are quiet good at keeping eggs clean :)

hope they hatch for you i have never had corys before

[ineke]

I have heard that shrimp are quiet good at keeping eggs clean :)

hope they hatch for you i have never had corys before

Yes I have heard that too, I've seen a few shrimp go and check them out so it will be interesting to see how they go. Corys are great I have only the one type don't know the proper name-must look it up- they are good for the bottom of the tank and easy to care for however they do like baby shrimp!

cheers

ineke

[ineke]

Hi All,

Just wondering if the cory eggs should be changing colours yet. They are still white and I can't see any change in them at all. Should I be able to see eyes now?

Cheers

Ineke

[ineke]

Lost my first lot of eggs to fungus but put second lot into methyl blue for a while then into shrimp tank. Couldn't see much change in them- no eyes showing no change in colour so took thermometer out to look under light- still couldn't see any change. put back into tank and wow right before my eyes one little fish hatched swam around just a big head and tail then swam to bottom of tank and was lost. Not sure if he was ready to hatch or got dislodged when I put the thermometer back into tank but at least I know they are fertile and that the antifungus dip works. Now to wait and see if anymore hatch. excitement +!!! And I said I didn't want anymore fish!

[BlueBolts]

Eggcellent ! Sorry, couldn't resist.

[ineke]

Eggcellent ! Sorry' date=' couldn't resist.[/quote']

HAHA Thanks BB

[ineke]

My first ever egg layer fry. So excited today I finally saw my little fish that hatched while I was watching a few weeks ago. It is a peppered cory and about 2cm long. I had completely forgotten about him and thought it would have died because nothing else hatched. Now I will try and save a couple more eggs to see if it can be done again. I haven't put any special food in there but as it is my nursery RCS tank I have been putting in powdered food .

Cheers

Ineke

[Baccus]

When ever I want to rescue my cory eggs I usually put them in a suspended breeder net near the return flow from the HOB filter that way they don't tend to go fungusie. In with them I put some tank plant life, usually a bit of stem plant, need it to carefully scrape the sticky eggs off the razor blade and some java moss for the fry to hide in and find micro foods. In the past I have used liquid fry foods on the cory fry but really it plays merry hell with the rest of the tank. So now I just crush up tropical flakes extra fine and make sure it sinks as well as giving the fry Wardley Shrimp Pellets that I know crumble up easily and quickly in water. Because the net is suppended in my adult cory tank the adults swim upside down sucking left over food through the mesh, while my Borneo sucker and shrimp enjoy also cleaning the mesh on the net. Because I have a bit of an over grown jungle in the tank I also often get the odd fry grow up in the tank with the parents. Good luck with your raising cory fry, I love them when they start to look like exact minitures of the parents, soooooo cute. Sorry this has all been one big block of text for some reason return is not working, to make new paragraphs.

[ineke]

Hi Baccus,

Thanks for that info. The Corys are breeding every few days and I have just been watching hundreds of eggs being eaten. I will get my net breeder into the tank and give it a go. The one that hatched is now in the fish community tank and is so cute ,when I manage to get a glimpse of it.

They seem to breed especially well after a water change. I feed frozen bloodworms every day and they go nuts over them.

I put the lot of eggs the baby hatched from into some anti fungus solution for a few minutes do you bother to do that?

Cheers

Ineke:encouragement:

[Baccus]

Sorry meant to reply to this earlier, I had written a nice long reply but when I went to post it somehow I lost it. Ok I don't use any medications/ chemicals in with my cory eggs, since they are suspended in a net inside the adults tank. But plenty of people swear by using methol blue to keep away fungus. If you really wanted to you could just add Indian Almond Leaves to raise the acidity in the water which should also stave off fungal attacks. Some people have had good luck with shrimp keeping the eggs clean while others say the shrimp eat the eggs, so its up to you if you want to risk a couple of shrimp with fish eggs. I also always have some weed in the suspended net. Usually some type of stem plant which I use to scrape the rescued eggs off the razor blade that I used to get the eggs off the glass. As well as some Java fern goes into the suspended net, I find it holds all sorts of goodies for the newly hatched fry to eat. Once the eggs hatch I tend to give the fry Wardley Shrimp Pellets which I know break up quickly into tiny bits for the fry as well as finely crushed tropical flakes which I make sure sink. I also give them defrosted daphnia once they are a bit bigger. I have given the fry, fry foods in the past but I find they just wreak havoc with my tanks water. The other bonus of raising the eggs/ fry in the parents tank is that the water is stable and the adult corys all help keep any excess food cleared away by sucking the food through the bottom of the mesh/ net. Shrimp in the tank also like clambering all over the sides of the net and cleaning that, which is how cherry shrimp have ended up in my fry net, they climb over the edge and let themselves in. Below just some of the adults having a scrounge for food. And to get the corys to spawn, just condition them with things like defrosted bloodworms for a couple of days then do a large cool water change, its all most certain to get them to breed. Thanks to the recent weather event here and the cool change in the daily temps, my corys have gone crazy laying eggs. Hopefully my false julii have also got in on the act as well as the dwarfs and Emeralds

[ineke]

Thanks Bacuus yes I find feeding the bloodworms and water changes bring on the eggs nearly every time . I feed the blood worms daily anyway. I don't really want to breed fish but can't help myself when I see hundreds of eggs plastered to the glass. I didn't get any to hatch this time but I may have been too late getting them off the glass because the fish were having a wonderful feed and I'm not sure i actually got any eggs. Will try again next spawn and put the breeding net in readiness this time. It is quite a large one and I took it out but will reassemble it. Wouldn't mind a few more Corys they are so much more active when you have a group of them will try the IAL in there too.

Cheers

Ineke:encouragement:

[Baccus]

They certainly do enjoy being in a pack, and I find the ones on sale in pet shops are often in bad shape. I am still trying to convince one of my local shops to put the corys in a tank with sand rather than gravel, in a bid for them to survive better in the shop. That and stop putting them in with bully fish. The most rememorable experience I have had with my corys is when I had them in my 1000L pond. We where doing a clean up of the pond and removed the huge lily and found one sub adult cory baby. Once the water was nearly all gone I found 54 sub adult bubs. We put them in an old bath tub I have in the yard and it was an amazing sight to see 54 small peppered catfish cruising the length of the tub as one whole school. I also like corys because they are so peaceful, I don't think they have a mean bone in their bodies.

[ineke]

Awesome I would love to see that many swimming together. I used to manage a pet shop which had about 30 tanks and always loved the little Corys . I never read up on them much though and usually only had one or 2 in my tank at home and they always stayed reasonably small and flighty. Now I have my big aquarium and by accident ended up with6 in the one tank as I closed down the other tanks for the shrimp. Then I read up a bit more about them and feel so guilty about how I had sold and kept the solitary ones.

But I had no idea they liked being in groups. That they grew quite a good size and can live for many years over 25 I have read from one breeder. Since I had the six now seven with the bub they frolic and play all over the tank the only time they get a bit pushy is when the small bronze boy is chasing the girls for mating then its mayhem. I have to say I'm incredibly taken with the little guys

cheers

ineke:cheerful:

[Baccus]

The only time my corys annoy me is when they bulldoze new plants in the tank, but that is rectified with a well placed rock, and when they destroy my java moss because then it all ends wrapped up around my filter in take. Trust me corys are just as addictive as shrimp :)

[ineke]

LOL yse I can now understand why people have just corys in the tank. I am going to put some more live plants in there for them and make up a moss area as well as soon as it grows big enough. I have just been watching the courtship again gosh my little boy is rough and the girls are twice his size. Unfortunately all the fish in the tank have learnt that this behaviour means EGGS and sometimes the just about every fish in the tank is following them to get a snack. It's quite funny to watch even if a bit sad!!!!

Cheers

Ineke:encouragement: