Leave a tank alone

[Baccus]

One of my 4ft tanks has a thriving population of mostly peppered corydoras, some other types incuding false julii and Emerald as well as some Riffle shrimp, Borneo Suckers and Otocinclus, and some threadfin rainbows just to mix it up a bit. This tank only really has general tank maintenance done, which is usually just drops and tops almost NEVER plant trimming or removal. The fish seem to like the wild jungle and the peppered corys usually reward me with a few fry.

I had been noticing some partly grown cory fry in the tank and was glad to see that the corys wheren't eating all their eggs, but tonight for the first time I spied a much smaller albino cory fry that seems to have taken up residence around the base of one of the Java ferns. The only albino cory I have my sister gave me, it is a long fin, but only its pecteral fins are long its dorsal fin is normal length. I do have some longfin normal peppered and both their dorsal and pecteral fins are super long. I had thought the albino my sister gave me was most likely an albino bronze, but it looks like I lucked out and its another peppered.

So here is one of the proud parents of my little guy.

and now the little CUTIE

Because the tank is pretty wild its any bodies guess if there are any more little albino bubs getting about.

Just goes to show you the surprises a wild tank can supply.

Edited July 31, 2015 by Baccus

[GotCrabs]

Yup, sometimes just leaving a tank to do it's thing does pay off, my tank was overgrown and running wild and before I knew it I had 16 juvi Common Bristlenose.

[ineke]

Nature isn't always neat and tidy - the wild look works well! My best shrimp breeding tank is a jungle - I don't like it but the shrimp do!

[jc12]

Corys are one of my favourites. It's awesome to see them thrive and breed. I would love mine to breed at some stage. Their fry are so cute. Well done!!! :-)

[Baccus]

Thanks jc12, mine are almost always spawning so much so I had to shift 25 to another tank. The fry certianly are cute.

Just noticed in the fry picture if you look closely you can see one of my adult peppereds peeking out under the leaves in the background.

[RichardRoss]

This is great idea to leave the tank alone. I love to have aquarium for my house but have less time to take care of it.

[Foxpuppet]

My Pygmy corked are currently spawning. But in a 200L community planted tank I'm never gonna catch em!

[jc12]

4 hours ago, Foxpuppet said:

My Pygmy corked are currently spawning. But in a 200L community planted tank I'm never gonna catch em!

What are your water parameters if you don't mind sharing? I have been thinking of trying to spawn panda and pygmy corys.

[DemonCat]

"Leaving the tank alone" is a skill I am yet to master, but really need to!

 

I went low tech for a reason, and really want a 'natural' look - not scaped or trimmed to perfection. 

 

But I cant keep my bloody hands out of the tank!!!!

[ineke]

@ DemonCat I'm the same I can't keep my hands out of my tanks. It used to be a common saying on here that people would warn me " Ineke step away from your tanks" . I can't help fiddling but I am better than I was !  The shrimp must be happy because they breed well with the extra hiding places etc.

[DemonCat]

12 minutes ago, ineke said:

@ DemonCat I'm the same I can't keep my hands out of my tanks. It used to be a common saying on here that people would warn me " Ineke step away from your tanks" . I can't help fiddling but I am better than I was !  The shrimp must be happy because they breed well with the extra hiding places etc.

I am adding some more plants soon with a small rearrangment of rocks, but then have a forced break as I go overseas for a few weeks. Hopefully this period away from the tank helps with this 'disease' of tank fiddling when I get back!!

[ineke]

Good luck with that! I was away for 2 months and made up for lost time when I got back!

[DemonCat]

Got home from work... First thing I do.... Move stuff. My fish and shrimp must hate me.

5 minutes ago, ineke said:

Good luck with that! I was away for 2 months and made up for lost time when I got back!

Thanks. Brand new canister. Will clean prior to leaving.... Surely it will be OK for three weeks!!

[Foxpuppet]

On 15 February 2016 at 1:56 AM, jc12 said:

What are your water parameters if you don't mind sharing? I have been thinking of trying to spawn panda and pygmy corys.

I'll have to get back to you on that as I just did a 50% water change LOL ;)

[Baccus]

thought it was due time for an update on the little cutie albino cory fry, he is now nicely matured and starting to show breeding interest in the pack of other corys.

And in another tank because I have been very good and let the weeds go pretty insane my Pacific Blue Eyes have rewarded me with at least 3 tiny new fry I just spied this evening. I am hoping that these fry survive the attentions of their parents, I am certainly excited to see them successfully spawning in their tank.

[OzShrimp]

Are Corys hard to breed and keep they have always interested me but have never taken the step to keep them.

 

[revolutionhope]

4 hours ago, OzShrimp said:

Are Corys hard to breed and keep they have always interested me but have never taken the step to keep them.

 

Hey Oz I don't think they would be hard; one of my earliest aquarium experiences resulted in an accidental cory mating. They left eggs on the glass which were left alone by the other fish including endler guppies, red cherries and snails... then some time later i had about 5 babies.. somehow 2 of the young later perished leaving 3 surviving offspring but honestly I was very random in my approach to aquarium keeping back then.

[Baccus]

It really depends on which species of corydoras you get, Peppered I find easy as well as Strebia but never seem to have much luck with Bronze and Panda. The main things to remember with corydoras is that.....

A. They love a crowd of their own kind, mixing different species can work in that they wont fight but they wont really gel and bond as a species only school will. Eg, Best sight I ever saw was 54 young peppered corys I had bred tightly schooling and swimming laps of an old bathtub I used as a pond.

B. They love and need some protein in their diet and can not be expected to just "clean up" after other fish etc.They are also very partial to certain live foods like Bloodworms, Blackworms and Mosquito wrigglers but seem happy to leave shrimp and snails alone. They will also nibble at algae wafers.

C. Mixing some species of corydoras can be bad because some will readily hybridise Pandas are apparently well known for doing this.

D. Corydoras come from many sections of the Amazon and surrounding rivers, some handle cooler water while some can tolerate quite warm water. It is claimed that Strebia particularly can handle the heat that Discus are often kept at but really it is pushing their endurance a tad to far in my opinion.

E. Breeding usually entails ensuring you have at least 1 female and two male, condition them with lots of live foods (or fresh frozen not freeze dried) and other quality foods, then do a large water change and use water that is cooler than their tank water. This often triggers spawning, if you can do it in conjunction with a rain event coming through your region all the better. The catfish will often eat their eggs so best to rescue them and you can put the eggs in a tumbler or put them in a suspended net fry saver near the filter return. The fry are ready feeders and once they get past insy newborn (hatched) and start to look like mini copies of their parents they are just too darn cute for words.

I love corys and enjoy them as much as I like many Loach species, but if I ever get the chance (ie have the room) I would love to have some Hoplo catfish, they are related distantly to corys but amazingly make bubble nests like Siamese Figthers and Gourami. Catfish and loaches I fear are as addictive as Shrimp.