Brhino
05-22-2011, 03:16 AM
My first attempt at breeding C. Aeneus has ended in failure, and I'm not sure what went wrong. I thought I would share my experience here in the hopes that some experienced breeders might be able to point out mistakes I made or tell me things that I assumed were normal were not.
I have a 75g planted community tank with zebra danios, bronze corys, platies, a bristlenose pleco, a pearl gourami, red cherry shrimp, pond and assassin snails. I have only had these corys for about 2.5 months, and they have grown considerably since I got them. So, I assume they've just recently become sexually mature.
The first time I saw spawning behavior was on the morning of May 5th. I checked the tank in the morning and found the corys all chasing each other and 3 eggs on the glass. I went to tell my wife, and when I came back ~30 seconds later only one egg was left. At that point I was running late for work, and I did not have anything set up and waiting to put eggs in, so I left the remaining one there and went to work. When I came home there were no eggs to be found anywhere in the tank except for two stuck to a danio's face!
After this happened I decided to make sure I had a tank set up and waiting in case it happened again. I made sure my 10g quarantine/hospital tank was clean and filled. On the morning of May 21st I checked the tank and found a single egg on the glass. As I was looking at it one of the corys swam up and deposited several more eggs next to it. Mindful of how quickly they had gotten eaten the previous time, I immediately went to work. I rolled the eggs off of the glass with my fingertip, placing them in a tiny container. I got 8 eggs that way, leaving a couple behind. I took these to the 10g tank, and again with my finger tip I placed them on top of a plastic cave decoration (the only object in the tank) directly under the outflow of an aquaclear filter (with a sponge over the intake to prevent anything small from getting sucked up). I went back to look for more eggs but found none. Again I left for work. When I came home I saw four more eggs in the 75g, each by itself in a separate location. I did not attempt to move these, and they disappeared overnight.
The eight eggs I rescued all had an amber color, which I took as I good sign. They all stayed that way, and I did not observe any fungus or other problems. I checked them frequently and in the morning 4 days later, 5 of the eggs were gone. I scanned the tank carefully, and found several tiny objects in the tank. Some of them it was impossible to tell what they were - perhaps a hatched but dead fry, perhaps a leftover bit of egg, I wasn't sure. I did find 2 objects that definitely appeared to be "tadpole" cory fry. They did not seem to be moving but their tails were sticking out. I also found a couple objects that I believe were hydra. I've never seen those in any of my tanks before but perhaps I simply haven't been looking hard enough - if not for the fact that this was bare-bottomed tank that I was examining with my nose practically pressed against the glass I never would have seen them. I removed them.
That evening when I came home all the eggs were gone. I saw at least 5 tadpoles, some of which seemed to be moving in place, others did not. I also found more hydras, which I removed. I also saw other tiny creatures - a couple planaria, tiny snails, and critters so tiny they were simply white specs moving around.
The next day, today, the tadpoles seem to be gone. I did find two of them dead. one of those seems to be covered in fungus. The other had just a tiny bit of its egg sac remaining, and I could see it had two tiny dark dots for eyes. to be honest I'm not even positive that one's dead - I'm not sure how much movement I should expect at that stage - but it's not moving at all so I assume it is.
So, there's my story. I saved 8 eggs, they all hatched, but none lived more than a day after hatching. I'm sorry this post is so long, but I didn't want to leave anything out. If anyone has any suggestions for me, I would love to hear them.
I have a 75g planted community tank with zebra danios, bronze corys, platies, a bristlenose pleco, a pearl gourami, red cherry shrimp, pond and assassin snails. I have only had these corys for about 2.5 months, and they have grown considerably since I got them. So, I assume they've just recently become sexually mature.
The first time I saw spawning behavior was on the morning of May 5th. I checked the tank in the morning and found the corys all chasing each other and 3 eggs on the glass. I went to tell my wife, and when I came back ~30 seconds later only one egg was left. At that point I was running late for work, and I did not have anything set up and waiting to put eggs in, so I left the remaining one there and went to work. When I came home there were no eggs to be found anywhere in the tank except for two stuck to a danio's face!
After this happened I decided to make sure I had a tank set up and waiting in case it happened again. I made sure my 10g quarantine/hospital tank was clean and filled. On the morning of May 21st I checked the tank and found a single egg on the glass. As I was looking at it one of the corys swam up and deposited several more eggs next to it. Mindful of how quickly they had gotten eaten the previous time, I immediately went to work. I rolled the eggs off of the glass with my fingertip, placing them in a tiny container. I got 8 eggs that way, leaving a couple behind. I took these to the 10g tank, and again with my finger tip I placed them on top of a plastic cave decoration (the only object in the tank) directly under the outflow of an aquaclear filter (with a sponge over the intake to prevent anything small from getting sucked up). I went back to look for more eggs but found none. Again I left for work. When I came home I saw four more eggs in the 75g, each by itself in a separate location. I did not attempt to move these, and they disappeared overnight.
The eight eggs I rescued all had an amber color, which I took as I good sign. They all stayed that way, and I did not observe any fungus or other problems. I checked them frequently and in the morning 4 days later, 5 of the eggs were gone. I scanned the tank carefully, and found several tiny objects in the tank. Some of them it was impossible to tell what they were - perhaps a hatched but dead fry, perhaps a leftover bit of egg, I wasn't sure. I did find 2 objects that definitely appeared to be "tadpole" cory fry. They did not seem to be moving but their tails were sticking out. I also found a couple objects that I believe were hydra. I've never seen those in any of my tanks before but perhaps I simply haven't been looking hard enough - if not for the fact that this was bare-bottomed tank that I was examining with my nose practically pressed against the glass I never would have seen them. I removed them.
That evening when I came home all the eggs were gone. I saw at least 5 tadpoles, some of which seemed to be moving in place, others did not. I also found more hydras, which I removed. I also saw other tiny creatures - a couple planaria, tiny snails, and critters so tiny they were simply white specs moving around.
The next day, today, the tadpoles seem to be gone. I did find two of them dead. one of those seems to be covered in fungus. The other had just a tiny bit of its egg sac remaining, and I could see it had two tiny dark dots for eyes. to be honest I'm not even positive that one's dead - I'm not sure how much movement I should expect at that stage - but it's not moving at all so I assume it is.
So, there's my story. I saved 8 eggs, they all hatched, but none lived more than a day after hatching. I'm sorry this post is so long, but I didn't want to leave anything out. If anyone has any suggestions for me, I would love to hear them.