Cory Eggs

[Zushi]

I just found cory eggs in my tank this morning. There are a bunch of them on the glass in the corner. My bronze corys just laid some more on the heater and behind the filter. Does anyone have any advice? I am not sure what to do. If I need to move the eggs I have a vacant ten gallon.

[Abbeys_Mom]

A lowering of temperature and barometric pressure, when done in conjunction with water changes, may very well induce spawning. Another trick is the feeding of live foods, especially Tubifex and finely-chopped earthworms. Two or three males to one female seems to be the optimal rate for successful spawning.
Males will pursue the females until they show interest. The female will then clean surfaces (mostly plant surfaces and the glass sides of the tank). There is then more courtship -- the male rubs against the female and touches her head with his barbels. Finally, they start the classic "T-position" during vibrations which dislodge some eggs into the basket which the female has made with her ventral fins. They are then fertilized and the female places them throughout the aquarium. There is a quick rest and then the males advance on the females once again. This continues for a few hours (two to three, usually) and the female deposits up to 200 eggs.
The parents do not disturb the eggs or fry if well-fed, but they might be removed after the spawning so that the fry can be reared separately from their parents. The eggs darken over their five to six day incubatory period. Finally the wrigglers emerge and feed on infusoria for a little while. Supplemental feedings may start within the first week and advancement to fry foods for egg-layers should occur at the end of their first week.

[Slinky_Bass]

I just found cory eggs in my tank this morning. There are a bunch of them on the glass in the corner. My bronze corys just laid some more on the heater and behind the filter. Does anyone have any advice? I am not sure what to do. If I need to move the eggs I have a vacant ten gallon.

Well, now that you've got the eggs what you need to do is very carefully scrape them off the glass with a razor, they are quite tough and sticky so as long as you keep the blade pretty much flat against the glass and take it slowly the eggs should be fine.

If you leave them where they are they'll just get attacked by fungus(especially if they are lower down in the tank and away from the filter/air flow) or eaten. So, move them to your ten gallon, make sure you've got the water and temp right and most importantly make sure it's well aerated, with the flow moving over the eggs.

Like Abbeysmom already mentioned you'll notice the eggs darkening and within 5-6 days they'll hatch. You don't need to worry about feeding them for the first 2-3 days as they live off their yolk sacs and after that they'll eat infusoria and you can try some fine powder fry food, but by the fourth or fifth day they are going to need more than that.

So, I'd recommend on the fourth day of their hatching you start hatching a batch of brine shrimp (and continue hatching brine shrimp for a couple of days) to keep your hungry hatchlings fed until you can feed them finely crushed adult food. While you are busy making sure they are well fed also don't forget to do frequent water changes, 10% daily is recommended, but you can get away with 10% every other day.

Hope this helps and good luck with your eggs :)

[Slinky_Bass]

but wait there's more, I was just doing some reading up on rearing corys and according to Don Kinyon on Planet Catfish, his fry did really well on microworms (never heard of the things, I'm in South Africa, the products available here are pretty limited :( .

Anyway, he fed his fry on microworms and finely crushed flake food up until they were two months, and then they can then be fed finely crushed/chopped adult food. He also mentioned needing to change to a bigger tank as they grew on to cut down on water maintenance, as he was changing the water in his 10 gal twice a day!

[Abbeys_Mom]

Good luck :). If you can't find the food you will need for the baby corys you can alway order some online and start raising food them. You don't really have time, this time, because you already have the eggs.