C.pygmaeus by Luis Perez

Egg options

Welcome to our egg and fry raising guide.

This guide was written and photographed with the help of Mike King and Tim Adams, both of whom have been keeping and breeding corydoras for many years.

This guide is a sequel to our guide on how to breed corydoras which can be found here.

Congratulations! You have corydoras eggs .. or have you ?

First make sure the eggs are corydoras; the eggs are spherical, clear to light brown, and  are from 0.8mm to 1.5mm in size.

Egg raising options:

  1. Let nature take its course, perhaps you don’t want a lot of new corydoras  or your tank has lots of hiding space. Then leave nature to do its things, often a few will survive.
  2. Remove the parents: the parents will often eat the eggs so if you have a spare tank then this may be a good option for you.
  3. Remove the eggs; this is regarded as the most successful option and the one we will talk through here.

 

 

Removing the eggs

The eggs will often be stuck to the glass but they can also be on leaves, spawning mops or even scattered in the sand.

The eggs can be very sticky so they may be tricky to remove.

There are four options to remove them:

  1. If on a leaf or spawning mop these can be removed. Simple 🙂
  2. Remove by rolling your fingers along the eggs. The eggs are quite hardy and can take this if you are careful.
  3. Use a credit card or razor blade to get underneath them.
  4. Use an air line hose to siphon the eggs out.
Egg removal with airline

Egg container and preventing fungus

Put the eggs in a container that is around 1 litre in size.

Ensure the container has a good air flow creating water movement via an air stone.

Ensure the eggs are separated as much as possible as any fungus will spread to any the affected one touches.

To maximise the survival of eggs from fungus you can try one of the following options:

  1. Methylene blue : 4 drops per litre.
  2. esha 2000 : standard 3 day dosage.
  3. alder cone : 1 alder cone should be added to the 1 litre pot, remove at 3 days.
  4. cherry shrimp: adding these will eat the bad eggs and clean the good eggs.
Eggs with alder cone before staining
Eggs with alder cone before staining
Eggs after staining with alder cone
Eggs after staining with alder cone

 

It is critical to check 2 times a day and remove any infertile eggs ( all white ) and eggs with fungus on them.

 

 

 

 

Fry stage 1

Congratulations! You have done well and got your fry to hatch, give your self a pat on the back!

Move the fry into an 8 litre container using the parents water with an air stone

You will need to do a 40% water change every day using parents water.

Once their yolks have gone it’s time to start feeding, normally around day 2.

Fry 8 in 8 litre tub

 

 

 

Fry stage 2

Continue to do 40% water changes.

Now it’s time to give them some food, ideally micro worms or grindal worms or infusoria.

If none are available a product like First bites may be accepted.

Continue this way until they are 1 month old, then they can graduate into a bigger tank.

C079 1 month vs 2 months

 

Fry stage 3

At 1 month they will need to be in a bigger tank, 60 litres is ideal.

This tank should have water changes every other day of around 30%.

Keeping feeding them as before until they reach 2-3 months.

At this point they are good to join others in a grow out tank.

Well done, now relax and enjoy your new fish!

Don’t forget to share your breeding success with our breeding reports found under the species 

Video Showing the stages