Thanks for that piece of information Jollysue. I feel a whole lot better now....NOT!

I kinda figured they were a bit more aggressive than the others. Not only will the males chase each other, but when they're 'in the mood' they'll chase other fish as well! That was a shock the first time I saw that. None of the other corys I've ever had did that. These guys take crap from no one.

The nitrites in the 20 kept going up and I've been doing daily 50% water changes. This morning I said 'enough'. I took the Aqua Flow 20 from the 10 gallon and added it to the 20. Tonight the 20 is almost normal. It's easier to do water changes in the 10 than the 20. Cheaper too. And besides I have 2 sponge filters going in the 10 with 5 juveniles in it so I'm not worried by ammonia and nitrites.

Tonight I move the 7 juveniles from the 2.5 to the 20. They don't look happy but it's a healthier environment (I hope). We'll see how they feel tomorrow morning. The 3 adults were huddled together under a piece of wood watching the juveniles being added. They didn't look happy either. They just lost exclusivity of their 20 gallon love hotel.

That's all the news for today.

Cheers everybody.

How are things now? Are they all settled and doing well? You have gone through so much for these fish... it is time they did something good for you...

Maybe once they are settled in and happy they will decide to give you some eggs that you can work with...

Keep us up on how it is going

Oh my, and this is from a lady who herself is going through hell with her own corys.

I've been following your posts on the emergencies thread and I really have no advice.

As mentioned, the third batch is gonzo. Well, as my wife asks "Why do you want more fish?", I reply "Don't cloud the issues with facts!".

For now, I'm just going to go with the flow and let nature take it's course. I'm going up to the cottage every weekend from now on plus take 2 whole weeks in the summer so maybe it's good there are no fry.

I need to chill and enjoy what I have.

But thank you for asking.

Cheers.

I lost 2 of my sick ones, and the other 2 are almost well.

None of mine have left eggs in a while. I don't know what the deal is. I really didn't have time to deal with them any way, so I am not complaining.

I hope everything goes well for yours. Are they happier in the new tank?

Getting away should do you good. I wish I had a place to go get away. I am just always here...

Ya, I read about that in the emergencies section. I really had no advice to give so I just kept my mouth shut. But I do offer my condolences.

They all seem much happier in the 20. It's funny to see the juveniles hanging around with their parents.

When I got home from the cottage yesterday evening I noticed that she had laid eggs again but I don't hold any hope that they are fertile so I'm just leaving them undisturbed. I'm wondering if the parents have become sterile...

You need to get away from 'stuff' just to get your batteries recharged. I ended up going up late Friday morning and spent the day raking leaves from last Fall, getting bitten by black flies and mosquitoes but it was great! I slept 13 hours that night then we went to friends across the lake for a nice salmon dinner. And yesterday I helped a neighbor get his boat engine started (why do people not listen to me until they've tried it their own way and it doesn't work?). This morning I served a breakfast-in-bed waffle breakfast for the intelligent one of the family. Quite a relaxing long weekend.

Sorry, this has nothing to do with Corydoras and has turned into a blog. But we're all friends here, right?

Cheers.

Are the eggs completely white? Are they starting to tint brown any?

I stopped collecting eggs while my Daddy was sick. After a few spawns without me collecting any... they stopped spawning. They haven't done it at all since. Now I would like to see some eggs, but they just refuse to give me any... I hope they will eventually get back in the swing of things. I will just have to be patient...

Oh gosh, I didn't mean to stir up memories, sorry.

The eggs have turned brown but so fat I don't see anything inside. As I mentioned earlier, I'm just going to let nature takes it's course for the next several months and see what turns up.

Patience is a virtue....

Cheers.

Don't worry about the memories... they are always there. You didn't do anything to make them worse. Most of my memories are really good, and I am dealing with the rest. It will just take time. I do appreciate your concern, but I don't want you thinking you caused anything bad just because I mention him or his death. I talk about him and think about him all the time. He was a very big part of my life. There is so much I could say, but I think it is best just left like this... religion is a wonderful thing.

If the eggs are brown... that means they are fertile, so you don't have to worry about them being sterile. There are many reasons whey the eggs may not hatch. I have had tons of eggs hatch that I was unable to see fry in. Just because you can't see them does not mean they are not there. I have also had a few batches that did not hatch out as quickly too. I have had a few occasions where some hatched in 3-4 days and some didn't hatch for a week. Once I even had eggs hatch when they were almost 2 weeks old! They didn't fungus so I kept them and watched. They finally hatched and most of them lived. The main thing is keeping them from getting fungus and not letting the other fish eat them. I only say all this because I threw out lots of eggs that may have hatched eventually... I thought after the 4 days if they had not hatched they were not going to. This apparently is not true. Now I keep them until they either fungus or go flat.

I am not doing anything to encourage breeding right now either. I am planning on setting up my 3 10g tanks for breeding later... When I get them up and running I will start trying to breed again. It will probably be several months before I get around to setting them up though. I have the 2 20 long tanks going up now, and the 60 and 55 after that. Then I will get to the 10g tanks...

Keep us up on how things are going, and I will try not to fill your thread with stuff about my tanks... sorry for that.

My thread?

Heh, this is a public forum remember; it's OUR thread.

As for the eggs, I noticed something interesting the last 2 days. When examined with a diamond lupe (used to examine diamond rings) I noticed some black 'flecks' inside the eggs. Today I noticed that some of the eggs were just shells; no contents. That could mean: a) the eggs hatched and the fry were taken away by the current of the Eheim 2213 or b) they contents were eaten by the adults. But either way, this appears to be the first time (since the sickness) that the eggs were brown.

One day at a time...

I am glad that you now know for sure that they can make babies. That takes the stress off. Even if you don't want to "breed" them right now... at least you know they are ok for when you do.

I just noticed something. We are the only 2 in OUR thread. Nobody else has posted in this one. That is odd.

Can you say "BORING"?

Why would anyone post here? There's nothing really being said except for me whining and you telling me that it will all work out.

I don't care. I'm enjoying posting here and I like our conversations. I'm wondering where Jollysue has gotten off to? Last thing I remember reading was she was quite busy with work or some such thing. I hope everything is alright.

As for the eggs, yes, I was hopeful when I saw they were brown. The previous 3 times they were white and stayed white. This time I left them in because I just wanted to see what would happen. As it turns out, I still don't know what happened. Did they hatch? Were they eaten? No idea. Since she laid them on the front glass 1/2 way up and right in front of the Eheim's spray hose, they certainly got great water circulation. But if they DID hatch, could and did they survive the heavy downdraft? I can't see any fry in the tank but they could be anywhere (if they are somewhere).

It's interesting that she's laying eggs quite regularily now, once every 7 days, like clock work. Not a lot of eggs, just 10 or so. Next time I'll try to harvest them, if they are brown, a day after they're laid. I need to find a way to attach one of those pots that aquarium plants come in over top of the eggs to keep them from being eaten. They have enough openings to still let the water circulate but the openings are small enough to keep the hungry mouths away.

Ok, it's 1:30 am here, I have to get to sleep.

Night night and cheers.

Why not put them in a fry net? That is the easiest way as far as I know.

Good point. But why cloud the issue with facts?

I just wanted to see what happens. And the results are inconclusive. Next time I'll put them into the fry net 'after they turn brown' AND after the first day. Previously the net was in the fry tank but this time I'll put it into the 20 gallon.

Also I just got a new 10 gallon tank. So far the intelligent one of the family hasn't noticed. But it's just a matter of time till I'm busted.

I have so many tanks now that my other half can't keep up with what I already had and what I didn't...
He just dicovered the other day that I have 3 10g tanks, and I have had them for a long time. I just have never had all of them running at the same time...

Be careful... sounds like mts may be beginning, and I don't think there is a cure once it gets serious.
What is going in the 10g?

My parents came by yesterday to say hello and went downstairs to look at my fish (my dad loves to watch the red wag platties, neon tetras and the corys).

He was surprised to see all the new tanks (it's been a while). My wife came down and was explaining what they were all for. Although she noticed the new one she didn't say a word. That's only one of the reasons why I love her. Being 55 I guess she figures it's better to go through a mid life crisis buying fish tanks than to buy a sports car.

I'm planning to use the 10 gallon as a quarantine tank. But I saw the most darling pea puffers at the lfs store... No, quarantine tank. But wait. I should keep fish in there to keep it cycled, right?

... I am weak ...

I went down that road... The problem was that the fish I chose for my qt tank couldn't go in any of my other tanks when I needed the qt for sick fish, so I just had to keep getting another tank... That is how I ended up with 3 10g tanks.

Hey! 3 is my lucky number!

Right now I'm growing Xmas and Singapore moss in the tank. Got a terrible case of algae hair in the Xmas moss. I wonder if I should put some shrimp in to clear it up? That would be consistent with the QT. I can move the moss and shrimp around as needed.

My problem with getting more tanks is I am out of room in the area where the tanks currently are so that's it for me. I'm loath to set up a second area for tanks.