Breeding Peppers

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CozyCat

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Hi,

I have a group of 10 corydoras, 5 albino and 5 peppered.
The albinos spawn after nearly every water change and I have lots of fry growing up in another tank.
The peppers have never spawned, I can tell because the fry are albino.
I think I have 2 female and 3 male peppers, one of the females is really chunky haha.
So just wondering if anyone has any tips on encouraging peppers to spawn?

Thanks!
 
Iv saw people breed corys in bins ( trash cans )
With a mop head and an air stone , seems primitive but it worked
Introducing cooler water on water changes triggers some spawning activity and fast flow , try moving your filter or air stone flow facing the glass to create a high flow zone a lot of corys try to spawn in high flow areas
 
Do you know whether your albinos are albino aeneus, or albino paleatus (peppered)?

Peppered prefer cooler water to aeneus, so if your albino are aeneus, might have more luck moving the peppered to their own cooler tank. But adding water from the aeneus tank when they're spawning can help induce the peppered to spawn, since the hormones and things can help get them in the mood.

As @Guyb93 said above, large water changes with water that's 2-3 degrees cooler than the tank temp can help, as can adding flow. If you direct the flow towards a spawning mop, even better! Condition the fish really well before trying to spawn them, lots of live or frozen food usually does the trick.
If all tips and tricks fail, the normal spawning season for them happens in our winter time, so worth trying again later in the year!
 
Do you know whether your albinos are albino aeneus, or albino paleatus (peppered)?

Peppered prefer cooler water to aeneus, so if your albino are aeneus, might have more luck moving the peppered to their own cooler tank. But adding water from the aeneus tank when they're spawning can help induce the peppered to spawn, since the hormones and things can help get them in the mood.

As @Guyb93 said above, large water changes with water that's 2-3 degrees cooler than the tank temp can help, as can adding flow. If you direct the flow towards a spawning mop, even better! Condition the fish really well before trying to spawn them, lots of live or frozen food usually does the trick.
If all tips and tricks fail, the normal spawning season for them happens in our winter time, so worth trying again later in the year!
Thanks for your advice 😊
I believe they are albino palestus as they have the sharp pointed dorsal fin. I keep the tank around 24 degrees Celcius.
Does your winter time mean December to February? I'm Australian so that's our summer time 🙃
 
Thanks for your advice 😊
I believe they are albino palestus as they have the sharp pointed dorsal fin. I keep the tank around 24 degrees Celcius.
Does your winter time mean December to February? I'm Australian so that's our summer time 🙃
Oh man, I didn't think to check where you are, and I get turned all upside down trying to translate the seasons, lol! :lol: Yep, that would be Dec - Feb/March. :)

But I bet you won't have to wait that long if you try the other tricks! What are you feeding and what's the tank set up they're in at the moment?
 
make sure the adults are well fed with a variety of foods.

do big daily water changes using slightly cooler water.

have the aquarium heater set on 18-22C and let the temperature go up and down by itself as the seasons change.

if you do a water change when it's about to start raining, it can help.
 
make sure the adults are well fed with a variety of foods.

do big daily water changes using slightly cooler water.

have the aquarium heater set on 18-22C and let the temperature go up and down by itself as the seasons change.

if you do a water change when it's about to start raining, it can help.

Can doing a cooler water change at dawn help? I'm sure I read that somewhere and stored it away in my brain for when I want to try and encourage my sterbai's to spawn
 
You can do a water change at any time of day, it doesn't make any difference.

A lot of fish will spawn if they get morning sunlight shining on the tank, but Corydoras aren't one of them. Fish like barbs and rainbowfish will get straight into breeding if they get the morning sun shining on their tank.

edited for bad typing :blush:
 
Last edited:
Do can do a water change at any time of day, it doesn't make any difference.

A lot of fish will spawn if they get morning sunlight shining on the tank, but Corydoras aren't one of them. Fish like barbs and rainbowfish will get straight into breeding if they get the morning sun shining on their tank.
We need a "thank you" react button! Darn it, I'm sure someone said the morning sunlight might be what made my cories spawn before. But good to know for the other species! Any chance that also applies to psuedomugli's? :D
 
Do can do a water change at any time of day, it doesn't make any difference.

A lot of fish will spawn if they get morning sunlight shining on the tank, but Corydoras aren't one of them. Fish like barbs and rainbowfish will get straight into breeding if they get the morning sun shining on their tank.
Does that apply to killifish?
 
Thanks for your advice 😊
I believe they are albino palestus as they have the sharp pointed dorsal fin. I keep the tank around 24 degrees Celcius.
Does your winter time mean December to February? I'm Australian so that's our summer time 🙃
If so then it wouldn't be logical you've only albino fry unless the normal pepperds aren't mature.
 
morning sunlight will encourage rainbowfish (including the Pseudomugil species) and killifish to breed, as well as most tetras, barbs and rasboras.
 
Iv saw people breed corys in bins ( trash cans )
With a mop head and an air stone , seems primitive but it worked
Introducing cooler water on water changes triggers some spawning activity and fast flow , try moving your filter or air stone flow facing the glass to create a high flow zone a lot of corys try to spawn in high flow areas
I saw a youtube vid about that and he said it wasn't all that successful, I find if the eggs aren't laid on glass the eggs don't stick and end up being hoovered up by the adults in no time!

I have 6 adult Albino Bronze and 6 peppered (as well as about 60 fry across three tanks, at a 75-25 ratio to the albinos) and they both breed like crazy, the albinos do make a point of eating the peppered eggs before they even set enough to roll from glass though.

I usually put the slotted base from a livebearer breeder just covering the eggs , pinned in place with an algae magnet til they're ready to transfer to first nursery which is a 3L lunchbox with a really gentle aquael filter ( I have superglued net over the intake so nobody gets sucked up) TBH even if just left in community covered until they hatch a fair few make in in a busy diverse (heavily planted) community.

If you have another tank, remove the female albinos for a few days and see if you find more eggs :)
I have rehomed at least 30 others in the last few weeks, always have more albinos.
 
The thread title said "breeding peppers" so I actually thought it was peppers 🤣
I was like: "Wai- how does that work" :rofl:
 
The thread title said "breeding peppers" so I actually thought it was peppers 🤣
I was like: "Wai- how does that work" :rofl:
I think people actually do hybridise (crossbreed) chilli peppers to keep making hotter ones! :D
 

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