One thing I did with these peppered cories that isn't suitable for all species of Corydoras was to leave them outside over summer in a small pond. As I understand it, this species lives in subtropical climates and naturally encounters periods of cold as well as warmth. Anyway, they stayed outside from June through to early September, eating algae and various small invertebrates, as well as catfish pellets once or twice a week. Once I brought them in, they spawned almost at once. The first time I lost the eggs, but the second time I managed to save a fair number of eggs from the marauding snails.
I've got some other pictures on my web site,
here, so you can see the whole sequence from egg to hatchling to little kitten.
There's some variation in Corydoras between easy species (like peppered cories) through to difficult ones (like C. trilineatus). Probably what matters is researching the habitat, conditioning the fish, and then figuring out the trigger. In the case of peppered cories, cold and then warm water are known to be the triggers, so bringing mine in from outdoors into a tropical tank is what did the trick.
As for raising the fry, mine get algae, pond food, and Hikari "first bites". I also pour in some of the cloudy water from when I defrost frozen krill and bloodworms, on the assumption that the small particles therein are probably quite appealing to the kittens. I did use anti-fungus in the aquarium when the eggs were there because some infertile eggs did go fungussy. But after hatching the fry don't seem bothered by the mulm and detritus in the aquarium. They're living in quite a messy tank that I use to raise baby halfbeaks, which love daphnia and other small animals from the pond. So the bottom of the tank is covered in algae, decaying plant matter, and things like planarians and tiny worms. I'm assuming there's also lots of infusoria, which the kittens are eating.
But peppered cories are hardy fish, and more delicate species quite possibly need much cleaner conditions. I have no experience of those, and can't comment really.
Cheers,
Neale
I'm wanting to breed some trills, any tips for me? Theres going to be 10 in a 20G densely planted tank.
