What Set Up For Breeding My Sterbai?

[simonas]

I have 9 sterbai that Ive had a couple of years now, on a couple of occasions they have laid eggs in the tank but it was a community tank and they soon went

Im moving to a bigger house next month and plan to set up a breeding tank for the corys? what size breeding tank will do for the fish to spawn and then for the fry to be raised?

Thanks

 

[Katch]

90 litre of above - Sterbai are big fish.

Fill it with plants - real or plastic - but really fill it and have a thin layer of sand in the bottom. Filter with a low flow rate canister or preferably a large double air driven sponge.

Put the adults in and feed on bloodworm twice a day and watch for signs of spawning; they shouldn't start yet but often will. Do a large water change with cold water after a few days and this will get them spawning.

Let them spawn for a whole day then move them back to your main tank. Turn your air pump up as high as it will go and add a big airstone if you can (2 air pumps needed now).

The eggs should be stuck all over the plants. If you used plastic you can cluster them all round the airstone. Couple of days later you'll have fry.

Order microworms from ebay and make sure you have 3 cultures going - new, mature, old - at all times.

 

[simonas]

cheers Katch

I shall keep an eye on this next month when I do it

I cant wait to get some baby corys now

 

[Zikofski]

would this be a same if not similar setup for green or orange laser cory's i have 14 of them and when i notice them breeding in my community tank i would love to grow some of my own

 

[Inchworm]

Hi simonas

I'm glad you plan to raise some corys in the near future. C.sterbai are lovely fish and, unless they are very old, if they have spawned already, your chances are pretty good that they'll do it again.

C. sterbai were the second (after C. aeneus)corys I had spawn for me. At that time I had no clue what to do and was learning by trial and error. All I needed to do to get them to spawn was to do a normal water change and then turn the heater off overnight. One thing I learned with them is to not let them spawn in a tank with gravel on the bottom. The only time you can see them with this substrate is when they hop up. A very thin layer of sand works so much better for them.

After that, I later had another batch of sterbai and they never gave me a single egg, no matter what I did.

One thing I wondered about was if I had all of one gender and none of the other. Both sexes of this species are big, somewhat husky fish and they're not the easiest ones to tell apart. That's something you can start looking at now. If you're not sure or only have one sex, keep your eyes open for a chance to buy some more mature ones. This isn't always easy to do and that's why I suggest you start now.

Some breeders recommend having a ratio of one female to two males to insure maximum fertilization of the eggs. I wouldn't worry too much about that as long as you have at least two males per spawning female.

Did you read this article yet? If not, take a look at it. It will give you some things to think about and, while it's not the only way to go, it's a good starting place.

_____

Hi Zikofski,

About the only thing different you need do to breed your laser corys is to keep the tank at a cooler temperature than simonas will be doing. You'll also need some luck.

 

[snazy]

Hi Simonas,


Not that I am very experienced with corys but my albino aeneus spawn without any pattern really besides that it's mostly in the morning for some reason. I have never done a water temperature drop because of my other fish and they only get frozen blood worms or brine shrimp once a week or once every two weeks, same as my other fish.
I've read corys are supposed to like still water but mine seem to prefer the high water flow if that is of any help and they have spawned like crazy since I purchased them a few months ago. They seem to like laying the eggs in areas with high water flow, always. Both the tanks my corys were kept in are overfiltered so I am presuming, although not sure that this has helped as I haven't followed any other cold water water change/blood worm overfeeding suggestions available online.
Water quality issues will aslo affect their spawning frequence in my opinion. The corys seem to react to ammonia way below the 0.25ppm so if you tap water has ammonia it may be a problem as they will be subjected to it at every water change.

Good luck anyways. I am sure this will be some enjoyable experience

P.S. I can't manage with hatchig the eggs so it will be interesting how you get on.

 

[Inchworm]

Corys do not live in still water but rather in flowing streams. These dry up somewhat during the dry season and the chemicals become a bit concentrated. Then, rainy season starts and the temperature drops and the water flows down from the mountains filling the streams and rivers. This is a sign for the corys to breed because it is the beginning of the cycle that brings plenty of food for them and their young,

To simulate this in an aquarium, we do water changes, sometimes using cooler water, and clean the substrate and filter. This reduces dissolved chemicals, increases the water flow somewhat, and often tricks the fish into thinking it's time to spawn. Do not do anything drastic. IMHO, no one needs fry enough to shock their fish into producing them.

Since corys do the best they can to help their offspring survive, it's natural that they will spawn in flowing water which will keep them clean and refreshed for the few days before they hatch. When that happens the fry drop down into the mulm on the bottom and remain there for the short period of time it takes for them to gain size and strength to swim in the flowing water.

 

[Zikofski]

nice thanks for the info and i would be great to breed my laser ones but ye i know its a big ask haha with 15 of them huge tank and allot of water flow maybe i will get lucky but i will w8 on cold water changes as my torpedoes hate cold water changes