did I spawn C. habrosus?

[fishbguy]

I think my Corydoras habrosus may have spawned

The other day, when I was cleaning the tank, I noticed some small, egg looking balls on my front glass. I tried to pick them off, thinking they were snails, and they didn't come off rightaway, at least, without alot of pressure...as far as things sticking to the glass goes.

When they came off, they left a whiteish ring on the glass. like they were semented on.

I think these may be C. habrosus eggs. The only other fish and animals in the tank are: A. agassazii, which spawn in caves, and the eggs are red I believe, I. kerri, which are egg scatters, so no eggs would end up onthe glass, and some olive nerite snails, which need brackish water to reproduce, correct? So I think my corys might have spawned.

The thing is, I only have 3 of them, and on top of it, it happened while my tank was a mess from my Co2 system leaving about 2 liters of mixture into the tank.

But then again, I've been doing daily 5 gallon waterchanges for the past week or so to keep O2 levals good while I clean out the tank. So the cooler temps from the water, along with a lower Ph (6.8, but the driftwood and Co2 lowers it some, but I'm not sure how much exactly) may have led them to spawn.

The eggs haven't hatched yet, nor do I think that they are going to, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

What do all of you think? Any ideas? Have these cories even been spawned in captivity before? Has anyone here ever spawned C. habosus?

Guess what else is funny...My albino C. aenus in another tank spawned a couple of days ago as well...lmao. Coincidense? I think not...lol

andrew

[OldMan]

Yes C Habrosus have been spawned by breeders before and frequent water changes can promote breeding in corydoras in general. I would gladly trade places with you on the cories. I have been working to bring my habrosus into condition but don't really have a place for them to breed at the moment. Finding eggs would make my day even if I didn't succeed in hatching and rearing them. What are your tank parameters and water temperature?

[fishbguy]

I'm still not convinced that they are habrosus eggs, as like I said in my first post, the tank was a mess when I found the eggs.

Temp is somewhere between 76 and 78 (kinda flucuates with all my waterchanges)

I'm not sure on everything else. Last I checked (about 3 weeeks ago)

Amonia:0ppm
Phosphates:5ppm
Nitrates:0ppm
Nitrites:0ppm
Ph 6.8

With all my water changes lately, the phosphates prolly went down, as I have been using RO/DI water on them. My tap water's Ph is at 8.0-8.2 and my phosphates are through the roof, so I've been using the RO/DI wter to help lower all of the above.

I'm getting my water checked today at work, so I'll let you all know what is is as of today when I get back. My personal testkit only does amonia, Ph and nitrites. But I'm not all that sure how accurate it is.

[apistomaster]

I am reasonably certain what you found were Corydoras habrosus eggs. Your tank may not look pretty but the water chemistry and frequent water changes are stimulating factors for Corydoras breeding. A sparkling clean tank is not necessarily the ideal breeding tank.
Mine are not that clean although I make frequent and large water changes. The detritus provides many of the Corydoras fry their first meals. Lots of healthy microscopic critters are present among the debris that accumulates and can actually improve the survival rate of the fry.
If no other fish were present I am sure you would begin to find fry.
My Corydoras habrosus and Corydoras hastatus are kept in long term breeding set ups. They don't eat their own eggs or fry. Many of the normal sized Corydoras species do eat their eggs but none of the Dwarf species do. I started out with 10 of each in 20 Longs and in less than one year, I have hundreds of C. hastatus and I would guess about 75 C. habrosus.
C. habrosus eggs are very large relative to the size of the breeders and are fewer in number than those produced by C. hastatus which also produces much smaller eggs. Here is a look at my C. hastatus breeding colony and you can see there are all different sizes. What isn't visible are the large numbers of fry about the size of a new born Guppy or smaller which hide in a thick growth of Hornwort or among the hollow ceramic bio-media rubble piles I provide for them to hide in until the are large enough to feel bold enough to join the schools of larger fish. I use a thin layer of FloraBase to barely cover the underlying bottom glass. These particles are about 1/8 in inch in diameter so you can use them to get a scale of how small many of the fish shown really are. If you look closely at the lower piece of Hornwort, you can just make out an egg stuck to one of the spikes of the Hornwort.

[Richard B]

Great photo Larry & a great group of fish - exactly the way dwarf corys should be kept

[apistomaster]

Thanks, Richard,
Too bad they are such small fish in some ways because their tank is wall to wall Corydoras hastatus and if i shake the bushes hundreds of baby guppy sized and smaller larvae come falling out. They are going to be started in a 55 gal in the same way to ramp up their production. 99% of the "Corydoras hastatus" sold in this country are actually C. pygmeus.
Corydoras habrosus steadily increase in numbers but nothing like the C. hastatus.

[fishbguy]

Thanks for the info...

Ph-6.6
Amonia-0
Nitrites-0
Nitrates-0
Phosphates-3

The eggs are still stuck to the wall, and they are not white yet.

Here, it seems that y;all think that they are cory eggs, whereas on plantedtank.net, they seem to think that they are eggs from my nerite snails.

I'll just scrape them off and throw them in a small tank with some moss and hope for the best.

[apistomaster]

Well, who are you going to believe, Corydoras breeders or aquarium gardeners?
The eggs hatch about 5 days after being laid at 76*F. C. habrosus fry are surprisingly large, almost baby Guppy sized, but they will hide well until they complete their development into miniatures of the adults. Then they will begin to associate with the adults. Once that happens, their numbers should begin to snowball, new ones constantly being recruited into the older group. Not all eggs will hatch and not all larvae survive but enough will until before long, you will have a nice size colony made up of a different sizes of Corys.

[fishbguy]

I believe you about the eggs, and I take your word for it, but the thing is, is that they are saying that the eggs could be nerite snail eggs, which I also have in the tank. I'm guessing that they are cory eggs, as everything I've been doing is about right for them to spawn. I'm still hoping that the eggs hatch...I'll keep you updated.

[corywink]

nerite eggs are quite different then cory eggs. I had nerites and they would lay eggs all over, I've also spawned a few corys. Nerite eggs have a hard shell, cory eggs are "softer"

[TJiggyR]

I believe you have olive nerite snail eggs. My olive nerites were laying eggs on the glass of my larger freshwater tank and they don't usually hatch in freshwater. I have moved my breeding nerites to a smaller species only tank that is brackish and the eggs they have laid in there are beginning to hatch into free swimming larvae. The olive nerite snail eggs are basically calcium encrusted so they are much harder and leave a white ring. They will turn a darker color and rot in freshwater.