Fanscinating C. Sterbai

Scarlet · Post by **Scarlet** » 12 Jan 2003, 08:05

Can any expert here share with us your experience in keeping and breeding such facinating cory?

Post by **Silurus** » 12 Jan 2003, 10:15

Ask Ian (Coryman). He's da Man. If you buy his book (Breeding Corydoradine Catfishes), you'll find info on breeding <i>C. sterbai</i>, among other species.

Heok Hee

(Hey Ian, do I get a commission for a potential sale?

)

gibbo · Post by **gibbo** » 12 Jan 2003, 13:29

I have 5 of these guys. They like a bit of current to the tank and are very easy to keep. My water perameters are pH 7-7.5, gH 7. They spawned within 4 weeks of me getting them but because they were in a community tank the eggs didn't get a chance to hatch. Good frozen livefoods (bloodworm, Artemia) and pellet foods rich in protein condition them well. My temps quite high (27 Celsius) and a cool water change of about 50% can help trigger spawning.

Scarlet · Post by **Scarlet** » 12 Jan 2003, 15:50

Thanks Silurus, it's our honour to meet Ian, the expert here.

To: gibbo, I've got ten of them in my tank. i find them quite active and like pellet food much. But, what are the parameters to let them lay eggs?

Post by **Coryman** » 12 Jan 2003, 17:51

Scarlet

A temperature range of between 22 and 26 Celsius. Give them a varied diet including live or frozen foods if possible and make 50% cool water changes every week. Use water that is at least 5 degrees C cooler. If nothing happens after month try doing the water changes twice a week.

Good luck Ian

(Heok Hee Thanks for the plug, Thats another coffee I owe you)

Post by **Silurus** » 12 Jan 2003, 18:33

Ian,

It's always a pleasure. In fact, I felt so bad about not helping you more after you gave me a copy of the book, I am willing to contribute an article to Cat Chat. Email me off forum. Don't want this to stray off topic.

Heok Hee

Scarlet · Post by **Scarlet** » 13 Jan 2003, 14:09

Thanks Ian, but shall we give them any shelter for them to prawn? please illustrate.

Monette · Post by **Monette** » 13 Jan 2003, 17:17

Hi Scarlet,

We are currently breeding Sterbai.

Specs for our tank...

50 gallon
natural gravel (small size)
Eheim canister filter
powerhead for water flow (they love it)
Ebo-Jager set at 76 F.
Gh/kh 3 and under
ph 6.4 (comes out of our tap at 7.2, ages lower due to softness)
it was 6.0 yesterday when last checked.

We have them spawn at 7 with no problem also. To trigger the spawning we do a w/c with colder water (70 ish) and let the heater bring it back to 76 F.

We feed Frozen Bloodworms (Hikari sterilized) along with Ocean Nutrition Formula 1 and 2. We also give them on occasion a few pellets. When they start spawning I drop a few sinking pellets to keep the non-spawning ones occupied, so they don't eat the eggs before we can collect them. Keeping them well fed is very important.

To get them started we also had plastic plants in tank, slate for hiding behind. We have since *remodeled* their home and took out plants and just have ornametal rocks for them to play around and hide behind....plants are sometimes hard to find the eggs on. But we wanted to make them feel *at home*
Now as to which these things were necessary for breeding, some or all? Not sure but this is what worked for us

We have them spawning like crazy every 2 to 3 days. It is trying to keep the fry alive now! We have found that a little more challenging. We do have quite a few juvies at the moment, we are just trying to improve on the mortality rate.

I find them a very awesome cory

Good luck! Hope this helps.

Post by **Coryman** » 14 Jan 2003, 00:03

I don't give them cover like hiding places. They get floating spawning mops, Java fern and Java mos. All this is to make the eggs harder to find by the none spawners, who would attempt to eat any eggs they can find.

Ian

Monette · Post by **Monette** » 14 Jan 2003, 04:13

Maybe I should clarify...we give them big rocks to get up next to, or go behind, not under, we can still see them. It gives them something to go behind when there is traffic in front of their tank, makes them feel more secure (or maybe that is just my perception of it

)

Scarlet · Post by **Scarlet** » 19 Jan 2003, 11:56

Finally, they started to spawn. Thank God !!
Actually, I found that one of the drift wood full of their eggs.

But, i wonder how long it takes to hatch??

Yann · Post by **Yann** » 19 Jan 2003, 16:01

Hi!

Well depending on the water t°, it will be between 3-5 days! With the cooler the longer!

Cheers
Yann

Scarlet · Post by **Scarlet** » 22 Jan 2003, 16:20

Today, I found there are baby C. Sterbai for sale. The shopkeeper said that they are from Asia with retail price for US$2-3. Do you know what are their difference from South America??

macquatic · Post by **macquatic** » 22 Jan 2003, 20:47

Your lfs probably meant they were bred and shipped from Asia.
Cories hail from S.America.

Mac.