New C. Metae, Sex opinions

[James165]

Hey Guys,

It's my birthday today, so i treated myself to some new fish, C metae.

I think there all males but can anyone confirm?

I've only got three to begin with as im taking it slow with the tank.

[MatsP]

I _KNOW_ that these can be sexed using the "pointy vs. rounded" ventral fin method. Unfortunately, your photo doesn't show the ventral fins very well.

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Mats

[James165]

D'oh I thought this was the standard sexing method for corydoras species.

I can't see their ventrals very well now there in the tank...

[Coryman]

A trick I use is to put the fish an opaque container and shine a light from underneath, this usually shows the fins up very well.

Ian

[MatsP]

Well, you now have three choices:
1. Just leave the fish as they are and see what happens. Females also tend to grow a fair bit larger than the males, so if some of your are/get bigger thn the others, those are probably females.

2. Catch the fish again, and get photos showing the ventral fins clearly.

3. Try to see what the ventral fins look like in the tank.

I'd be tempted to go for #1. But I suppose it depends on what you would do, should we tell you that you have all males or all females (or something you consider the "wrong mix")?

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Mats

[James165]

I think I must have at least one female, theres eggs in the tank!!! So excited!!!!

Should I leave them in the tank which is quite high flow? Or cut of the little plant leaves with them on and put them in a fish net in front the filter?

The tank was setup with breeding in mind, so I only have three C. metae in there (1F - 2M)


I was lucky enough to see the female swimming round the tank holding her egg looking for a suitable place for it!!!

[MatsP]

Congratulations. Good luck with hatching/growing out the babies. I found that a bit difficult, and I had as much success with finding fry in the external filters and in the tank itself as rearing them in the fry net. I did manage to get about a 20 fry out of my original group. My new group hasn't bred yet (possibly because my water is a bit hard, as I keep it at 200 ppm to stop my Celebes rainbows from dying).

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Mats

[apistomaster]

It looks like you have a trio.
Since many of the "normal" size Corydoras are prone to eat their eggs I usually remove the breeders after they finish spawning.
If I remove their eggs I place them in a net breeder hung in their breeding tank. I supply good circulation by any means that is convenient.

[James165]

Turns out the female laid 6 eggs all close together so I cut of one leaf with three on and left three in the main tank. We'll see. how it goes, ill keep you updated!!!

[James165]

Up to ten eggs now hopefully I can raise a some!! My water is hard also Mats! Not sure of tds but the pH is 7.6! And thats it lowered by bog wood and alder cones. What do you feed yours? Mine get the same as my apisto tank, frozen brineshrimp one day off the shelf food the next (flake for apistos pellets for corys) occasional bloodworm too! Is the current temperature of 24.5 c suitable for these long term?

Thanks!

[MatsP]

So perhaps it's the tank-mates [I expect several of them would actually eat cory eggs - e.g.

Orinocodoras eigenmanni

.

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Mats