Question on Breeding Julii

[VonKlitz]

Quick question for all you fishy folk, I currently have 5 cory’s. I like them, they have a great personality, I want more.
But, I would like to see if i can breed them myself, so far i have had them for 11 months, so I assume they should be at the right age to breed, alas i have no eggs or fry.
So I was wondering if I am missing something, now my tank is fairly heavily planted, has great parameters, lights are on for 6 hours per day, and they get a 15% water change weekly (with cold water if it makes any difference).
My one concern is if they are getting enough food, which I tried to check over on planted tank (https://www.reddit.com/r/PlantedTank/co ... _question/), however I don't have an answer on that yet either
Does anyone have any experience with these guys, that could give me a hand?

Tanks details: Size: 150 L - 12 months old Parameters: ammonia, nitrites and nitrates are all at 0 ppm, with a pH of ~7.5 Filter: 1x Eheim Classic 2215 (620lph with media),1 100 lph in tank filter Filtration: stock filter media for eheim, noodles for in tank Fish: 8-10 neons, 8 rummy nose, 2 endlers, 1 flame gourami, 2 bumble bee goby, 5 copper rasboras, 1 bristlenose, 3 otto’s Other: use small amounts of fertiliser weekly Food: Algae pellets, frozen bloodworms (once daily)

PS: 99% sure they are Julie's, and that this is a boy http://imgur.com/nv2dXqH
PSS: This was an x-post from reddit, apparently you guys know your stuff

[Dave Rinaldo]

Corydoras trilineatus

http://www.planetcatfish.com/shanesworl ... d+Corys%3F

[Bas Pels]

Looking at what you feed them - Food: Algae pellets, frozen bloodworms (once daily), I wonder whether these, basically carnivorous, fish get enough food. They might not be able to digest the algae pellets properly.

You might want to add some other food to their diet. I would use some sinking dried food, such as granulate or pellets made from standard general fish food

[Karsten S.]

Hi,

PS: 99% sure they are Julie's

what makes you so sure that they are C. julii ?!
Based on the picture and the general availability of this species the probability is well above 99% that they are not .

Cheers,

[Phish]

That's definitely Corydoras trilineatus since it has the lines rather than truly dotted like C. julii (there is a spotted/dotted variety of C. trilineatus that looks like C. julii, but is still distinguishable).

Well usually you hear of people doing cold water changes and feeding high protein diets to condition the Corydoras to spawn (for a week or two), which it seems you are doing. Although your 15% water changes are pretty small and the cold water you are adding to the higher temp tank water isn't really giving the cold temp. drop as wanted to trigger spawning. Do 50-70% water changes. Keep the cooler water temperature difference within 10*F, some say 10*F difference, but that is a bit more of a drop than I feel comfortable with. Bloodworms are higher protein packed, but are you sure they are getting enough?

I've also heard of doing large water changes and leaving the water level low, simulating a drought sort of, can also trigger spawning behavior. Pretty much just do a large water change, leave the water low for a little while with the filter off (maybe just 30 minutes to a hour or so), then just finish the water change with cooler water as normal.

Otherwise, the Corys will just spawn when they are happy. But many things can cause the corys to be uncomfortable enough to not spawn, such as tank mates bothering/stressing them, group not being large enough.

Do the bumblebee gobies nip at the corys at all?
Do the corys seem weary of the gourami at all?

The group of 5 is a bit small. Still able to get them to breed, but much easier when the corys are happier in a larger shoal.
And are you sure you even have both males and females? Females are generally noticeably larger/plumper and their belly is more round causing them to rest slanted-like on the substrate.

Then again, I am no professional breeder so take my advice for what it is, but I have bred over a dozen different Corydoras species.

[bekateen]

That's definitely Corydoras trilineatus since it has the lines rather than truly dotted like C. julii (there is a spotted/dotted variety of C. trilineatus that looks like C. julii, but is still distinguishable).

Well usually you hear of people doing cold water changes and feeding high protein diets to condition the Corydoras to spawn (for a week or two), which it seems you are doing. Although your 15% water changes are pretty small and the cold water you are adding to the higher temp tank water isn't really giving the cold temp. drop as wanted to trigger spawning. Do 50-70% water changes. Keep the cooler water temperature difference within 10*F, some say 10*F difference, but that is a bit more of a drop than I feel comfortable with. Bloodworms are higher protein packed, but are you sure they are getting enough?

Otherwise, the Corys will just spawn when they are happy. But many things can cause the corys to be uncomfortable enough to not spawn, such as tank mates bothering/stressing them, group not being large enough.

Do the bumblebee gobies nip at the corys at all?
Do the corys seem weary of the gourami at all?

Yeah, I'd agree with all of that.

The group of 5 is a bit small. Still able to get them to breed, but much easier when the corys are happier in a larger shoal.

Although probably still important, I wouldn't worry so much about this, as my trilineatus have spawned regularly for several years in groups of 3-5.

That said, I'm more concerned about other tankmates eating the eggs before you see them. Although my trilineatus may not be typical compared to the trilineatus of other people here, my trilineatus tend to lay very few eggs at a time - whereas my aeneus will lay upwards of 200 eggs or more in a single night, my trilineatus may lay only 25. And even then, they don't put the eggs all in one place; they put a few here, and a few there... mostly on plant leaves and decorations in the tank (not many on the glass, which is where I typically find my aeneus eggs.

So is it possible that your fish are spawning and you just aren't finding the eggs?

Cheers, Eric

[Narwhal72]

I have had the best results breeding cory's by keeping them in a tank by themselves with one female and two males.

If you have too many in the tank sometimes they won't breed, or if they breed, the others gobble up the eggs before you can collect them.

I also have much better success removing the adults after breeding than collecting the eggs and hatching them in a separate container.

Andy

[catmandave]

I agree with Andy that your chances of success will be much greater if you keep your corys by themselves, that way you will be able to see how much food they are consuming and also rule out predation by other tank-mates. You will also be able to observe them easier and see what effects the cooler water changes are having. I do not think that doing cold water changes on your community tank is a good idea - you risk getting an outbreak of ich.