Self-restraint failed... But it spawned on 8/12/2019! ;-)

[bekateen]

Hi All,

We've talked before in several threads about exercising self-control and restraint (e.g., here: Please help me feel better about exercising judgment in a fish store, but every once in a while, self-control fails.

Yesterday while escorting Mark Duffill around between fish clubs, I found one of my favorite LFS to have new corys and I bought two groups:

• 7x
  Corydoras delphax
  (sold as
  Corydoras melanistius
  )
• 6x of what may be
  Corydoras aurofrenatus
  (sold as
  Corydoras habrosus
  , but too young to rely on color pattern for ID).

Simultaneously, I'm shamed by my lack of restraint and happy for the cool corys I got.

Cheers, Eric

[TwoTankAmin]

This is why I try not to visit stores, auctions or anyplace else i might lose control

[Quokka]

I originally had 15 Corydoras hastatus.....lost 2 to unknown reasons.... So I had 13.

Then I see someone selling 50 for half the price per cory (Mind you, they were not even expensive to start with)

Guess what happened.....

They even put in 10 more to account for shipping losses...and I lost 2. How many do I have now?

They are now the dominant force in my tank haha

Rehoming most of the other fish to make room for them....at least they are tiny (1.5cm) now. Actually I am also looking to set up a larger tank just for them!

Control is difficult in this hobby...

[Reindas]

The problem is that if you like corys and then you find your self in front of such beautiful fishes, is hard to resist. I understand you a 100%. I have an established tank just waiting for me to find some Pygmy corys. They are hard to find here, but I'm a little afraid to order them by mail, so I'll wait.

[TwoTankAmin]

Nice get, Eric

I have never been a big joiner of clubs. orgs., etc. over my life. Even online you can basically count om your fingers the places on the internet on which I am a registered user. I resisted joining one of my local fish clubs for years as well. But that ended several years ago. Every meeting my club has an auction of fish, plants and hard goods. In June that auction is 100% of the proceeds to the seller, so month there ware a lot of great things offered.

I cannot avoid the selling at the meetings and self control seems to stay behind when I go. So I added to my sterbai group and bought five very small fry from the white cloud group. So I now have about 35 corys across two planted community display tanks.

Thank goodness I have stopped buying when it would require that I set up another tank. That habit took me about a decade to get under control.

[Froeschli]

Thank goodness I have stopped buying when it would require that I set up another tank. That habit took me about a decade to get under control.

I was just going to ask how impulse buys work when you need a cycled tank with the right parameters to put those fish in....

I mean, yeah, I go to the fish store and want [everything] but end up buying exactly what is on my planned list. Plus maybe a plant
I read about so many people who do it backwards and end up killing or returning those fish. And I don't want to be one of [those]...

Guess if you have several tanks with extra space it is possible though and you obviously know your corys...

[bekateen]

I was just going to ask how impulse buys work when you need a cycled tank with the right parameters to put those fish in....

I mean, yeah, I go to the fish store and want [everything] but end up buying exactly what is on my planned list. Plus maybe a plant
I read about so many people who do it backwards and end up killing or returning those fish. And I don't want to be one of [those]...

Guess if you have several tanks with extra space it is possible though and you obviously know your corys...

Fair question. I'm sure it's different for other people, but for me it works like this: I have a half dozen or more empty and unused (i.e., dry) 10- and 20-gallon tanks sitting around my house and work, along with filters, sand,... the works. Also, I have several mature aquaria running with two filters (sponge or HOB).

So when I impulse buy fish, I need a QT tank in a hurry.

• I remove 1/2 the sand from a running tank and mix it with an equal amount of clean sand, then add it to the new empty tank.
• I add an equal amount of clean sand to the old tank so its substrate is restored to normal.
• I remove one cycled filter from an old tank which had two filters running, and place the cycled filter in the new tank.
• I start a new filter in the old tank to get it back to where it started.
• I add an airstone or powerhead to the new tank for added aeration.
• I double- or triple-dose the new tank with Aquavitro Alpha (like Seachem prime).
• I add the new fish to the new tank.
• I feed the new fish sparingly for the first few days to allow the beneficial bacteria to develop better.

This had also been discussed elsewhere with detailed explanation of how to make it work. E.g., here: Opinions about stirring sand or gravel during weekly water changes?

Cheers, Eric

[Froeschli]

I didn't really need to know that
Much easier not to do something when you think it's a lot of work and complicated to boot....
Still. I'll try and keep the current tank alive and happy before branching out

[bekateen]

I didn't really need to know that
Much easier not to do something when you think it's a lot of work and complicated to boot....
Still. I'll try and keep the current tank alive and happy before branching out

That's okay. Keep in mind it's not a lot of work if the materials are sitting around the house to start with. And it's not so much an exact science as I might have made it sound.

But unrelated to prepping for new spontaneous tanks, on another hand, you'll see many old posts on here about not relying on a single system in a tank (e.g., have a separate filter and aeration system) so that if one filter fails, the other can still function or at least provide aeration. Having two filters in a tank is not just for enabling quick setups of new tanks; rather it improves quality of life in the main tank too.

I certainly didn't mean to pressure you into taking on more tanks. LOL

Cheers, friend.
Eric

[Froeschli]

I didn't really need to know that
Much easier not to do something when you think it's a lot of work and complicated to boot....
Still. I'll try and keep the current tank alive and happy before branching out

That's okay. Keep in mind it's not a lot of work if the materials are sitting around the house to start with. And it's not so much an exact science as I might have made it sound.

But unrelated to prepping for new spontaneous tanks, on another hand, you'll see many old posts on here about not relying on a single system in a tank (e.g., have a separate filter and aeration system) so that if one filter fails, the other can still function or at least provide aeration. Having two filters in a tank is not just for enabling quick setups of new tanks; rather it improves quality of life in the main tank too.

I certainly didn't mean to pressure you into taking on more tanks. LOL

Cheers, friend.
Eric

Backup equipment in my case has to remain just that. Once I start using it, I need more backups....

(Like when I got a second lighted plant shelf to grow out some seedlings, and uh, I think I need another two because, well, those seedlings grew up....)

Cheers

[TwoTankAmin]

Most of the time I have my own biofarm for cycling filters or keeping filters cycled. This allows me to set up instantly cycled tanks. It is especially helpful when I sell at fish events (I have ended that part of my hobby now). I would arrive with tanks and cycled filters and was always ready to go.

I usually work with 10 - 12 Poret cubes. Mostly 4x4 but also a few 5x5 and 3x3. I run summer tanks outside on our screened terrace and that is how I get them set up. Big air pump connected to cubes in a 29 gal tank. I will order a bottle of Dr. Tim's One and Only for 60 gals and I usually have his ammonium chloride on hand. The only other thing I use is a bag of crushed coral to keep the carbonate hardness up. The bacteria go in and I dose the tank to about 4 ppm. I test in a day or two and then just begin to increase the dose of ammonia to 5 ppm per shot when it drops to 0 ppm . I am usually able to set up tanks fully cycled for a full fish load in under 10 days.

I may also rinse out cycled cubes in the tank before the bacteria arrives to get a head start. When doing this I will only dose to 2 ppm of ammonia until I have the bacteria.

edit I forgot to mention that when doing the biofarm it is important to do big water changes to prevent the build up of nitrate. They should be done every 2-3 days.

[bekateen]

SPAWNED! ... One of them did, anyway.

I arrived at work to find 10 eggs on the spawning mops. These eggs are small, about 1.5mm. Some are covered with sand but all are in the mops.

I suspect the eggs are not

Corydoras delphax

but are rather from the lineage 1 fish, the ones I bought as

Corydoras(Ln1) septentrionalis

.

To me, they are the spitting image of

Corydoras aurofrenatus

, but on Facebook they were later ID'd by Ian as most similar to

C127

, or maybe a hybrid of C127 and other sympatric lineage 1 corys which might have been collected together or nearby and bundled together. I spoke to the supplier (USA wholesaler, who directed me to an Indonesian fish farming/exporting company called Aquazone Indonesia (link). They sent me a photo of one of the original parent stock fish and said they got the parent stock from a transshipper, sold as C. septentrionalis.

To this day, I'm not confident as to what they are, but for lack of better ID, I'm calling the C127.

Regardless of which species the eggs are from, either one will be a new spawn for me.

Time will tell. Fins crossed!

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

I caught the lineage 1 corys spawning today. Here's a video I made of them. Enjoy.

Cheers, Eric

Corydoras sp. C127 (?) spawning

[bekateen]

One week old babies coming along nicely. At least seven in the tank.

Cheers, Eric

[MarcW]

Looking good Eric, did you just leave them in the spawning mop with the parents or move the mop to another empty tank to hatch out?

[bekateen]

Thanks Marc. We (my student and I) pull the eggs daily off the spawning mops and incubate them in a fry net basket. Originally, we kept the fry basket in the parents' tank, but we moved the basket to an empty tank for better water quality and easier maintenance.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

Here's what the adults look like today, along with a baby about 2 weeks old.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

Corydoras sp. 127 fry are now about 3 weeks old and 12mm SL. In these photos, you can clearly make out the typical melanophore pattern of some lineage 1 corys (like septentrionalis, etc.), with the "morse code" (dots & dashes) pattern of melanin along the body midline and along the dorsal and ventral body margins; also, you can see white-looking iridophores in a similar dashed pattern along the dorsal body margin. Also, the metallic silver color is really developing around the operculum and under the skin internal abdominal organs.

The adults continue to lay a few eggs almost daily (larger spawns after a water change & feeding, smaller spawns or a day or two skipped without eggs when water old and fish not fed).

Today was a big day. 150 eggs laid since yesterday. As before, all the eggs are laid on spawning mops, singly or in pairs, with a few laid on the powerhead in the tank. That's the most eggs yet.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

Just a month old and growing well. I have about seven this size and a bunch of smaller fry of various ages, as the parents continue to spawn 2 or 3 times per week.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

No about 37 days old. Amazing what a difference 1 week can make in their color development. And the largest is really getting big - 24 mm SL!

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

Two weeks ago I added 7 more

Corydoras delphax

to my group. I now have 13 C. delphax and the largest look splendid. The males have black extended dorsal fins. Very conspicuous. Right now, they are still housed with the

C127

, but I'd like to split them into a species tank to see if they'll breed.

Cheers, Eric

My Corydoras delphax - the Piglet cory

[bekateen]

Ten days later. Colors changing fast!

And the parents continue to pump out the eggs. Last night I collected about 100 and then this morning another 150 - all laid singly or in pairs within spawning mops.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

Dang these Indonesian C127 are busy. After 250 eggs collected yesterday morning, I collected 253 this morning. Not all look good. I estimate 1/4 - 1/3 are unfertilized, maybe more. But that's still a lot of eggs!

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

The oldest fry are coming up on two months old. The parents continue to pump out eggs. I moved my

Corydoras robineae

into their tank in hopes that if spawning behavior is contageous, well, you get the point.

Cheers, Eric

Indonesian-sourced Corydoras sp. C127 fry, 53 days old

[bekateen]

Offspring from Indonesian-sourced C127. Exactly 2 months old, 28mm SL. At this point they look essentially like small versions of the subadults on the day I bought them in May... Actually, that's no surprise because looking back on my records, their parents were only 30mm SL when I bought them!

FWIW, in the past I've described the dorsal and caudal fin stripes as "almost invisible" (on FB I think I called them "ghostly") because they seemed like remants of old faded stripes. I see now that the stripes are in fact brown, not black. On the young fry which have more of a transparent/ white/hyaline body color, these really stand out as brown, but in the adults with a tan/yellowish body, the stripes are closer in color to the body and look more indistinct.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

Nearly 3 months. 30 mm SL. Haven't gotten much longer, but bulking up.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

I've been keeping the

Corydoras(ln8sc4) delphax

in a 30gal breeder tank with my breeding group of Rineloricaria eigenmanni. This morning I discovered what looks like a Corydoras egg laying on the sand. I've transferred it to a net basket to see if it hatches.

If this is a cory egg, this would be my first spawning of Corydoras delphax.

Cheers, Eric

Correction: I sifted the sand and found a second egg!

[bekateen]

Correction... 3 eggs! (Plus a wandering Rineloricaria eigenmanni egg kicked out by dad).