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can anyone please help with this.my sterbia fry keep dying between 5 to 6 weeks.I have a 10gal rearing tank with a sponge filter filled with 4 inches of water from the breeding tank.I have been feeding with microworm,powder food and crushed flake.water change every day 50%.Is there something i'm missing here
Peter

Did you check your water condition yet? could be that the nitrate/nitrite are too high.. especially fry needs clean water..

When you think of the math, in a 10 gallon tank, 4" of water is not a lot, no matter how many fry are in the tank. Fry grow rapidly and expel a lot of waste. The chemistry may be changing more quickly than the filter can manage. The following info may be helpful:
1.How many fry are in the 10 gallon tank?
3.How large are the fry when they are 5-6 weeks of age? 4.What size tank will their eventual home be and who will their tankmates be?
5.What Maarten was asking: what are the chemistry values.
Please let us know how you and your fry do!

thanks for the quick reply
I have done a water test and yes you are both right,ammonia level sky high(6).I did'nt think something so small could produce so much waste.I have done a 60% water change using tap water .I will watch this closer in future.
thefry in the tank can be 20-30 depending on the spawn
the size of the fry are 4-5mm at 5-6 weeks
I intend to give some away and keep round about 10 to put in a 20gal tank by themselves.
again thanks for the help.
peter

Fry have a much higher metabolism then fully grown fish (they double theirs size/weight every few weeks) so change more water more often. 20-30% per week, maybe split up in 2 times.

One of my Sterbais died tonight... to bad you live so far away.

So sorry, Maarten.

Pete, I have a Paleatus fry in a 75 gallon tank. It has somehow lived so far from egg-6 weeks and is quite robust and healthy. It's a total, unexpected surprise. I've raised other fry in net breeders. The next time, I intend to set up a 10 gallon breeding tank. So many different ways to raise fry. Good luck!

sorry about the dead sterbia maarten.it is a pity that you live too far away.after the advice you & bronzefry have given me I feel quite confident(hope the fry feel the same)I don't like losing fry like that.
I know it does not sound right but I have plenty of fry to experiment with as my 10 large sterbia(7males-3females)have been spawning twice a week since xmas with no sign of stopping(3cheers for blood worm).will let you know how I get on
thanks again

twice a week

you could sell the fry if they are 2-3cm for goo money, a sterbai that size costs over â?¬10,- overhere!

Maybe its an idea to add a few females from another shop to get things really going

The sterbai was about 1 year old I think.. it didn;t look ill or something, I just checked the water and everything seems to be fine. When I bought the pack of 6 sterbais (6x â?¬14,-) the shop sold me 2 sterbais and 4 Haraldschutzis instead.. I didn't notice unit it was a few weeks later.. they look about the same but the head has a negative print, a white head with dark spots while the sterbai has a dark head with light spots.. the shop would exchange them for real sterbais.. last time I even bought a fish there

So I moved the haraldschutzis to my other tank and was planning to buy more sterbais.. but atm this is the last one:



How can you tell if its a lady or a dude?

hi maarten
glad you asked about the sexing of sterbia cos I can help you on that one.the female has on the underside fins a fan shape to hold the eggs whereas the males fins are pointed.this can be seen on any size of sterbia so its good when you buy any.price for sterbia here range from £5.50 for quite small to £12 for large but they are not that easy to come by.hope this helps & good luck

Maarten,
I have a feeling that's a female, but I could be wrong, since I'm not familiar with that type of Cory. She looks like she has a belly full. I wish I knew what a male Sterbai looked like for reference.

I'm going to check a shop today.. hope te get some reasonably sized fish

Peter,

Glad to see that you have quite a bit of help. I just recently considered breeding them. I have never bred a cory before. I read a lot about it, it looks quite involved. The only catfish I have bred is Bristlenose and they are nothing compare to what I have read about the cory. Do you mind tell me what you do to trick their spawning such as water chemistry, water change frequency and when, type of water use for changing (such rain water or just tape water). What is your tape water chemistry like - in Australia, it is slight soft and acidic (in Melbourne Victoria anyway).

Thanks.
Patrick

I've never owned a Bristlenose, so I don't know what's involved. I hope to own some in my life. Once I stopped trying to get the Cories to breed, they started. Don't let the "too much information" bug overwhelm you.

hi patrick
I started off the breeding cycle feeding nothing but bloodworm(live but mostly frozen)3 times a day.water changes 1 or 2 times a week staight from the tap(water is great in scotland for that).I did'nt bother with water chemistry just kept an eye on ph levels.the temp of the water added was about 10 decrees cooler than the tank.it took 5-6 weeks for the fish to start spawning but when they start there is no stoping them,they are like rabbits.
this is the first fish I have bred and I found it very easy(maybe just lucky)but have a go and see for yourself.let me know how you get on if you decide to have a go
peter

hi maarten
just had a good look at your sterbia and it is a female. I can just see enough of the fin to be sure.get a couple of males and try my method. good luck
peter

I bought some new sterbais today at another store, and for a good price too.. wild caught for â?¬10,- a piece it should be 3 males and one female.

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