Corydoras reynoldsi Eggs

[bronzefry]

I haven't had much luck with Corydoras species recently. So, I'm trying benign neglect. The

Corydoras reynoldsi

have rewarded me with 10 eggs. (Some look fertile, others are not.) Not a motherlode, but I'll take it. Let's see how they do!
Amanda

[Richard B]

Way to go Amanda

[Dave Rinaldo]

[andywoolloo]

very exciting!

[corycrazy]

Fab news,hope they hatch for you

[corybrummie2010]

Congrats,hope there will be little wrigglers in a few days time

[MatsP]

That's great. These are not often bred. I have a group of three, but I haven't seen any "action" from them.

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Mats

[bronzefry]

Some hatchlings. The parents are ignoring the whole thing. Quite odd. I started with 8 adults. I'm down to 6. There are 4 males and 2 really plump females. It's a 10 gallon tank with tap water; a 50-60% change weekly. The pH hovers between 7 and 7.3 with 750 microSeimens at 74 degrees F. The wrigglers are transparent and hide quite easily in the sand. I watched one hatch last night on the glass. A totally cool. I thought it wasn't going to live. They always look so tentative when taking their first swim. This one on the top was rolling about madly before I left for the club auction yesterday. It was a hatchling when I came home:

I've had such poor luck with Corydoras spp. recently. I'm leaving all of them in the same tank for a while. If they're ignoring the eggs and the wrigglers, why not?
Amanda

[MatsP]

The pH hovers between 7 and 7.3 with 750 microSeimens at 74 degrees F.

750 uS/cm -> approx 375 ppm TDS, and your pH is close to neutral: What is the TDS constituents in your water, if you don't mind me asking?

I've had such poor luck with Corydoras spp. recently. I'm leaving all of them in the same tank for a while. If they're ignoring the eggs and the wrigglers, why not?
Amanda

Sounds as good a plan as anything - I've had more luck with C. metae with the eggs in the "home tank" than the ones I've lifted out.

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Mats

[bronzefry]

Mats,
I just tested the tap water this morning: 720 microSeimens.

It helps that I tested the tank after doing a 50% water change.
Amanda

[MatsP]

Yes, I'm sort of wondering "What do you have in your water that makes the relatively high conducivity, without making the pH higher than 7".

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Mats

[bronzefry]

We have some seriously weird water. I also need to calibrate my pH monitor.
Amanda

post calibration: 7.9 pH, 750 microSeimens today from the tap.

[Bas Pels]

chlorine is an anion which does not raise the pH

Lots of sodium chlorine can dissolve in water, the result is often referred to as brine, or, in a lower concentration, sea water

More seriously, high conductivity and neutral pH might be the result of neutralizing high pH water - with hydrochloric acid, for instance, resulting in a solution of sodium chlorine (and some more water). Going from pH = 9 to pH = 7, the conductivity can be this high

Alternatively, if seawater is used to produce tap water, why prurify it further than needed? the measured conductivity will not alter the taste too much, but purifying it further (the same RO system some of us use) will cost enormously more money

[MatsP]

I don't believe Amanda's water is purified salt-water - in Arabic/African countries, but in Massachusetts, I think the water is from freshwater source.

However, I agree that the source of the conductivity may be a side-effect of pH lowering or some other additives that do not alter the pH much. Which is why I asked what is in the water...

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Mats

[PaulH196]

Well done with the Reynoldsi.

I have spawned them quite a few times, at first I tried harvesting the eggs like I do with most Cory's but no success at all.

I eventually ended up trying leaving them in with the adults. They were fine, the adults showed no interest in eating the eggs or the youngsters.

If you have microworm it is worth adding it to the parents tank to give the smallest fry the best possible start.

Regards

Paul

[bronzefry]

Thanks, Paul!

Bas,
We have an aquifer and wells as sources of water. The aquifer is nearing the bottom. It was used during the 1700's to make munitions/cannonballs and such for the American Revolution. There are all kinds of metals in the water. The hardness of the water depend the ratio of well water to aquifer. The well water is relatively soft. The aquifer water is very hard. The town is looking into other water sources because these two sources will deplete within 20 years.

They laid eggs again last night. The female squeezes out 1 large egg at a time. She places them every which way in the 10 gallon tank: plants, near the top of the glass, low on the glass, the heater, air lines, you name it, the egg goes there. She really appears to strain to get that one egg out. I was watching a C.paleatus get 6 eggs out this morning in one effort. The eggs are so tiny by comparison and the whole situation flows easily for the C.paleatus female. I'm going to take more photos shortly.
Amanda

[bronzefry]

More photos
Females:

One of the males:

More eggs:


The eggs really blend in well with the sand and they ignore them. They seem to ignore all the eggs. She comes back to the eggs once after laying them and rubs over them, like Corydoras sp. usually do, but that's the end of it. She appeared to be tired after a day of egg laying and started placing them on the bottom of the tank. I figured that was a good time to feed them-divert the males. It worked. I counted 24 eggs this time. The eggs are on the glass, plants, silicone, the heater and airline. Both females still have full bellies, but only one is laying eggs. I did a small water change last night(2 gallons in a 10 gallon tank). I'll do their regular 50% water change tomorrow.
Amanda

[apistomaster]

Amanda, my congrats.
It sounds like you could benefit from owning/using an RO unit.
Best deals out there are from http://www.airwaterice.com.
I would try much softer water(40 to 75 ppm), a pH about 6.0 and a higher water temperature at least 78*F maybe up to 82*. Use cool water when making water changes to stimulate spawning.
Very good advice to be feeding Mikroworms to the breeding tank since there are probably larvae present which you haven't noticed. I would fill the top of the tank with a lot of Tropical Hornwort, Ceratophyllum demersum, to provide more egg hiding and larvae refuges. If given enough cover, many Corydoras species may be bred colony style. I would try that in a 20 long for a group as large as yours. I also find that adding a liter of hollow ceramic biomedia as a rubble pile in one corner provides a great deal of refuges for larvae and small fry from the adult fish. Once the larvae completely metamorphose they are generally too large to be eaten by the breeders. I would also feed Artemia nauplii feeding daily supplemented by mikroworms. The fry grow faster on bbs than they do on Mikroworms only.
The colony breeding method is by far the easiest way to raise Corydras once you go to the trouble of setting one up but is also a very rewarding method. you will soon have Corys of every size and as the numbers of juveniles increases the threat to the most recent larvae greatly diminishes. You need only to harvest enough salable sized juveniles to prevent the colony from becoming overpopulated.
I use a an Azoo Bio-Filter Oxygen Plus Model #6.DrsFosterSmith and aquaticeco.com both sell these sponge filters. They are equivalent to a HydroSponge #IV but cheaper. I use them in pairs in all my tanks so costs are always a factor to me. These happen to perfectly fit a MaxiJet 600 power head.
I also either use one more in the conventional airlift mode or add an air stone and use an Aquaclear 50 HOB filter. One way or the other I am using 2 main filters which can't suck in fry and this allows for alternately cleaning them so there is never any interruption of the biological filtration. I make a pre-filter for the inlet out of a small filter media bag stuffed full of Eheim Ehfifix coarse plastic fibers which keep the pre-filter bag expanded. I slip this over the intake and attach it with a rubber band. This pre-filter will not clog or reduce flows like sponge pre-filters do.

[bronzefry]

Larry,
I use RO for some of my other tanks. I tried these guys on RO for a while and a few died. This was a clue that they may like their water on the hard side. This is when the females began to fatten up and they bred.
Amanda

[apistomaster]

Amanda,

I can understand how you may have concluded that softer water with a lower pH might not be desirable because when you tried to go that direction you lost some of your fish. Those losses are most likely a coincidental rather than a cause and effect.
I have kept many fish from the same range as your Corydoras reynoldsi and they were all soft water fish which come from water with a fairly low pH. Some examples are wild Discus and some Apistogramma spp. You will always get fewer bad eggs from soft water fish when they are kept and bred in water which closely matches that of their native waters. Some species are so sensitive that unless the water is sufficiently soft and acid their eggs simply die, never able to properly develop and hatch out.
It doesn't make any sense to me to be going the opposite direction with your water chemistry.
You are within a range in which some eggs do hatch and some fry survive. Perhaps that is sufficient for your purposes.
I admit to having a bias for trying to achieve the maximum productivity from any fish I am breeding but I also understand what is good enough for you might not be satisfactory for me.
I have taken an interest in Corydoras reynoldsi. I like the way they look and their relatively small adult size. I had to put some limits on what and how many species of fish I am going to raise and my Corydoras were victims of a ruthless selection process. Only my Corydoras hastatus survived my Corydoras breeding project cutbacks. I have to enjoy the more unusual and interesting species vicariously so that is why I am as interested in your successful breeding of this species. Maybe once you have raised more of them you will try to keep a group in soft water? I am pretty certain you will raise a larger percentage of your fry due to higher hatch rates.
Corydoras reynoldsi seems like a small enough species that would lend itself well to the colony breeding methods I use and described above. It doesn't work well with the larger Corydoras species, Corydoras sterbai and C. duplicareous are two examples of species which did not lend themselves well to colony style breeding.
In addition to a Corydoras breeding colony I also allow Cherry Shrimp colonies to coexist with the fish. They never harm even the small C, hastatus larvae and they are especially productive in softer water although their range of conditions they can tolerate in both terms of temperature range and water chemistry is astounding. I encourage Cherry Shrimp colonies in all my pleco and corydoras breeding set ups. They seem to compliment each other well and when some ones asks to buy some from me i am very generous with how many I send.
I allowed my shrimp colonies to become overpopulated last summer and during the peak of a long hot spell when most of my tanks were running at almost 90*F I had major population crashes. Only enough survived for me to begin to rebuild their numbers but it will take another 6 month before I will have enough to share in numbers. People asking for 12 or 25 shrimp would usually receive a bag of assorted sizes and 2 or 3 times as many shrimp as they paid for.
I am really wishing your C, reynoldsi breeding project is a very successful one. I'll be rooting for you from the sidelines.

[bronzefry]

Hi babies!

There are about 6 of them at 2 different ages. The older group is about 4 weeks old. The younger group is about 2 weeks old. More eggs are being placed as I write.
Amanda

[MatsP]

Great work.

[bronzefry]

I think this may have something to do with their survival in the tank:

I almost deleted the photo. There are two small fry poking around. They're about 1-2 weeks old. All told, the tank has about 22 fry. This makes for a 100% hatching rate, a total surprise. They are a perfect match with this sand.

Mom totally ignores the eggs she lays. The other female has begun showing interest in the males. The eggs are not very adhesive. She does not seem to have any place in particular she likes. She even lays them in the sand.
Amanda

[corybrummie2010]

Well done,the little fella look so cute

[corywink]

congrats on the spawn

[unotim123]

Congrat Amanda!

İf it hepls you,I want to tell you a antifungal.Pick a few walnut leaves and cut into a few pieces.Then,put it a glass about 200 ml volume,pour boiling water on it.Close top of glass and wait for 10 minutes.After then,add 3 ml for 50 liter water.That protects your eggs from fungus.You can try it on eggs.

[apistomaster]

When you have a Corydoras species which doesn't bother their eggs or newly hatched larvae you can raise them in colony style.
The nice thing about that is the breeding tank is kept so clean and the filters keep the water fresh so very few eggs are ever lost to fungus except any that are infertile to begin with. I always breed any Corydoras with these good traits communally. It makes raising them much simpler.
I think most Corydoras produce a fair number of unfertilized eggs which nothing can be done to get those to hatch.
I already mentioned that I also keep cherry shrimp colonies going with my catfish breeding colonies. The shrimp help keep the tough shelled Corydoras eggs free of any debris which contributes to better hatching rates. The fact that Corydoras reynoldsi appears to be a good candidate for colony breeding has made me interested in giving them a try.
C. reynoldsi are a fairly small Corydoras species which is also something which makes them good candidates for colony breeding. Once you have a range of sizes up to salable ones then all you need to do is remove the salable sized fish as buyers come along and you can run the whole show out of one tank. This is a lazy, easy going way to breed fish and I use it whenever the species lends itself well to colony breeding because I am one lazy fish breeder. What also seems to happen in breeding colonies is that the young Corys seem to begin breeding at a little younger age than they might otherwise do.
I raise many of my plecos this way although I use a 40 gal breeder tank so I have enough grow out space for the fry. I do use 20 longs for my smaller pleco breeding tanks but the problem with the smaller tanks is it requires thinning out the older fish to make room for the youngest.

[bronzefry]

Thanks, all. More eggs hatched today. These eggs do look a bit cleaner than when I remove them from the tank or when I remove the fish from the tank. The fish run over the eggs and move them around. The eggs are not adhesive at all and easily roll off the glass and plants. They end up on the bottom of the tank and a medium-size rock. When nearing hatch time, they roll around on their own. Too cool! When they hatch, they are almost clear. After 1 week, you can see them via an orange ring around the eyes. Some color appears at the 4 week point. The previous 2 broods had 100% hatching, but the number of eggs was very low. This time, there were about 30 eggs, but I think the second female may have laid a few eggs. Pretty soon, it will be time to remove broods 1 and 2; 20 plus young fish that grow and poo plus adults put a strain on a tank. I've started a second water change during the week. Add another brood....you know the rest.
Amanda

[apistomaster]

Hi Amanda,

You may have already mentioned the size of the breeding tank but I think 4 females and 8 males or 3 females and 7 males would be enough to establish a thriving breeding/raising colony in a 20 Long.
It isn't unusual for the first spawns to be larger than subsequent spawns but in colony breeding you tend to get new eggs daily so the size of the colony grows pretty fast and the size of the spawns becomes much less important as long as it keeps up with replacing the older juveniles you sell. That is never a problem with most colonies.

There is normally a flurry of spawning activity immediately after every water change.

[bronzefry]

It's a 10 gallon tank. The water quality can go downhill quite fast. I have another 10 gallon tank adjacent without occupants, yet.
Amanda