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I am fairly new to cories. I bought a bunch at a swap meet a couple weeks ago. I have ornatus, pygmaeus, albino aneus and brochis splendens. The albinos have spawned 3 nights in a row now, but no matter what I do they fungus within 24 hours even with meth blue in the water. What gives? I have always raised angels and the meth blue always worked to prevent any fungus with them. I can't figure it out. I am trying out some maroxy with the meth blue on last nights batch and so far so good, but was hoping you guys could help me out a bit and clue me in as to what I am doing wrong. I am removing the eggs from the glass with a razorblade and putting them into a container with about 3-5 inches of water and an air line. The first two batches I kept at room tempwhich is 72 deg, but this last one I have in a container floating in one of my angel tanks. Water temp is 78 in the container. I added 4 drops of meth blue to make the water a nice royal blue just like I do with angels and 3 drops of maroxy. So...is there anything else I should do? Anything I am doing wrong? Please help.

It sounds like you doing things right. Aenus cories are not considered difficult to spawn and hatch. It sounds like alot of mediiciation for the water. How many albina aenus cories do you have? Are you sure there are males in the group? If the eggs fungus in the first day they are generally not fertilized. You might try leaving the eggs in the tank and moving the parents. Also how are you handling the egg? I use a fish net to catch the eggs as they fall from the side. I put the net in a fish to move in the container. It is very to have the small water as the tank the fish were hatched.

good luck

Scott

I have 6 fish in the group. 3 males and 3 females. They were a proven colony I had gotten from someone I knew at a fish swap. I know they are a group cuz I have seen the fry. I only used that much meds in the hatching bowl because that is what works for angels which are the only fish I have experience breeding...with angels with that much meds, the eggs just turn white and don't fungus. So I was concerned when these were fungusing almost right away. But like I said cories are new to me and am learning as I go. As far as handling the eggs, I am removing them from the glass with a razor blade and rolling them off into the container.

Ok I have tried everything at thing point. I have changed tanks to bare bottom and left the eggs in the tank while pulling the parents with no meds in the water. They are not fungusing as quickly may take a few days, but it seems they are not being fertilized. I can understand this if was using a power filter and there was too much current, but all I have in here is a air driven sponge filter. The eggs are turning white now after 2 days. So I am assuming they are infertile. I really want to raise up some cories, but I have to admit, my angels were a heck of a lot easier than this.

I feel like I have been talking to myself here except for Viking bear...heh. But today I looked into the tank and saw something scoot across the bottom. YES! an honest to god living fry!! I watched for a couple minutes to see if there were anymore in there and saw one more scurrying around. There are still a number un hatched nonwhite eggs, so there may be more of these guys coming soon.

So white eggs mean fungus?

white usually means non-fertile. Fungused is when they are covered in a white cottony substance.

I haven't spawned by C. aenus in a long time, so two days ago move them to empty cold tank. The next days they spawned like crazy. I moved the eggs. I was looking at and they seemed to have a white mass starting in the center. I waited 24 hours and looked at them in better light. They are all good eggs. You heard color white. The other part of the description should be opaque. These eggs are dead.

I was given some bronze cory eggs, and some of them have fungused....others are a peachish color. Are they all duds?

The eggs with a tinge of colour sound OK.

One thing that you have not told us what the parameters of the water is, this is vital information and needed to be able to asses what may or may not be wrong. C. aeneus are one of the easiest Cory's to breed.

Ian

Congrats on your fry, GinoInChicago! Good luck with them!

SunflwrgrlS,

Please add your location to your profile.

Thanks

Ian

Location added, sorry

My cories actually spawned again last night and I fought with myself whether or not to remove the eggs and raise them, but I finally decided to leave them alone. I can't fit any more tanks in the house or my floor will go!

Hi GinoinChicago,
I think you got those albino cories from me. I know you had trouble with the 1st spawn fungusing. You should've e-mailed me. I'm not sure what the problem is. You should have 100s of fry from the aneus. E-mail me or call. You should have my addy and #. We'll figure out what the problem is.

Rich

Sure did fishnut2. I got 3 fry from the last spawn...they are actually about a half inch long now. The last spawn fungused on me just like they have before even with the meth blue in the tank. I am not sure what is going on, but I haven't exactly been working real hard with them right now. I am in a situation where every last tank I have is stocked to the extreme, and I have no place to move the parents to when they spawn. I do want to get this figured out. I will be in touch soon. Thanks.
-Gino

Hi Gino,
We'll go over everything when you do call. We'll start with water quality/feeding/hatching...and move along from there. Since I picked the fish, (and albino aneus are easy to sex) I'm sure you have 3M 3F. You may have to watch during a spawn, to see if the males are active. They might not be doing thier part. That is unlikely...as the albino aneus males are usually quite aggressive. I'm glad you are having problems with the albinos, as another spawn will be coming soon. You'll get plenty of chances to experiment. I Highly recommend the aneus and paleatus for entry level cory breeders. They are cheap/hardy/easy to breed/easy to sell/and have large spawns!!!
Talk to ya soon
Rich - Fishnut2

Gino,
Another thing I just thought of is: regarding the removal of the eggs. You need to wait 2-3 hours after the eggs are laid. It takes time for the egg membrane to harden. If you try to remove them any sooner (even with a razor blade) most of the eggs will just turn to mush. Try pulling the parents to avoid this possibilty. Or as I mentioned...allow time for the eggs to harden.
Good luck!
Rich - Fishnut2

I think that was part of the problem I had at first when I was removing the eggs. I did not wait a few hours to remove them. Now I know why. Thanks Rich. As soon as I get rid of some of these darn angels I will be able to concentrate on the cories. The angels are taking over my house!. And now when I want them to eat their eggs, they start parent raising. LOL it never ends.

LOL.
I know what you mean. Angels are plentiful in the Chicago area. I get overrun with angels all the time. Even when I try to devote every gallon to cories/plecos...someone hands me a bag of free angels. My true passion is cories...but it's hard to turn down a bag of great looking angels. Let's see...I've been raising fish for 35 years now. I should learn to turn down angels soon...lol!
Rich - Fishnut2

I was so proud of myself for finally catching my cories in the act and as soon as they looked like they were finished - getting them out of the tank. Then, so the guppies wouldn't eat the eggs, I decided to move them, also. What a gooey mess THAT turned out to be. Live and learn. - Guppyman

Ya,
The egg membrane will harden within a few hours. I've made the same mistake too! That's how I learned
Rich