# Corys layed eggs - advice needed



## CatG (Apr 10, 2010)

Well, one of my corys laid eggs today.  This is my first aquarium, and this is my first experience with eggs, so I could use some advice.

She laid her eggs on the powerhead, and a few on the glass. I believe these DID get fertilized, as she did the "T" thing with what I assume was a male cory, and I observed the male passing over the egg blob doing a little "dance". Plus, the eggs appear to be tan in color. I left the eggs on the glass alone (it's been hours, and no one has eaten any of them), but I have tried my best to protect the eggs on the powerhead.

I didn't want to remove these from the powerhead because there is good waterflow in the spot she layed them. The powerhead nozzle is facing near straight up, causing water to flow upwards over the eggs. Plus, the output nozzle of the filter happens to be right next to the powerhead, so the flow from that is going across the eggs. So, I went out and bought a spawning net (plastic frame with net bag to cover the frame) and placed it over the powerhead. I also went ahead and bought a sponge thingie to go over the intake on the powerhead to hopefully prevent any fry that might hatch from getting sucked up. On the advice of the LFS store clerk, I also bought a small bunch of java moss to help provide a bit of microscopic food in case the fry hatch. (I bought a jar of "Baby Bites" too.) I put the moss in a cheesecloth bag to keep it from getting sucked into the sponge on the powerhead intake, and tied it to the bottom of the net's frame.

I am attaching a couple of pics of the setup, and would like to know if this will be sufficient to protect the eggs, and to rais the fry should they hatch. I have a 10 gallon tank that I will be setting up to move the fry to should I end up with any.

In one of the pics, the red circle shows where the filter output nozzle is, since it can't really be seen through the net. I also took a pic of the output nozzle so you can better see it's positioning. I've got some arrows in there pointing to the eggs, and one pointing to a spot on the net where the water from the powerhead was flowing over the top. I was going to ask if this was a problem, but I have since repositioned the net so that the top edge is now completely out of the water, and no water flows over the top any more.

Is this setup going to be ok? I cannot do any water changes, as the eggs are very near the surface, but my water quality has been very stable for months. I will do tests thought to keep an eye on it.

Here's the pics. Any advice is welcome.
Thanks, 
Cat


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## Cvurb (May 23, 2010)

Is the whole white patch eggs? Corydoras don't lay eggs in those quantities in one spot like that, usually around 3. Do you have Angels in there or something?


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## CatG (Apr 10, 2010)

Nope, no angels.  And I watched the cory deposit them. Apparently she thought it was a REALLY good spot. lol

Cat


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## doubleott05 (Jul 20, 2005)

if you wanna do a water change you can push your power head further down into the tank. when your eggs hatch and you have all your fry either remove the powerhead or just turn it off. that will remove all possibilities of fry getting destroyed. 

then sit feed and enjoy.


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## sandie (Jan 11, 2010)

My corys did the same thing laying all of their eggs in one spot. I raised a few of their batches. The first time they laid what I did was remove the eggs and place them in the breeder. I placed the net raised so that the bottom was 3 inches from the waterline. I also had them in a part of the tank that didn't get as much water movement. That batch gave me about 7 that survived. I've changed my methods some since then. PM me if you like.


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## CatG (Apr 10, 2010)

Unplugging the powerhead was what I was thinking too. And yes, I could move it down for water changes, but I have the net taped up to the edge of the aquarium, so I would have to un do that first. If my water quality stays at 0,0, 5-10 like it normally is, do I even need to do a w/c? I am kind of afraid to mess with the eggs too much.

As a side note, the eggs on the glass are still there this morning, undisturbed. I've got one white one in the patch on the glass (about 20+ eggs total there), and I have about 4 white ones on the powerhead (about 100+ there). Should I try to remove these? The one on the glass should be fairly easy to get to, but she really piled them up on the powerhead, so that might be a bit more difficult.

Also, if these do hatch, how should I set up the 10 gallon for the fry? It's gonna be an uncycled tank, and it currently has a bare bottom. I also have a couple of scrawny fake plants in there. I can get more plants to put in there, but should I get java moss? I have a ~3-4 month old cory in my main tank (I bought him), and had to remove the java moss because he seemed to have a hard time with it.

Thanks. 
Cat


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## sandie (Jan 11, 2010)

Do you want to raise them to hatch in your main tank? If you can remove the white eggs they will start to fungus and it could become a problem for your healthy eggs. After the first time of having the net breeder in my main tank I started using tupperware containers with about 2 inches of tank water in them and dosed aquarisol to keep the fungus to a minimum. Here is what I did. Moved eggs to container with tank water, dosed a couple drops of aquarisol in the water, changed about 20% of the water daily only adding water from tank. Once they hatched I would give them first bites. I did have some java moss in with them. They did very well this way. After they were about 10 days old I would put them back in the main tank in the net breeder until they got a little larger. 
Hope that helps!


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## doubleott05 (Jul 20, 2005)

easy to cycle a 10 gal. take the origional water from your current tank and transfer it to your 10 gal with about 2-3 gal of fresh water. now you have an instant tank with the same water from your origional tank


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## CatG (Apr 10, 2010)

Thanks for the info and advice guys! I'm sorry I have been slow to respond. My dog is sick - probably REAL sick and it's not looking good. So, my attention has been...elsewhere. I do appreciate the responses though!

Thanks again,
Cat


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

As long as the nitrates stay so low no need to do water changes.
The sponge over the intake of the power head and the filter will grow microorganisms, but adding fine leafed plants is good, too. 
Depends on what other fish are in the tank, many fish will eat eggs. 
Once the eggs hatch the cory fry will highly likely go hide in the substrate, especially gravel. They are safe from most predators there, and if the sponge intakes and fine plants are near the gravel then they will not have to leave the safe area to eat.


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## CatG (Apr 10, 2010)

Well, the fry hatched. I kept them in the main tank (in the net) for 2 days EDIT: They stayed in the main tank for one day, as they just hatched yesterday, and today I moved them to a 10 gallon nursery tank. In the 10 gallon, I have some fake plants, the small ball of java moss from the net breeder (with the cheesecloth "bag" now cut open so the moss billows out), some water lettuce, and some clippings from some of my other plants that will survive a good while as a floating plant. (hoping this will provide some infusoria) I also put the sponge cover from the powerhead intake in there, but it's floating near the surface. I had fed some baby bites the day they hatched, and some of that is down in the bottom of the tanks as well.

Couple of questions - Once these guys grow up and are out of this nursery tank, I think I would like to make a nursery tank that runs constantly so I don't have to scramble to set it up each time my fish spawn. Should I put in substrate/gravel and plant the tank, or should I leave it bare bottomed and try to get patches of java moss to grow on driftwood/rocks? I suppose I could also plant some plants in containers so I can still keep the bottom bare. What plants will provide the most infusoria for the newly hatched fry?

Are there any small fish that I can get for the nursery tank to keep the tank cycled, but that won't eat the eggs or fry?

How do I know when the yolk sacks are gone? I stopped feeding them the baby bites because I read that I shouldn't feed them until the sacks are gone, because the food won't get eaten and will just rot in the tank. These guys are tiny, and I cannot tell if there is a yolk sack or not. Should I try to vacuum out the baby bites that is now sitting at the bottom of the tank? It will be hard to do, because it will be hard to avoid sucking up the fry. What about the dead fry? I can take out what I see, but what about the ones I miss? Will they foul the water up?

Is there anything else I should do when setting up a nursery tank?

Thanks so much for the help. I don't know if this batch will survive (many have died already), so I want to be prepared for the next time.

Cat


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## Franco (Jun 25, 2010)

if they are swimming around then they have used up their yolk sacs. Add snails to clean up uneaten food and dead fry.


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## CatG (Apr 10, 2010)

Thanks so much for the response. The fry are free swimming, so I fed them the baby bites twice today, according to the package directions. I counted about 17 live ones this morning, but a couple at least have died since then. Some of the others have disappeared - I suspect they are in the java moss. They won't get caught in there will they?

Considering the losses they have suffered up to this point, I expect to find even more dead ones tomorrow. I am not sure what I did wrong. The 10 gallon temp is the same as the main tank they hatched in. I got rid of the fake plants in the 10 gal so I could see them better, but the java moss is still in there. Maybe the stress of not having a hiding place is causing the deaths? I vacuumed out the old food this morning, and fed fresh food today. I will do the same tomorrow before I feed again, and will check the water parameters. Although, like I said, they have suffered many losses so I don't expect to find too many left. I feel pretty bad.  I was totally unprepared for spawning, and had no idea what to do.

Thanks again,
Cat


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## Gordonrichards (Apr 28, 2009)

YAY for cory fry!!!


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