# My Cory Cat is laying eggs! First for me :)



## happycamper

I woke up this morning with little batches of eggs all over the glass, and she's still going at it!


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## susankat

How many cories do you have in the tank? If she is the only one they won't hatch.


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## happycamper

Yeah my mom told me about the birds and the bees quite a while ago... 

I have 4 corys in there.


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## Tribia

Congrats! Are you going to try and keep em?


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## happycamper

I just went and bought one of those little in tank baby saver box things. I'll stick some in there and see what happens I guess


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## Tribia

Awesome.  I was doing the same thing last Saturday and now have 2 day old fry. Let me know how they're doing!


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## susankat

Don't keep them in the fry keeper to long. With cories it just makes for weak fish. Fry needs lots of air movement from an airstone, and lots of fresh water.


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## happycamper

So how long should they stay in there? My killifish will immediately annihilate all tiny fish immediately...


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## susankat

Pick up a cheap 5 or 10 gal tank if you want to raise them. If you leave them in the fry keeper more than 3 weeks you'll start loosing them.


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## happycamper

I have a ten gallon in my garage, what about cycling and temperature? Just do constant water changes? Should I wait until they hatch to move them?


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## happycamper

So... I am wondering if I should put the eggs in a new setup, or leave them in the main tank. The baby box thing doesn't seem to have the best flow.


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## susankat

The eggs need a lot flow to keep them from getting fungus. You can put them into the 10 gal. because after they hatch you will need to do dailly water changes anyway. Just use an airstone till they are big enough to handle a regular filter. Make sure you keep the temp up to about 78 also.


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## happycamper

Ok, thanks for the help!


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## happycamper

This is what I came up with










I have set up my 10 gallon with a heater and an airstone. Does this look about right?










Thanks for any input


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## susankat

Put the airstone closer to the eggs.


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## happycamper

Alright glad I asked, I would have thought that would beat the crap out of them! Other than that it looks good though?


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## happycamper

Success! Baby Cory cats are hatching right now.


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## susankat

congrats, now the work starts


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## happycamper

I'm ready! Feel free to give me any pointers if you feel so inclined


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## happycamper

The happy couple. You can even see her carrying the eggs!










Laying eggs










Now I imagine they are discussing where to lay the next batch! Ha ha


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## snail

Lovely pics.


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## majerah1

Agree,love the pics!That is the best shot I have seen on how the female carries the eggs.


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## jrman83

Good shots. How do you see where she is carrying them? I see them on the glass in both shots, but I don't see anything on her. I have watched mine do it a few times and have never seen the female carrying anything....they pop out when she is planting.


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## happycamper

Thanks guys, I was really excited to get some action shots 

@Jrman: She's holding them in her pelvic (I think that's the name) fins.


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## happycamper

Babies


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## susankat

Looks like you got quite a few, once the egg sac is gone you can start feeding them. If you have frozen bloodworms you will need to chop them up pretty fine. Only put 1 or 2 shrimp pellets a day. Do daily water changes on the tank every day for a couple of weeks. Just small changes just a couple of gallons making sure you siphon any leftover food. For fry tanks I use airline tubing to siphon up food, or you can get a new turkey baster to siphon it up with. After a couple of weeks you can drop your water changes to every 2 or 3 days. for awhile, then cut back to twice a week and should be about big enough to put back into the main tank.


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## Pigeonfish

How did I not notice this thread? I'm happy you're having success with your Corys and fry. Hope it continues


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## happycamper

Thank you so much for the advice. I counted 56 of them, kinda crazy. I read some other thread about raising cory fry earlier, and I used some air line tubing and cleaned everything up this evening. Everyone seems happy and healthy, I can see little whiskers now!


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## snail

sooo cute, I love baby fish.


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## logan84

I'm pretty stoked for you! Cory babies are my favorite because it was the first fish that I ever successfully bred. And they really are adorable when they turn into miniature replicas of their parents!  Good luck!


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## happycamper

Babies are about 8mm long now. I am down to about 12 now.


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## jen13189

Congrats i'm thinking about getting corys what happened to the others since you only have 12 now?did you sell them or did they die or get eaten?


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## Summer

aww look at their teeny tiny whiskers <3


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## happycamper

yes, the whiskers are adorable!!!

I did daily small water changes to keep all the water parameters in check and every time I cleaned a few had died. Not sure why, but some just didn't seem to be growing like the others, and those are the ones that died. I guess the best of the best made it. I have a 100 gallon aquarium, so I plan on keeping them all


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## happycamper

So the babies are still growing. I was cleaning or my canister filter and I found a random baby cory! Apparently an egg was sucked into the filter. He is much bigger and an entirely different color than the ones I have been raising! Wacky










Look at the size difference!










He's kind of reddish, with no speckles. I wonder why.


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## snail

lol, he seems to have done okay for himself! Do you have more than one type of cory in the tank? Maybe he came from an earlier bunch of eggs that you didn't see, or maybe he has just grown faster because he has had better/more food to eat in the filter.


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## majerah1

Wow that is a big difference!they look cute though.The wiskers are so cute.


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## happycamper

I have 1 female emerald cory, 2 male emeralds and 1 male peppered. I assumed the male emerald was the daddy because he spends the most time with the female... but the babies seem to have lots of speckles. 

As for the reddish coloring I am completely stumped. The only thing that keeps popping up in my mind is that it is about the same color as the crud in my filter that he has been apparently thriving on... 

I am pretty sure that it must be from the same batch of eggs, I am a bit crazy about my tank and don't think any egg laying would have gone unnoticed. 

He's almost big enough to join the main tank! I think I will wait until he is as big as the smallest neon (since they don't fit in my killifish's mouth), then maybe take the killifish out for a few minutes so he can find his mom and dad... I'm excited


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## knowles3

those are some great photos, i cant wait to get some corys of my own one day, keep us updated on how they do.


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## happycamper

I think it's about time to put the babies in the big tank! They are about 3/4" long now, I think the killifish will leave them alone... I hope so at least. 
I'll take some pictures tonight!


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## happycamper

I decided to give them another week in the little tank to be sure the killifish can't swallow them. But here are some pics! The guy that survived in the filter is still larger than the rest, but they all have developed a slight red/orange hue...





































And the evil killifsh!! One of my favorites despite his baby-annihilating skills!




























Thanks for looking!


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## Summer

Great pics! Congrats on keeping these one's going!!


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## baeya

Great thread! The babies are just so darn cute!


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## happycamper

The babies have moved to the big tank! They seem to be loving it!










Such a big world out there!










Slight size difference...


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## jbrown5217

Great pics, and congrats on raising them successfully!


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## SuckMyCichlids

thats so awsome, congrats!


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## majerah1

They look great!That little guy by the pleco looks tiny lol.


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## snail

Thanks for taking us through it with photos. The little guys look great.


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## happycamper

Thanks guys, I had so much fun putting this together


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