5 replies to this topic

[T1gger]

I have had an aquarium for 3 months and have a couple of questions about the two species yet to breed in my community tank. The neon tetras and corydoras.

I have made a spawning mop for the neons but think I may have missed the eggs. I have a female bronze cory and 2 peppered corys. Do you think I need to get my peppered catfish sexed and if so how do I do that? I mean 2 boys or two girls might have trouble reproducing. For that matter will bronze corys cross breed with pepered corys.

With the neons I get some with fat bellies that become thin but never find any eggs. Are they really tiny? I was surprised how big the bristlenose catfish eggs wre. Am I looking for something the size of a pin tip or pin head or how big? When do they spawn? I have 8 neon tetras so would hope for at least one of each sex. There are some with obviously curved lines and some with very straight lines.

Any info on breeding either in a communal tank would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading.

Edited by T1gger, 25 October 2013 - 05:46 PM.

[Mr_docfish]

Basically - just let you water quality slide a bit (dry season) by not doing water changes for a long while, then when the next thunderstorm goes by, do a larger than normal water change (wet season) - this is the typical stimulus that most tetras, barbs and some catfish go by....

[sydad]

Hello T1gger,

 

Most fishes will breed in a community tank, but that does not necessarily equate to being able to raise them under such conditions. Corydoras will frequently spawn in community tanks, but the eggs will probably be eaten by other inhabitants of a community, and even if they do manage to survive to hatching stage, the fry will almost certainly be eaten. The best bet is to remove the tough, rather sticky eggs to a separate aquarium, and hatch and raise them there.

 

Neon tetras are a whole different matter. They will certainly spawn in a community tank, but you will equally certainly not see the eggs since even if they are not eaten immediately, they are too small and transparent to be visible under normal circumstances. To further complicate matters, neon eggs are photosensitive, and readily disintegrate under almost any lighting, or in the presence of the bacteria inhabiting most aquaria. In fact neon eggs require rather specific conditions just to hatch, and also for any fry to survive beyond the first few days. The chances of successfully breeding neons without considerable experience in handling "problem" fishes would be rated as virtually zero. Even after 60 years, I still find neons a real challenge to successfully breed.

 

Syd.

 

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[scarab]

just adding my 2cents

 

One method I know some people use is to keep a school of neons in a small 2ft tank in a dark area without very very minimal lights. Using a opaque container, something along the size of a chinese take away box, put a mesh over it and place some moss on it. The neons would lay their eggs in the moss and it will drop into the container. harvest it by removing the entire container.

 

That is all I can offer with regards to gathering the neon eggs. Anything after that I cant help much.

 

Cheers.

[Foti]

Very informative posts thank you
Regarding breeding insure water condions are to the fish requirements and that there correct diet is met and you will have happy healthy fish which will breed!
You can can then trigger them by large WC as mentioned above

Cory should be kept in groups to be happy depending on sp. number varies but 3-6 for most with a ratio of 2 male to every female
I would sell the bronze or at least swap it for a peppered cory

Post pics of your cory side on and not important but if you can from the top also about how big and old they are

[T1gger]

Thank you all. I have a photo of the peppered Cory's but not sure how to post it. The bronze Cory sadly died. I will get more Cory's when I can get the gravel I want for my second tank. They like something to route around in. Its got plattys in but they don't seem to care if there is substrate or not. I will try the moss thing and maybe move neons into their own dark planted tank when I have a sufficiently aged tank to do so.