Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => New Fishkeepers => Topic started by: Wild Rover on March 18, 2015, 07:31:13 PM
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Hi
I have 9 Sterbai Cory's that share a tank with Dwarf Neon Rainbows, Cardinal Tetra's, Rummy Nose Tetra's and Harlequins. They have in the last couple of days laid loads of eggs on the tank walls. I have no other tank to house any fish separately. I'm assuming any fry would soon be devoured or sucked into the filter, so is it best to scrape the eggs now or just let nature take it's course?
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It is up to you. The eggs might be eaten before they can hatch. If they do survive that long, the fry will be tiny. My pygmy cory fry stayed on the bottom of the tank so they are not likely to be sucked into the filter - I only discovered there were fry when I saw little wriggling things when I checked the water change bucket for shrimps I'd hoovered up.
If you don't mind about the other fish eating the eggs/fry, leave the eggs where they are. If you want to try to save them you could try very carefully scraping the eggs off and into a fry net although with the net kind some fish do manage to suck eggs and fry through the fabric. I speak from experience with honey gouramis doing this :-\
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Thanks Sue, I may try the fry net. How long have I got? :)
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According to Seriously Fish, sterbai eggs hatch in 3 to 5 days. The actual time will depend on the temp, with warmer being faster.
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That quickly? Guess I'll just have to leave them as it will be Sunday before I can do anything.
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If they've spawned once they'll probably spawn again. One trick you can try is to do a water change using cooler water than already in the tank. It simulates the melt water coming down from the mountains in spring, which triggers spawning in many species including cories.
Egg laying fry don't usually go swimming off the instant they hatch like livebearers do; they live on the yolk sac for some time depending on the species. This is a few days for dwarf cichlids, which is why their newly hatched fry are referred to as wrigglers. I'm not sure how long this phase lasts in cories.