Sterbai Cory Breeding

[jwcarlson]

So far, sterbai have (I think) been my favorite fish to breed/raise. It's the right mix of intervention (picking eggs from spawning mops/glass), but low-maintenance fry. They only need fry powder briefly and truthfully maybe not at all. Last night I was taking a picture of the female bristlenose in the last picture and realized that the sterbai had grown so much since I'd last taken any pictures. It's funny how suddenly they're twice as big and you didn't even realize it.
The following pictures are from a few batches of fry arranged by age of fry. I have a couple more batches growing out right now, but have not harvested any eggs for awhile as I'm not sure what I want to do with all of these. Part of me just wants to keep hording them into my 125. But I want to move my discus there at some point. I don't think I want 8 discus and 75 sterbai, so I probably need to start poking around and seeing if anyone wants to buy some. I'm pretty happy with how they've turned out.

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These would have been eggs laid in late November 2023. So around ~3-3.5 months.

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[Discus Fever]

Definitely a nice batch and they look really good, keep up the great work.

[Charlyc11]

Are you using grass or mop. Really nice.

[brewmaster15]

Looks great Jacob! I like your progression of photos.

I bet if you shipped and sold them on the forum they would be gone in a heartbeat!

[jwcarlson]

Thanks everyone!

Al, I've never shipped fish, it would make me pretty nervous. But probably not insurmountable. I used to ship queen bees occasionally when I was still in the honey bee breeding business and that could get really frustrating. But honey bees are a bit more unique because they only mate once and the stored sperm is pretty sensitive to temperature excursions both high and low so they are fairly easy to render completely useless during shipment.

Chuck, two yarn mops. One is probably 10-12" long and green the other is shorter and some lighter multicolored floating one that my daughter made and tied around some pool noodle foam. They actually prefer the lighter colored one, which kind of stinks because the eggs are way more difficult to see. But my daughter likes that she is the one who made the mop so I usually holler upstairs to get her to come down and help me spot them. I used to get about 50/50 on glass and in the green mop. But once my daughter made the lighter colored one it's about 75/25 between the mops... very few on the grass and the majority in the light mop. That mop is also smaller yarn and a little more dense (and quite a bit shorter). There's another similar mop in the 125 where the oldest batch of juvys are (pictured above). They are pretty frequently swimming up and into that mop too even though they're way too young to breed (at least I think they are).

I believe my sex ratio to be way off. I started with six adults and I think only one of them is a male, but maybe two are. I'd really like to work out a swap of a group of maybe 10 fairly mature sterbai so that I could make sure I have a little diversity. I have some Scleromystax barbatus that are aging up that I think I'd like to eventually spawn too, so I really don't have space to just packrat 100 sterbai!

[LizStreithorst]

How much tank space does it take to raise them to sellable age, Jacob. From what I read these are pretty fast growing little guys. Are they? Sterbai are a fish I've always wanted to breed but never had success because I didn't know how to do it.

[brewmaster15]

Jacob,
We are entering the goldilocks zone for new shippers... not to hot and not too cold...perfect time to give it a shot. We can easily walk you though it.

Al

Ps.. yes I know I am a real bad influence.

[jwcarlson]

Liz, these are sellable and probably have been for a little while. So maybe 10-14 weeks from egg to sellable? This is a guess. They might sell better when they're smaller, they're absolute adorable and when they're pumped with baby brine shrimp they're beautifully orange.

I don't know if this would be considered a fast turn around or not. And maybe people would want them smaller?
If you want some to breed I would be opposed to sending you some, Liz. You've been great to me with the rams and I would love to return the favor! I do think that it takes a little while for them to mature. But breeding them is pretty easy, I think. And they're breeding in my rock hard tap water with high pH without issue. I spawn them at 76, but I would guess they'd spawn right up to discus temps without a problem.

Regarding tank space, I've got this fry raising system and these went quite awhile in the trays (trays hold about a quart of water, but have continuous flow from the 37 gallon below them) before I moved them to a 10 gallon. There's ~30 in this first batch. I was doing 50% daily changes on their 10 gallon with an occasional 100% change. I had a 125 that was empty besides a couple of bristlenose, so I put them over there at about 3/4" of an inch. Less water changes in the 125, but they did fine even while it was cycling (was doing about 25% daily or every other day water changes). I think I've done OK, but perhaps I have not. I think you could do a batch from egg to sellable size with a 10 gallon and then maybe as small as a 29 if you're changing enough water. The fry can go a decent amount in the hatching container if you keep up with water and don't feed crazily with powders. I have killed some by overfeeding powder. The spawning itself seems pretty easy. I feed them a lot of tubifex in a worm feeder that I glued a washer to. For six adults when they're spawning they'll do a cube twice a day and sometimes 3-4 cubes. And cool water changes. I spawned them in a 10 gallon initially and they're now in the 37 under the fry because it was an easy place to put them. You might be able to move mops and get good spawns, but with my water I have to use pretty heavy methlyene blue otherwise they grow really long fungal strings.

The best part of them is how clean they keep the bottom, honestly. It's an incredible difference.

Al, I'm willing to try just about anything. Sometimes what I run into is that the shippers can't do overnight from my city so it takes a special 40 minute drive. Not sure I want to sign up for that, but if I can overnight them locally with UPS I'd be happy to do it.

[Discus-n00b]

Those look great, pretty much the same experience I’ve had breeding them. After I pulled a few batches and raised them I stopped pulling eggs and let nature take its course in the planted tank. I still come across random babies that grow up in the thick plants without my knowledge until they are ready to start foraging with the group. At dinner time you can really see how large the group has become haha. To be completely honest, one of the easiest fish I’ve personally bred I’d say.

I struggled for a bit with viable eggs when I collected them until I did a little meth blue treatment. I pulled the eggs and put them in one of those plastic specimen containers with tank water and some meth blue just to get me past the egg fungus stage. I slowly did regular water changes until they hatched and didn’t redose meth blue. As soon as I had wigglers i put them in a hang on tank breeder box that cycles through tank water constantly (because I don’t have nor have the room for a good fry system right now). Be aware these Cory fry are TINY, they can slip through gaps easily. I started offering BBS and golden pearls almost immediately as I knew I had some wrigglers older than others just because of how my group breeds and me randomly coming across eggs, but I also made sure to clean uneaten food at least twice daily as I didn’t want the newer fry laying in it since they don’t move all that much. As soon as you start seeing those bright orange BBS stomachs it’s cruise control I’ve found.

I also spawned them cooler than what the internet may say keep them at. I was around 76 as well.

Jacob do yours lay eggs in bigger clusters? Mine drop eggs like paratroopers on Dday, all over the place! 2 here, 3 there, 1 here, etc. it’d be so much easier if they stuck to one spot lol.

[LizStreithorst]

Liz, these are sellable and probably have been for a little while. So maybe 10-14 weeks from egg to sellable? This is a guess. They might sell better when they're smaller, they're absolute adorable and when they're pumped with baby brine shrimp they're beautifully orange.

I don't know if this would be considered a fast turn around or not. And maybe people would want them smaller?
If you want some to breed I would be opposed to sending you some, Liz. You've been great to me with the rams and I would love to return the favor! I do think that it takes a little while for them to mature. But breeding them is pretty easy, I think. And they're breeding in my rock hard tap water with high pH without issue. I spawn them at 76, but I would guess they'd spawn right up to discus temps without a problem.

Regarding tank space, I've got this fry raising system and these went quite awhile in the trays (trays hold about a quart of water, but have continuous flow from the 37 gallon below them) before I moved them to a 10 gallon. There's ~30 in this first batch. I was doing 50% daily changes on their 10 gallon with an occasional 100% change. I had a 125 that was empty besides a couple of bristlenose, so I put them over there at about 3/4" of an inch. Less water changes in the 125, but they did fine even while it was cycling (was doing about 25% daily or every other day water changes). I think I've done OK, but perhaps I have not. I think you could do a batch from egg to sellable size with a 10 gallon and then maybe as small as a 29 if you're changing enough water. The fry can go a decent amount in the hatching container if you keep up with water and don't feed crazily with powders. I have killed some by overfeeding powder. The spawning itself seems pretty easy. I feed them a lot of tubifex in a worm feeder that I glued a washer to. For six adults when they're spawning they'll do a cube twice a day and sometimes 3-4 cubes. And cool water changes. I spawned them in a 10 gallon initially and they're now in the 37 under the fry because it was an easy place to put them. You might be able to move mops and get good spawns, but with my water I have to use pretty heavy methlyene blue otherwise they grow really long fungal strings.

The best part of them is how clean they keep the bottom, honestly. It's an incredible difference.

How kind of you, Jacob. I never did anything for you I wouldn't do for anyone else I like. Tell me...Is there somewhere I can buy these mops you speak of, I'm totally ignorant of breeding any fish that needs a mop. I'm excited already! God knows I have tank space. I have empty 10', 20's, 29's, 60 wides, and even a vacant 100 gallon. And as a Discus person, I'm a water changing fool.

[brewmaster15]

Matt and Jacob,
I see a great opportunity for a collaborative article on breeding sterbai. Quite pertinent to discus as they tolerate discus temps so well.

Brew goes... "nudge nudge wink wink."
Al

[For100]

Liz, these are sellable and probably have been for a little while. So maybe 10-14 weeks from egg to sellable? This is a guess. They might sell better when they're smaller, they're absolute adorable and when they're pumped with baby brine shrimp they're beautifully orange.

I don't know if this would be considered a fast turn around or not. And maybe people would want them smaller?
If you want some to breed I would be opposed to sending you some, Liz. You've been great to me with the rams and I would love to return the favor! I do think that it takes a little while for them to mature. But breeding them is pretty easy, I think. And they're breeding in my rock hard tap water with high pH without issue. I spawn them at 76, but I would guess they'd spawn right up to discus temps without a problem.

Regarding tank space, I've got this fry raising system and these went quite awhile in the trays (trays hold about a quart of water, but have continuous flow from the 37 gallon below them) before I moved them to a 10 gallon. There's ~30 in this first batch. I was doing 50% daily changes on their 10 gallon with an occasional 100% change. I had a 125 that was empty besides a couple of bristlenose, so I put them over there at about 3/4" of an inch. Less water changes in the 125, but they did fine even while it was cycling (was doing about 25% daily or every other day water changes). I think I've done OK, but perhaps I have not. I think you could do a batch from egg to sellable size with a 10 gallon and then maybe as small as a 29 if you're changing enough water. The fry can go a decent amount in the hatching container if you keep up with water and don't feed crazily with powders. I have killed some by overfeeding powder. The spawning itself seems pretty easy. I feed them a lot of tubifex in a worm feeder that I glued a washer to. For six adults when they're spawning they'll do a cube twice a day and sometimes 3-4 cubes. And cool water changes. I spawned them in a 10 gallon initially and they're now in the 37 under the fry because it was an easy place to put them. You might be able to move mops and get good spawns, but with my water I have to use pretty heavy methlyene blue otherwise they grow really long fungal strings.

The best part of them is how clean they keep the bottom, honestly. It's an incredible difference.

Al, I'm willing to try just about anything. Sometimes what I run into is that the shippers can't do overnight from my city so it takes a special 40 minute drive. Not sure I want to sign up for that, but if I can overnight them locally with UPS I'd be happy to do it.

Al is right…. If you are willing to ship, I would get them in a heart beat.

[jwcarlson]

How kind of you, Jacob. I never did anything for you I wouldn't do for anyone else I like. Tell me...Is there somewhere I can buy these mops you speak of, I'm totally ignorant of breeding any fish that needs a mop. I'm excited already! God knows I have tank space. I have empty 10', 20's, 29's, 60 wides, and even a vacant 100 gallon. And as a Discus person, I'm a water changing fool.

You can buy the mops, but they're exceedingly simple to make. A book of the size you want the mop to be. A pair of scissors, a cork (or other foam), and some yarn.

I bought this one because they were like $1 at my LFS.

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The multicolored one my daughter made.

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You wind the yarn around the book some number of times. I think 100 is pretty standard. Usually you'll see a strand count if you're buying them. So you loop it around, then cut yarn at the bottom of the book once you get to the number of wraps you want. You end up with a bunch of C shaped strands. Shove a cork in the "top" and then tie a piece of yarn around under the cork.
Some fish like sinking mops, but I think most corys like the floating variety. I have one sinker that they lay in, but I just have it hanging from something at the height I want it.

Al, we can write something up... but to be honest, they kind of breed themselves.

Lowell's Fish Lab on YouTube is my go-to stop for fish breeding:


Matt, mine are mostly 1-3 eggs in a cluster. But sometimes they do put more in one spot. But in general they're distributed in the mops. The glass is similar. I prefer them in the mops because its tough to get them off the glass sometimes. It would be pretty darn nice if they dropped 50 eggs in a 3" circle on the glass though. They do occasionally lay them on cords or tubing. Also on the heater a couple of times. *shrug*

[Charlyc11]

So when are going to start shipping?

[For100]

So when are going to start shipping?

No pressure! LOL