Anyone here breed Sterbai cories?

[prolude006]

I today noticed a single baby that has appeared in my discus tank from I am guessing a male and female cory that looked as if they were mating.

I would like to know if anyone has bred them before and how I should setup my 20g tank to maybe keep them breeding? Any info to raise them would be great. I have 8 adult sterbai in my 75g discus tank right now and apparently they like it!! Should I just leave them?


David

I will try to take a pic of the baby later in the day to show its size as its the first time I have seen it in the tank and its not entirely that small!

[brewmaster15]

Jeff Richards here was breeding them by the hundreds in his central fish system a few years ago...

His profile is here...http://www.forum.simplydiscus.com/member.php?u=4437

Might try pm'ing him.

al

[dpt8]

I would leave them right where they are and look for the eggs. You'll see them on the glass periodically. When they are ready to lay their eggs, they seem more active and make runs up the glass and around the tank.

If you move just the pair to a 20gl. I don't know if that will do the trick. I know some people that do breed them put a small group together in a barebottom tank and put plants in there for the babies to hide in should the adults breed. My adolphis and sterbai have had eggs and I should have taken the eggs out and airated them like you do with angel eggs..

It will be interesting to see what other people have to say. I know Fred 22 has bred them and breeds adophis.

[prolude006]

ok thanks Al ill try Jeff in a bit.
I did nothing to get mine to breed, just noticed a female holding eggs with its anal (i think) fins holding three eggs as they swam around. If I can find the little one I will take a picture as it seems rather large for a newborn and they haven't been in the tank for very long since I moved it, seems like it would have had to grow really fast but there is no way my other ones shrunk. lol

David

[erikc]

I used to (unintentionaly) breed Sterbaï, I was picking the young out of my canister filter each time I cleaned it out.

I had a group of seven in a planted discus tank, RO water (remineralised) and CO for the plants. They would spawn in the morning when the first rays of the sun hit the tank. The female would swim up and down the front of the tank with a group of 3-4 males around her. The female would would lay the eggs directly on the glass in a random pattern and the males around her would fertilise them. They were very large eggs for such a small fish and I could easily have collected them (using a fine brush to gently get them off the glass) but I never did.

Most of the eggs ended up as a discus diet supplement, however I would periodicaly find young in the bottom of my Eheim 2060 pond filter and put them in the tank with the others. When I broke down the tank I had over 20 of them of various sizes and this was over an 18 month period, without wanting to breed them !

The Sterbaï corries are very prolific and not so hard to breed.

[Mr Wild]

Yes I breed them and there are many ways to do it. Similar to discus in that when they are gravid a wc at a lower temp will bring them on. As described above the are egg scatterers and will lay on the glass and plants, they will eat their own fry so the eggs need to be removed. Really depends what you want to do.
1. Only want a few babies as its fun etc - leave them alone the odd one will make it through
2. Want to breed them seriously?
Need a dedicated tank, when they have spawned collect all adults and place in another tank and allow the eggs to hatch in the original tank, the fry are tiny like discus fry, don't do any wc's and only start to feed about 5 days after hatching.
Then repeat the above process as many times as you like. Once the fry actually start looking like fish you can put them with previous spawns but not while they are still fry.

HTH

[prolude006]

I see! Thanks Erikc and Mr Wild. That would explain why I have a couple different sizes of babies at this point. I found a couple smaller ones tonight moving some plants around. I wasnt aware the parents will eat the fry. I do notice the spawning behavior after a water change. If I have babies in a seperate tank what do you feed them at the five day point? Only thing in my tank is flake and pellet foods. I do have FBW and pureed clams in the freezer.

David

[Mr Wild]

I drop the smallest cichlid granule and when it softens they eat it and I grind up flake in a mortar and pestal and put some in also shrimp pellets only tiny amount you do not want to have to change water for about 4-5weeks I have found is best.

[Skip]

anybody?! bueller.. bueller..? :)

[Len]

I see! Thanks Erikc and Mr Wild. That would explain why I have a couple different sizes of babies at this point. I found a couple smaller ones tonight moving some plants around. I wasnt aware the parents will eat the fry. I do notice the spawning behavior after a water change. If I have babies in a seperate tank what do you feed them at the five day point? Only thing in my tank is flake and pellet foods. I do have FBW and pureed clams in the freezer.

David


I've been having good luck just feeding them the Super Beef Heart Flake with Pro Growth from Inland Empire Discus. Mine have been laying eggs like crazy since I started using it. I scrape the eggs from the glass with a razor blade and put them in a 1 litre plastic container that had salad from the supermarket it and add an airstone and a few drops of meth blue. I just let it float in the tank so it stays warm enough, but the eggs/fry don't get eaten by the parents ans other fish. I use a turkey baster to remove water each day and then water back from the main tank. Once the fry get a little larger I put them in a 20 gal tank with a thin sand bottom and a sponge filter (they tend to feed off the filter as well).

HTH