Live tips to save cory eggs

All posts regarding the care and breeding of these catfishes from South America.
Post Reply
francoisMtl
Posts: 76
Joined: 28 Nov 2015, 06:01
My cats species list: 19 (i:0, k:0)
My BLogs: 1 (i:0, p:43)
Location 1: Montreal Canada
Location 2: Canada
Contact:

Re: Live tips to save cory eggs

Post by francoisMtl »

For information, the third Fundulopanchax gresensi "takwai" eggs has hatched.

@pleconut ; make sure open unfertile eggs will not poison your water, yolks are very good to dirty water. Since you are using and egg tumbler you might be on a cycled aquarium, less change to poison eggs. Here, I do as much water change as I can (90-100% each evening sometime twice in a day). You could not find any ramshorn snail? I tested melanoides (malesian trumpet snail) and could not really see them on eggs but eggs did not develop any fungus (so I do not know if they were doing their cleaning job at night)...
Good luck!
pleconut
Posts: 1365
Joined: 30 Sep 2015, 22:17
I've donated: $35.00!
My cats species list: 35 (i:23, k:0)
My aquaria list: 25 (i:13)
My BLogs: 3 (i:4, p:154)
My Wishlist: 1
Spotted: 1
Location 1: Bournemouth
Location 2: UK

Re: Live tips to save cory eggs

Post by pleconut »

Hi francoisMtl, I discovered today the eggs from my ABNs mostly have disintegrated, I've been left with 3/4 that may possibly be viable, but still no fry development can be seen in them, however I'd like to know if you think at all, that this could work with cave spawning Loracariid eggs, as i dont know if my male will reject eggs again. But was a first for him, and myself. Obviously it's different with cories as eggs are usually removed individually and not in a big clutch, the eggs were not fungused so this wasn't the problem with mine, you've already highlighted the use of snails to deal with fungus on eggs. I'm looking to see if they can be used to eat unfertile or damaged eggs, even those separated from the clutch, but leaving the healthy ones intact, in case there's a next time, on the forum i found it said MTS do a very good job at this, but then also the eggs, if been rejected need to be kept artificially areated, and if its rare, expensive or difficult to breed plecos someone is breeding they may well want to use other means to save the eggs, to be completely honest, aeration is of upmost importance. I'm talking about common bristlenoses here, that are such prolific breeders some methods like these can be explored with a few eggs. I can provde a link to the forum if you're interested, I'm not so much of a corydoras keeper, and then only those that are relatively simple to spawn, such as the peppered. But still its a really interesting concept in this thread.
Thanks Teresa
User avatar
TwoTankAmin
Posts: 1478
Joined: 24 Apr 2008, 23:26
I've donated: $4288.00!
My cats species list: 6 (i:0, k:0)
My BLogs: 2 (i:0, p:48)
Location 1: USA
Location 2: Mt. Kisco, NY
Interests: Fish and Poker

Re: Live tips to save cory eggs

Post by TwoTankAmin »

Hi @ pleconut - My normal dosing of rooibos for a 55 gal. tank which gets 20 gal. water changes is to heat 4 cups of water in the microwave. Once it boils I add 3 level tablespoons to the water. I microwave a bit after to make the water boil some. It then sits while I work on setting up the changing water. The last step it to pour the tea through a fine strainer into the changing water. I use a 20 gal Rubbermaid garbage can and a pump with a hose to mix the water and later to pump it into the tank.

It is hard to over dose rooibos and one really has to kind of feel their way into the proper dosing for you specific application. I have never seen a bad reaction from my fish to the rooibos. I do know that things like dechlor or Flourish Excel are reducing agents which can temporarily lower the DO content of a tank. In fact SeaChem suggests that one nor dose Prime and Excel together for this reason. Normally, the reducing property of a dechlor ,when used on its own, will rarely be an issue in this respect (unless overdosed by enough). But when we inadvertently combine them, there can be a greater risk. The usual remedy for this is either to change some water and/or increase the surface agitation for a while.

Most of what I know about rooibos originates with an Administrator on a wild angel site. He is a PhD. biochemistry professor in S. Africa and an lifelong fish keepers. He regular travels to areas where rooibos is found. While he studies potato viruses, some of his colleagues have been researching rooibos. Some of my handout use his information. I would link folks to some of what he has posted except the site if one of the few fish sites I know that requires one to join to be able to read the forums let alone post. If you are willing to join, the site's forum is at http://www.finarama.com/forum/
No one has ever become poor by giving.” Anonymous
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.”" Daniel Patrick Moynihan
"The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it." Neil DeGrasse Tyson
pleconut
Posts: 1365
Joined: 30 Sep 2015, 22:17
I've donated: $35.00!
My cats species list: 35 (i:23, k:0)
My aquaria list: 25 (i:13)
My BLogs: 3 (i:4, p:154)
My Wishlist: 1
Spotted: 1
Location 1: Bournemouth
Location 2: UK

Re: Live tips to save cory eggs

Post by pleconut »

Thanks TTA, for the info there, it really helps, but just one other question. The plecos i currently keep are in the Panoquolus genus, more may follow from this genera. But others in my plans are next, Peckoltia (specifically compta is next on the agenda), then after an easier to manage and breed hypancistrus, if there is such a thing! Zebras are very, very far off to say the least (I'd like to really know what I'm doing beforehand, and be really clued up about not overestimating my abilities!) Specifically the Panoquolus needs wood, and the others, but not to such an extent. What effect potentially could adding roobios extract do to the heavy tannins already present in the water, for in particular the Panoquolus set ups, though it diminishes over time. I'll still check out the forum and links you provided as this is now going off- topic.
Thanks Teresa
User avatar
TwoTankAmin
Posts: 1478
Joined: 24 Apr 2008, 23:26
I've donated: $4288.00!
My cats species list: 6 (i:0, k:0)
My BLogs: 2 (i:0, p:48)
Location 1: USA
Location 2: Mt. Kisco, NY
Interests: Fish and Poker

Re: Live tips to save cory eggs

Post by TwoTankAmin »

The interesting part about rooibos is it doesn't contain caffine at all and it has extremely low levels of tannins. What it does contain are may of the benefits associated with things like catappas and oak leaves and likely more and better than these things. It is really only useful in tanks where you want the water to be tea stained in appearance. The only fish I use it with are ones which come from tea stained waters. So I have the contradens in with the altums because this pleco is endemic to the Rios Negro, Orinoco and Ventuari which are also altum related rivers. Many of these are interconnected, especially during rainy season.

The thing to realize here is that tea stained waters in nature are naturally acidic and many bacteria can not thrive in acid pH levels. For example, altums may be taken from waters which are 4.0 pH. So not only does the pH discourage pathogenic bacteria but so too do the phenols etc. in the water from the organics which also stain them. It also explains why moving such fish from the wild into tanks often results in death. It is not so much the change in pH but the fact that the fish, not being exposed to many of the more common bacterial nasties, have less developed natural defenses. So when they are exposed to even mild levels of pathogens in tanks, they succumb rapidly. I took 6 months to bring mine up from 4.2 to 6.0 or so. I did not introduce other fish until I had done so.

P. compta is not a blackwater species. Also, I have had little difficulty spawning zebras, contradens, 450s, 236 and even the 173b have spawned easily. All of these are Hypans. On the other hand my P. compta gave me fits. I finally let them go after several frustrating years. There simply are no universal rules when it comes to this stuff. One person's rabbit fish is another's celibate fish. Other folks spawned the P. comptas with ease and I struggled. It is my feeling that a lot of this has to do with our tap water. What the trace element levels are, what minerals etc. are in it are unique to our tanks. I have been very lucky in that most S.A. fish seem to like my tap water. P comptas and otos were notable exceptions. One just wouldn't spawn successfully and the other did not live very long in my tanks. I got compta spawns but they rarely made it to free swimming. I did manage to raise one to adulthood.

As for turning back towards the original topic, I cannot say what effect rooibos might have on corys not from the sort of waters as described. I doubt it would be harmful, but I cannot say it would be of great benefit either. Except when using it like you might use melafix, I would not use it in a tank which was not for blackwater fish. I have no idea what corys might be found in blackwater if any.
No one has ever become poor by giving.” Anonymous
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.”" Daniel Patrick Moynihan
"The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it." Neil DeGrasse Tyson
pleconut
Posts: 1365
Joined: 30 Sep 2015, 22:17
I've donated: $35.00!
My cats species list: 35 (i:23, k:0)
My aquaria list: 25 (i:13)
My BLogs: 3 (i:4, p:154)
My Wishlist: 1
Spotted: 1
Location 1: Bournemouth
Location 2: UK

Re: Live tips to save cory eggs

Post by pleconut »

My tap water is not brilliant for south American fish, unless they are purchased acclimatised to the local tapwater as it's better for the hardwater types but its most likely they wouldnt breed, It takes months in a tank with very small daily water changes, to get to appropriate params, in terms of GH KH, and PH. But its been gradual, not sudden which is asking for problems, i would probably need to run a large separate tank to recreate the water I'd need to allow for the larger water changes, needed to spawn some south Americans, unless i went RO.
Thanks Teresa
francoisMtl
Posts: 76
Joined: 28 Nov 2015, 06:01
My cats species list: 19 (i:0, k:0)
My BLogs: 1 (i:0, p:43)
Location 1: Montreal Canada
Location 2: Canada
Contact:

Re: Live tips to save cory eggs

Post by francoisMtl »

pleconut wrote:Hi francoisMtl, I discovered today the eggs from my ABNs mostly have disintegrated, I've been left with 3/4 that may possibly be viable, but still no fry development can be seen in them, however I'd like to know if you think at all, that this could work with cave spawning Loracariid eggs, as i dont know if my male will reject eggs again. But was a first for him, and myself. Obviously it's different with cories as eggs are usually removed individually and not in a big clutch, the eggs were not fungused so this wasn't the problem with mine, you've already highlighted the use of snails to deal with fungus on eggs. I'm looking to see if they can be used to eat unfertile or damaged eggs, even those separated from the clutch, but leaving the healthy ones intact, in case there's a next time, on the forum i found it said MTS do a very good job at this, but then also the eggs, if been rejected need to be kept artificially areated, and if its rare, expensive or difficult to breed plecos someone is breeding they may well want to use other means to save the eggs, to be completely honest, aeration is of upmost importance. I'm talking about common bristlenoses here, that are such prolific breeders some methods like these can be explored with a few eggs. I can provde a link to the forum if you're interested, I'm not so much of a corydoras keeper, and then only those that are relatively simple to spawn, such as the peppered. But still its a really interesting concept in this thread.
Hi Teresa,
After this tea time break which was very instructive, I will try to give you some answers.
I do not care much about infertile cory eggs as snails will clean them to the point they will not fungus and will not damage fertile ones. I kept infertile eggs for the time (4-5 days) of incubation of the fertile ones without any trouble.
Yesterday I got a spawn of black cory (Corydoras schultzei var black or misname as Corydoras venezuelanus black). That is their third spawn in one full year, the first one was not fertile the second, only 4-5 fry hatch but I lost them all. Now I collected over 100 eggs and still most of them are non fertile. When they are to many, I prefer to remove the infertile ones. Two pictures one with some eggs in the tank and one with excluded infertile eggs (more white than the remaining eggs). Those possible infertile eggs have more than 36 hours and still no fungus, they were always with snails.
CoryBlack059.JPG
CoryBlack059.JPG (82.54 KiB) Viewed 7524 times
CoryBlack066.JPG
I also just got a spawn few days ago of albino ancistrus (Albino Bushy Nose ?), that is their first spawn. Since they are in community tank and because you ask me about pleco I took the eggs out.
One I am sure is infertile fourth one on the clutch starting from the snail touching the clutch.
Ancistrus064.JPG
Few minutes after one snail jump on the eggs and right now they are 5 on the clutch of eggs. I am not planing on adding air line, the water level is very in these cups and I hope oxygen will diffuse passively as I do for corydoras. But I will try to do two water changes per day. You got me worry with your "aeration is of upmost importance".
Ancistrus067.JPG
pleconut
Posts: 1365
Joined: 30 Sep 2015, 22:17
I've donated: $35.00!
My cats species list: 35 (i:23, k:0)
My aquaria list: 25 (i:13)
My BLogs: 3 (i:4, p:154)
My Wishlist: 1
Spotted: 1
Location 1: Bournemouth
Location 2: UK

Re: Live tips to save cory eggs

Post by pleconut »

I was thinking of the aeration because of the fathers continual fanning when i observe this i wonder how much and with which frequency, the water flows around the eggs in the cave, i would think the eggs and the airstone breeding net, method I used that the eggs would be getting more aeration than the father usually provides. But im still learning, BTW there is one egg left it is complete and opaque, and it doesnt look like its going the same way the others did. I might get one fry but its better than none at all. Francois, in terms of the bristlenose eggs in the container in the cup in the picture, as the cup is small in size. If a small airstone added, but only partly submerged, with a clamp so its not producing lots of bubbles at the surface of the water maybe something such as a very fine net between the eggs and airstone above, but agitating the surface slightly might be sufficient, as the container you said is shallow, the eggs could be controlled by the snails, but still get some oxygenation. It would be worth seeing if fry yeilds are reduced and if oxygen supply could be the reason for this. If i can get some ramshorns, and more eggs, i could also see if it's workable.
Thanks Teresa
francoisMtl
Posts: 76
Joined: 28 Nov 2015, 06:01
My cats species list: 19 (i:0, k:0)
My BLogs: 1 (i:0, p:43)
Location 1: Montreal Canada
Location 2: Canada
Contact:

Re: Live tips to save cory eggs

Post by francoisMtl »

Here is a picture of some and Corydoras orange laser
MixCoryBaby076.JPG
There must be some , but they do not appear on the picture, they are eating on another corner of the tank.

To come back at Ancistrus eggs and snails, I went on with the cup and no air line.
It is writen in http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... f=6&t=8726
Hatching & Raising fry by Coryman wrote:The air stone ensures that the water is both fully oxygenated continually moving, which helps to prevent damaging particles from settling on and contaminating the eggs.
. Here water level is so low oxygen should diffuse passively and settling of damaging particules is taking care by the snails.
Here a picture in the night of January 27th
Anci27Jan080.JPG
January 28th noon
Anci28Jan083.JPG
January 30th morning
Anci30Jan089.JPG
And finaly on Januray 30 pm in a larger pot (2 liters pot with near 1 liter of water) with an air line some plants and still few snails.
Anci30Jan096.JPG
Air because these Ancistrus gold fryes will start breathing and there are plenty of them.
Plant because I do not know but I like having some with fryes...
Snail to help eat extra food as there will be soon much food than what they can eat.
I will still do a very large water change daily.

During the process I lost 3 or 4 eggs that desintegrate, I took out the dead remaining with a pipet. Live eggs and fryes got their daily water change twice a day. They are over 50.!
User avatar
bekateen
Posts: 8976
Joined: 09 Sep 2014, 17:50
I've donated: $40.00!
My articles: 4
My images: 130
My cats species list: 142 (i:102, k:39)
My aquaria list: 36 (i:13)
My BLogs: 44 (i:149, p:2653)
My Wishlist: 35
Spotted: 177
Location 1: USA, California, Stockton
Location 2: USA, California, Stockton
Contact:

Re: Live tips to save cory eggs

Post by bekateen »

Very interesting. And nice that you have so many species spawning at the same time. :-)

Cheers, Eric
Image
Find me on YouTube and Facebook: http://youtube.com/user/Bekateen1; https://www.facebook.com/Bekateen
Buying caves from https://plecocaves.com? Plecocaves sponsor Bekateen's Fishroom. Use coupon code "bekateen" (no quotes) for 15% off your order.
pleconut
Posts: 1365
Joined: 30 Sep 2015, 22:17
I've donated: $35.00!
My cats species list: 35 (i:23, k:0)
My aquaria list: 25 (i:13)
My BLogs: 3 (i:4, p:154)
My Wishlist: 1
Spotted: 1
Location 1: Bournemouth
Location 2: UK

Re: Live tips to save cory eggs

Post by pleconut »

Thanks for updating us on the bristlenose eggs, and very good results, to get 50 fry, it also looks as if the snails separated each egg making any unviable ones easy to remove, it looks like my pair will spawn again soon. But for this time unless the father kicks out the eggs, in which case i will try this method, I'm planning on letting it happen naturally.
Thanks Teresa
francoisMtl
Posts: 76
Joined: 28 Nov 2015, 06:01
My cats species list: 19 (i:0, k:0)
My BLogs: 1 (i:0, p:43)
Location 1: Montreal Canada
Location 2: Canada
Contact:

Re: Live tips to save cory eggs

Post by francoisMtl »

bekateen wrote:Very interesting. And nice that you have so many species spawning at the same time. :-)
Cheers, Eric
Yes, it seems each year at fall or winter my cory will spawn and will stop late spring and all summer. I like to believe, it is their spring and fresh water fall in south america, so they will stay timed. On the over hand, I may have more time at fall and winter to take care of them, more food, more water change. The second proposition should not be excluded as I think (i did not reccord spawning dates), I got the same knid of behaviour in second and third generation of . Unfortunately, there are still more species here, that do nothing but eating and swimming peacefully around their tank...
pleconut wrote:Thanks for updating us on the bristlenose eggs, and very good results, to get 50 fry, it also looks as if the snails separated each egg making any unviable ones easy to remove, it looks like my pair will spawn again soon. But for this time unless the father kicks out the eggs, in which case i will try this method, I'm planning on letting it happen naturally.
The snails did not separate eggs, but I saw them sending their neck inside the clutch. Eggs were not to close from each other inside the clutch and snail could somehow clean inside. When eggs hatched, the clutch separated by itself. I usually do the same as you and leave eggs to the protection of the father. This time, I took out the eggs to repport the use of snails on Ancistrus as it was a concern earlier in this post.
Cheers,
francois
pleconut
Posts: 1365
Joined: 30 Sep 2015, 22:17
I've donated: $35.00!
My cats species list: 35 (i:23, k:0)
My aquaria list: 25 (i:13)
My BLogs: 3 (i:4, p:154)
My Wishlist: 1
Spotted: 1
Location 1: Bournemouth
Location 2: UK

Re: Live tips to save cory eggs

Post by pleconut »

It looked as if the snails had separated the eggs, I somehow came to this conclusion, that the snails had dealt with what it is that holds the eggs together. Thank you for making it clear to me now. Loricariidae fathers often dont get it right first time, kicking the eggs out if the caves, or the hobbyists remove them to increase hatching rates, as I had a first time father that had done so, I raised the questions if this method can be used on loricariidae eggs, partly to find out if he does it again, and partly if can be done with other species. As you said yours were in a community tank, which is another reason to remove eggs. However you've shown this can work with bristlenose eggs.
Thanks Teresa
MChambers
Posts: 223
Joined: 18 May 2009, 19:20
My cats species list: 26 (i:12, k:0)
My BLogs: 6 (i:0, p:76)
Spotted: 2
Location 2: Washington DC

Re: Live tips to save cory eggs

Post by MChambers »

About 10 days ago, I had some C. duplicareus spawn, and a couple of days later some C. C123. I've tried the planorbus technique in both cases. Last night, I finally found a few fry in both containers. I haven't bothered counting yet, but I don't think the yield was very good. Still, considering I've never found fry before with C123 eggs when I moved the eggs into another container (I've always had to move the adults out of the tank), this is progress.
User avatar
bekateen
Posts: 8976
Joined: 09 Sep 2014, 17:50
I've donated: $40.00!
My articles: 4
My images: 130
My cats species list: 142 (i:102, k:39)
My aquaria list: 36 (i:13)
My BLogs: 44 (i:149, p:2653)
My Wishlist: 35
Spotted: 177
Location 1: USA, California, Stockton
Location 2: USA, California, Stockton
Contact:

Re: Live tips to save cory eggs

Post by bekateen »

Okay, so I came home today and found a small clump of fresh cory eggs in my community tank. Probably aeneus, but could be trilineatus, C141, or ambiacus (the latter would be a first for me, so not likely). Anyway I picked out 40 eggs and divided them evenly into two plastic containers in 1.5 cm depth of tank water. To one cup I added five small RH snails. No airstones, relying only on diffusive oxygen exchange. After the photos were taken, I added about 10 duckweed plants to each container. Let's see what happens over the next few days.
Attachments
Edited_ImageEasyImageEditor_20160202_3 (2).jpg
Edited_ImageEasyImageEditor_20160202_2.jpg
Image
Find me on YouTube and Facebook: http://youtube.com/user/Bekateen1; https://www.facebook.com/Bekateen
Buying caves from https://plecocaves.com? Plecocaves sponsor Bekateen's Fishroom. Use coupon code "bekateen" (no quotes) for 15% off your order.
francoisMtl
Posts: 76
Joined: 28 Nov 2015, 06:01
My cats species list: 19 (i:0, k:0)
My BLogs: 1 (i:0, p:43)
Location 1: Montreal Canada
Location 2: Canada
Contact:

Re: Live tips to save cory eggs

Post by francoisMtl »

Congratulations MChambers, another two species with some degree of success! My Corydoras are all in furnish aquaria (sand, bogwood, lots of plants...) so I can not compare in vitro hatching rate and in aquarium one. Actually, since taking out the eggs is working fine, I gave up fishing the parents. I found it easier to take eggs out than parents Cory especially when they are in 40 gallon community tank... The ratio will also depend on how good was the male and other factors?
The original idea of using these Ramshorn snails was to avoid fungus without using deleterious chemical agent. Did you notice eggs fungusing?

Hi Eric,
It goes on the same principle as laboratory eukaryote cell culture, where the cells are in a tissue culture dish with very low level of medium and incubator's air diffuse passively. It does require daily maintenance, in the case of Corydoras eggs it is resumed with daily water change.
I use old water at the same temperature as eggs container's one.
Good luck,
Francois
User avatar
bekateen
Posts: 8976
Joined: 09 Sep 2014, 17:50
I've donated: $40.00!
My articles: 4
My images: 130
My cats species list: 142 (i:102, k:39)
My aquaria list: 36 (i:13)
My BLogs: 44 (i:149, p:2653)
My Wishlist: 35
Spotted: 177
Location 1: USA, California, Stockton
Location 2: USA, California, Stockton
Contact:

Re: Live tips to save cory eggs

Post by bekateen »

On Feb 02, bekateen wrote:Okay, so I came home today and found a small clump of fresh cory eggs in my community tank. ...I picked out 40 eggs and divided them evenly into two plastic containers in 1.5 cm depth of tank water. To one cup I added five small RH snails. No airstones, relying only on diffusive oxygen exchange. After the photos were taken, I added about 10 duckweed plants to each container.
francoisMtl wrote:It does require daily maintenance, in the case of Corydoras eggs it is resumed with daily water change.
UPDATE: Francois, I chose to push the extremity of this experiment by NOT changing the water.

It's been four days now. All 20 eggs in the bowl without snails have fungused; in spite of that, one has hatched, and a couple of others look like they may still hatch.

By contrast, there is no fungus in the bowl with the snails. However, most of the eggs have disappeared; there are only about 4 eggs left. I've never witnessed the snails eating the cory eggs, but I'm noticing now that some of the snails look different than others, so I might have some snails in there which do like to eat eggs.

Here are photos of the snail I suspect is not a ramshorn snail and might be an egg eater. Does anybody recognize this snail and know its ID?
Attachments
snail 1.jpg
Image
Find me on YouTube and Facebook: http://youtube.com/user/Bekateen1; https://www.facebook.com/Bekateen
Buying caves from https://plecocaves.com? Plecocaves sponsor Bekateen's Fishroom. Use coupon code "bekateen" (no quotes) for 15% off your order.
pleconut
Posts: 1365
Joined: 30 Sep 2015, 22:17
I've donated: $35.00!
My cats species list: 35 (i:23, k:0)
My aquaria list: 25 (i:13)
My BLogs: 3 (i:4, p:154)
My Wishlist: 1
Spotted: 1
Location 1: Bournemouth
Location 2: UK

Re: Live tips to save cory eggs

Post by pleconut »

Looks like a bladder snail, but possibly with some deterioration to the shells, I've had a lot of problems with these as pest snails, they are a pain in the backside, I dont know if they eat eggs though...
Edit. Did they come from a tank with a low PH, might explain the shell deterioration.
Thanks Teresa
User avatar
bekateen
Posts: 8976
Joined: 09 Sep 2014, 17:50
I've donated: $40.00!
My articles: 4
My images: 130
My cats species list: 142 (i:102, k:39)
My aquaria list: 36 (i:13)
My BLogs: 44 (i:149, p:2653)
My Wishlist: 35
Spotted: 177
Location 1: USA, California, Stockton
Location 2: USA, California, Stockton
Contact:

Re: Live tips to save cory eggs

Post by bekateen »

These do look like bladder snails. I was under the impression, perhaps mistakenly, that these were just young Ramshorn snails. But they probably aren't.

I'll have to try again and next time select my snails more carefully. Up to now, I know very little about aquarium snails, other than I really don't like them. :-(
Image
Find me on YouTube and Facebook: http://youtube.com/user/Bekateen1; https://www.facebook.com/Bekateen
Buying caves from https://plecocaves.com? Plecocaves sponsor Bekateen's Fishroom. Use coupon code "bekateen" (no quotes) for 15% off your order.
pleconut
Posts: 1365
Joined: 30 Sep 2015, 22:17
I've donated: $35.00!
My cats species list: 35 (i:23, k:0)
My aquaria list: 25 (i:13)
My BLogs: 3 (i:4, p:154)
My Wishlist: 1
Spotted: 1
Location 1: Bournemouth
Location 2: UK

Re: Live tips to save cory eggs

Post by pleconut »

I get you there, apart from those in this thread, i never seen one, i see as potentially beneficial.
Thanks Teresa
dw1305
Posts: 1079
Joined: 22 Oct 2009, 11:57
Location 1: Corsham, UK
Location 2: Bath, UK
Interests: Natural History, Ecology, Plants, Biotopes, Taxonomy, Nitrification, Cricket & Northern Soul

Re: Live tips to save cory eggs

Post by dw1305 »

Hi all,
bekateen wrote:These do look like bladder snails. I was under the impression, perhaps mistakenly, that these were just young Ramshorn snails. But they probably aren't.(
Ramshorn snails have a shell without an obvious spire. The shells are "planispiral", which means that, when you hold the shell across its widest part, it is all in one plane, like a Rams horn, or a coil of rope. Have a look at <http://www.planetinverts.com/ramshorn_snail.html>.

I've never used Ramshorn snails as egg "janitors" (this thread from 2012 may be of interest <http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... hp?t=36665>), but I've used Asellus and Malaysian Trumpet Snails <http://www.planetinverts.com/malaysian_ ... snail.html> without any problem.

cheers Darrel
User avatar
bekateen
Posts: 8976
Joined: 09 Sep 2014, 17:50
I've donated: $40.00!
My articles: 4
My images: 130
My cats species list: 142 (i:102, k:39)
My aquaria list: 36 (i:13)
My BLogs: 44 (i:149, p:2653)
My Wishlist: 35
Spotted: 177
Location 1: USA, California, Stockton
Location 2: USA, California, Stockton
Contact:

Re: Live tips to save cory eggs

Post by bekateen »

Thanks, Darrel, for those links.

I definitely had some real Ramshorn snails in the cup, plus one or two shaped as seen above. As I think I said earlier, I was working under the assumption that they were all the same kind of snail, with the spiral shell snails being juvenile forms of the larger Ramshorn's.

I won't make that mistake again... Hopefully. :-)

Cheers, Eric
Image
Find me on YouTube and Facebook: http://youtube.com/user/Bekateen1; https://www.facebook.com/Bekateen
Buying caves from https://plecocaves.com? Plecocaves sponsor Bekateen's Fishroom. Use coupon code "bekateen" (no quotes) for 15% off your order.
pleconut
Posts: 1365
Joined: 30 Sep 2015, 22:17
I've donated: $35.00!
My cats species list: 35 (i:23, k:0)
My aquaria list: 25 (i:13)
My BLogs: 3 (i:4, p:154)
My Wishlist: 1
Spotted: 1
Location 1: Bournemouth
Location 2: UK

Re: Live tips to save cory eggs

Post by pleconut »

I think ramshorns are available obviously sold as ramshorns, you could probably keep them in another container, separately from fish or other snails, they breed just as fast the others as far as I know, becoming a pest if you let them
Thanks Teresa
francoisMtl
Posts: 76
Joined: 28 Nov 2015, 06:01
My cats species list: 19 (i:0, k:0)
My BLogs: 1 (i:0, p:43)
Location 1: Montreal Canada
Location 2: Canada
Contact:

Re: Live tips to save cory eggs

Post by francoisMtl »

dw1305 wrote:Hi all,
bekateen wrote:These do look like bladder snails. I was under the impression, perhaps mistakenly, that these were just young Ramshorn snails. But they probably aren't.(
Ramshorn snails have a shell without an obvious spire. The shells are "planispiral", which means that, when you hold the shell across its widest part, it is all in one plane, like a Rams horn, or a coil of rope. Have a look at <http://www.planetinverts.com/ramshorn_snail.html>.

I've never used Ramshorn snails as egg "janitors" (this thread from 2012 may be of interest <http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... hp?t=36665>), but I've used Asellus and Malaysian Trumpet Snails <http://www.planetinverts.com/malaysian_ ... snail.html> without any problem.

cheers Darrel
Hi Darrel,
Thanks for these links, it seems you were debating on inocuity of Ramshorn snail on fish eggs.
I've never had any problem with Red Ramshorn ("Planorbis" rubrum) snails either, although the jury seem to be out on these.
Again it isn't in any way conclusive (lower pH/dKH may have stimulated egg laying in the Cories or I may have been using cooler rain water for water changes), but my suspicion is that the Ramshorns were eating the eggs.
. Hopefully these experiments in a somehow more controlled environment, like a small plastic cup will encourage you to test Ramshorn snail again, to give them another chance!! ;)

Here is a compilation of fish species tested with some degree of success (no fungus reported) with Ramshorn snails:

Ancistrus sp. (Gold) ? francoisMtl Montreal,Qc
francoisMtl Montreal,Qc
syno321 Edmonton Ab (PlanetCatFish)
Corydoras MChambers Washington DC (PlanetCatFish)
syno321 Edmonton Ab (PlanetCatFish)
Corydoras francoisMtl Montreal,Qc
Corydoras MChambers Washington DC (PlanetCatFish)
Corydoras syno321 Edmonton Ab (PlanetCatFish)
MChambers Washington DC (PlanetCatFish)
francoisMtl Montreal,Qc
(venezuelanus black) francoisMtl Montreal,Qc
francoisMtl Montreal,Qc
Fundulopanchax gresensis Takwai francoisMtl Montreal,Qc
User avatar
bekateen
Posts: 8976
Joined: 09 Sep 2014, 17:50
I've donated: $40.00!
My articles: 4
My images: 130
My cats species list: 142 (i:102, k:39)
My aquaria list: 36 (i:13)
My BLogs: 44 (i:149, p:2653)
My Wishlist: 35
Spotted: 177
Location 1: USA, California, Stockton
Location 2: USA, California, Stockton
Contact:

Re: Live tips to save cory eggs

Post by bekateen »

Okay, here's my final report with these 40 eggs: In the end, only one egg hatched from the group without snails. I thought a couple more would hatch, but they didn't. And in the end, all the eggs disappeared in the group with snails. So either the eggs failed and the snails ate the bad eggs, or the snails were eating good eggs.

What I found interesting was this: Even though eventually all of the eggs disappeared in the + snails cup, by contrast in the first two-three days almost all the eggs were untouched (and not fungusing; these eggs looked viable).

It was only on days 3 and 4 that the eggs started disappearing, and a lot of snail poop was visible in the container. I think the snails were ignoring the eggs (and maybe eating any new fungus) in the first two days, but these snails had been placed in the cups with full stomachs (or nearly so). Then as days past and the snails got more hungry, I suspect that is when they started eating the eggs.

Cheers, Eric
Image
Find me on YouTube and Facebook: http://youtube.com/user/Bekateen1; https://www.facebook.com/Bekateen
Buying caves from https://plecocaves.com? Plecocaves sponsor Bekateen's Fishroom. Use coupon code "bekateen" (no quotes) for 15% off your order.
francoisMtl
Posts: 76
Joined: 28 Nov 2015, 06:01
My cats species list: 19 (i:0, k:0)
My BLogs: 1 (i:0, p:43)
Location 1: Montreal Canada
Location 2: Canada
Contact:

Re: Live tips to save cory eggs

Post by francoisMtl »

bekateen wrote:...It's been four days now. All 20 eggs in the bowl without snails have fungused; in spite of that, one has hatched, and a couple of others look like they may still hatch.

By contrast, there is no fungus in the bowl with the snails. However, most of the eggs have disappeared; there are only about 4 eggs left. I've never witnessed the snails eating the cory eggs, but I'm noticing now that some of the snails look different than others, so I might have some snails in there which do like to eat eggs.

Here are photos of the snail I suspect is not a ramshorn snail and might be an egg eater. Does anybody recognize this snail and know its ID?
bekateen wrote:Okay, here's my final report with these 40 eggs: In the end, only one egg hatched from the group without snails. I thought a couple more would hatch, but they didn't. And in the end, all the eggs disappeared in the group with snails. So either the eggs failed and the snails ate the bad eggs, or the snails were eating good eggs.

What I found interesting was this: Even though eventually all of the eggs disappeared in the + snails cup, by contrast in the first two-three days almost all the eggs were untouched (and not fungusing; these eggs looked viable).

It was only on days 3 and 4 that the eggs started disappearing, and a lot of snail poop was visible in the container. I think the snails were ignoring the eggs (and maybe eating any new fungus) in the first two days, but these snails had been placed in the cups with full stomachs (or nearly so). Then as days past and the snails got more hungry, I suspect that is when they started eating the eggs.

Cheers, Eric
So snails did what they are suppose to do: eating fungus. On the other hand why the cleaned eggs disappeared stay a mystery... There was two different kinds of snails so it is difficult to know exactly which one bites first.! Also it could be "no water change" which will impact on egg survival. I made earlier a test with very large Ramshorn and eggs hatched. I am running another test with one egg ready to hatch (it hatched the day after I put it, I took out the fry) three eggs that look ok, two that look infertile, all these in a cup with lots of snails (ramshorn, see picture), a couple of days after the three supposingly good are still around. The cup is very dirty... There should be one snail hungry among all of these.
ManySnails131.JPG
Cheers,
francois
User avatar
bekateen
Posts: 8976
Joined: 09 Sep 2014, 17:50
I've donated: $40.00!
My articles: 4
My images: 130
My cats species list: 142 (i:102, k:39)
My aquaria list: 36 (i:13)
My BLogs: 44 (i:149, p:2653)
My Wishlist: 35
Spotted: 177
Location 1: USA, California, Stockton
Location 2: USA, California, Stockton
Contact:

Re: Live tips to save cory eggs

Post by bekateen »

Interesting. When I get more eggs I'll try again. I'll choose my snails so that no matter their size, they will all be Ramshorn, with no bladder snails.

Although I had only one hatch in the cup of eggs without snails, none the less it did hatch. This makes me wonder how many might have hatched if I had used only Ramshorn snails the first time.

Cheers, Eric
Image
Find me on YouTube and Facebook: http://youtube.com/user/Bekateen1; https://www.facebook.com/Bekateen
Buying caves from https://plecocaves.com? Plecocaves sponsor Bekateen's Fishroom. Use coupon code "bekateen" (no quotes) for 15% off your order.
francoisMtl
Posts: 76
Joined: 28 Nov 2015, 06:01
My cats species list: 19 (i:0, k:0)
My BLogs: 1 (i:0, p:43)
Location 1: Montreal Canada
Location 2: Canada
Contact:

Re: Live tips to save cory eggs

Post by francoisMtl »

It is always difficult to conclude from one experiment. Here I kept infertile eggs with fertile ones for few days after all fertile ones hatch, then they disapeared one by one. Did they desintegrate or were they eaten by snails...?
francoisMtl wrote:....In fact, it is so efficient that you can keep fertilized and non fertilized eggs with the snail in the same container, even some plants will not affect the development of eggs. Snails will clean everyone and none will fungus. As you can see here, there are still some unfertilized eggs that I kept in the container for a test. They stayed 4-5 days the time the good ones hatch, you can see the newly hatched one on the picture. Image
You can see two or three very white eggs.
Cheers,
francois
Corycory
Posts: 217
Joined: 16 Oct 2012, 11:30
Location 2: Ireland

Re: Live tips to save cory eggs

Post by Corycory »

I've never seen ramshorn snails eating corydoras eggs.
Normally, when eggs are not viable they become extremely soft. If you happen to touch a "white" egg after a couple of days, it just melts away/dissolves in water. Viable eggs get dark and sort of hard and I've never seen neither my snails, nor my shrimp eating them. I've got all sorts of snails including ramshorns.

I haven't read the entire thread so this may have been suggested already but a good way of preserving viable eggs is to place them one by one apart from each other on the glass of the tank in which you want the fry to hatch, and have high flow(filter outlet) blowing at the eggs. It's quite the play to do it but the last time I did that I had a very high hatching rate. If the eggs are bunched up, not subjected to flow and oxygen, then a lot if not all will fungus.

As a matter of fact, the corys themselves if given the conditions, lay eggs in very high flow areas. I currently have a bunch of eggs sitting on the tank glass exactly under a filter outlet that actually splashes into the water. The cory mom that did it must have been laying sideways because she's put them very near the surface. In my previous tank they layed the eggs on a 2800l/h powerhead. Don't ask me how they did it but they loved to spawn there. So I'd listen to the corys, they know better. Hatching them in a bowl is very hard, you need lots of movement and oxygen. And raising fry in a bowl is near impossible. They need perfect water conditions to survive the first few weeks. They grow fast in the right conditions and will pollute the container in no time.
User avatar
bekateen
Posts: 8976
Joined: 09 Sep 2014, 17:50
I've donated: $40.00!
My articles: 4
My images: 130
My cats species list: 142 (i:102, k:39)
My aquaria list: 36 (i:13)
My BLogs: 44 (i:149, p:2653)
My Wishlist: 35
Spotted: 177
Location 1: USA, California, Stockton
Location 2: USA, California, Stockton
Contact:

Re: Live tips to save cory eggs

Post by bekateen »

Okay, let's try this again. This time I've got between 60-65 eggs, just laid 8 hours ago. Three Ramshorn snails and NO bladder snails (sheesh!). Water depth 12 mm. I'll perform daily water changes.

I've never had trouble hatching tril eggs in the past, but I do have pretty high mortality in the first month or two. Even so, if I get more eggs hatching this way, it should help my ultimate yield.

Cheers, and Bonne chance to my eggs!
Eric
Attachments
Edited_ImageEasyImageEditor_20160213_1 (2).jpg
Image
Find me on YouTube and Facebook: http://youtube.com/user/Bekateen1; https://www.facebook.com/Bekateen
Buying caves from https://plecocaves.com? Plecocaves sponsor Bekateen's Fishroom. Use coupon code "bekateen" (no quotes) for 15% off your order.
Post Reply

Return to “South American Catfishes (Callichthyidae - Corys et al)”