Laser Cory Breeding

[Marisyn]

Hello! I have CW010 and melini in my community tank and there has been quite a bit of spawning going on this summer. However, I am having a difficult time identifying the cory fry. Anybody with experience breeding lasers - how long do they take to color up? The oldest fry in the tank are approximately two months old and are showing a distinct laser stripe, however their coloring is much more like melini. Did I accidentally crossbreed?

[bekateen]

Hi Marisyn,

First, how many of each species of cory do you have together in your tank? If it's only one of each, then obviously you have hybrid babies. If you have each species in groups of five or more, then it's very unlikely you got hybrids.

That said, I don't see any distinct melini pattern in the babies in your photo, in my opinion. Here is a post that has links to a 2-month-old melini. Notice the black dorsal fins (I don't see this on yours):

CW010 are in the aeneus group, so their fry tend to have eye masks when young even though the adults don't show that. There is a photo of a younger CW010 fry here: http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... =6&t=42885.

Please keep us updated with photos as your babies grow.

Congratulations, Eric

[Marisyn]

Thanks Eric, the pictures are helpful! I have 4 lasers (2 male, 2 female) and 3 melini (2 female, 1 small maybe male or a female runt). I haven't seen a black dorsal fin on any of the fry, so looks like I might have CW010. I'll post pics when they start to get color =)