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My cory eggs are hatching. I have 6 that are hatched with more comming every day. I am concerned that after the egg sack is gone and they are free swimming they don't. They dart to the surface every 15-20 min. but otherwise just lay on the bottom of the tank. The first to hatch has already died and I am afraid the rest will follow. Please help me save these babies. They are in a perware sandwich container of 1 inch tank water. Water changed daily. T 72F, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 5. I also have some java moss in the container.

What are you feeding them? Have you read the feeding-fry-sticky at the top of this forum?

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Mats

Try looking at the fry with a flashlight after the lights have gone out. I find that newly hatched fry are much more active in the dark hours for the first week og two.

Are the fry eating? Try baby brine shrimp.

Mark

If you are putting the fry in small containers water quality is very hard to keep up as is a constant temperature. You would probably have higher survival in a net type breeder hung in the spawning tank. Most Cory fry will accept frozen baby brine shrimp and enough will stay inside the net breeder that the fry will find enough to eat. Check out the stickey on methods of raising Corys. One of these ways will work well enough to give you better results. You will have better results as you keep trying. The first times are usually the hardest. The eggs look good so that is a plus, too.

Thank you all for your tips. I did read the section of raising fry. The problems is that they decided to do this when I was flat broke.
Here's the update. All but 2 eggs hatched. 5 died withing 24 hours of hatching. I have 15 surviving so far. I moved them to a 2.5 gallon tank with about 2 inch of water and java moss. 10 hide under the java moss during lights on and will chase the java moss if I move it. In the morning I do a 100% water change with water from my primary tank. In the evening I do a 50% water change. I dissolve a Wardley Shrimp Pellets Formula in a small amount of tank water and give a tiny bit with an eye dropper. If they survive til Friday I will hit the lfs for a net breeder and frozen baby brine shrimp.
Question: To hatch the eggs I made this stupid contraption and hung it in front of the outflow of my filter. I took a strainer 4 inches wide and put it in pantyhose.The mesh on the strainer is to small for them to get through.


The eggs hatched great. I took them out after the first fry died thinking maybe that was the problem. Should I return the fry to this until friday or leave them where they are?

You might want to give them some time in the tank they're in befor moving them unless it's a move to the net breeder hung in the breeding tank. They don't move very well when they are small and it is not unusual to lose some from the moves. If tank space is as short as I'm guessing, then the next time try placing the eggs in the breeder an leave the fry in it until they are too big, but big enough to withstand a move to a rearing tank.

Thanks I'll leave them be until Friday when I get the net breeder.

Remember to not just change the water, but wash and clean the container you keep them in as well. Every second day or so in very warm water. Keep the fry in another container while you clean the usual one.

If the cory's hatch in deeper water, it's perfectly ok to raise them in deeper water as well (deeper than just an inch or two). What's dangerous for them is changes. They don't tolerate changes well, not in temperature and not in water depth (pressure).

I hatch my Cory eggs in about 9-10 inches deep water and that works just fine. As long as they are used to it from the moment they hatch, it's ok.

I'm a little bit puzzled though, why your fry keeps running up for air as often as every 15-20 minutes...? Do you have an air stone in the container? They shouldn't have to do that so often...?
My Cory-fry hardly ever runs up for air. Exept only a short while after a water change. It's like they are "adjusting" to the new water, and when that is done they stop.

I don't know how any of them are still alive. I know it has only been 4 days but they have been through many changes. First I hatched them in my main tank in my DIY contraption. Then I moved them to the plastic container then I moved them to a 2.5 gal with 1-2 in. water. I'll know better next time and be prepared with the right stuff to take care of them. Since I put them in the little tank they don't run to the surface except imm. after water changes and then only once. They are more active at night but still don't move much during the day. I know it is another change but Friday I am getting a net breeder and they are going back into the main tank. It has very stable parameters and good oxygenation. I hope they survive but if not I have learned alot and next time I will be prepared. This was very unexpected. We had a storm and the electricity was out for about 8 hours. I don't have back up so I take the bio part of the filter and put it in the tank when that happens. It seems to mostly keep my biological filter that way. When the electric comes back on I do a 50-60% water change. I was in a hurry and accidentaly dropped my temp by 4 degrees. Next morning I had eggs and they continued for several days. I have never breed anything before and wasn't sure how or why it happened. I then found this site and have learned alot. Thank all of you. I'll keep lurking and learning.