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How do I breed Pygmy Corys?

I've found some conflicting info. Stuff about introducing colder water, heavily planted, not heavily planted, more males to one females, equal numbers of males and females, etc.

How large should the spawning tank be?

And how am I supposed to spot the eggs? Can I feed the fry crushed baby flakes or do I need to stick to worms or brine shrimp? I would really prefer not to have to maintain a live culture and the nearest fish store is pretty far away to keep buying some.

I have bred the pygmy Corydoras hastatus, habrosus, and pygmeus using all the techniques you listed.
What I believe is that well conditioned Dwarf Corys will spawn if they are ready. I have even had a very large female C. pygmeus female spawn while in isolation during conditioning. Of course, the eggs were unfertilized but they were on virtually every surface of inside her tank and believe me, their eggs are so large that it is difficult to miss them. I don't find the eggs of C.hastatus and habrosus to be as large and numerous. They also will use thickets of plants like Hornwort to hide their eggs.

In the end, I have adopted a laid back approach to breeding my dwarf Corydoras. I place 10 to 12 adults in a 20 Long which has a thin layer of fine sand on the bottom, a box of Ehiem Ehfimech hollow ceramic bio media spread across the bottom, thick Hornwort cover, and plenty of filtration. I have about two males for every female. This does stimulate competitive courting and driving of the females by the males.
Each tank has a two large sponge filters; one air driven and the other by a MaxiJet 600 power head plus an air stone. I set the temperature for 76*F to 78*F. I feed them daily with live bbs, live black worms, frozen blood worms and a prepared food pellet. I use earthworm sticks.
They always spawn right after a water change and yes, I do add cooler water. Enough to drop their temp about 4*F. They begin to spawn as the temps begin to rise.
These are permanent set ups. The larvae hide on the bottom among the Ehfimech until they complete their metamorphosis into their final Corydoras shape. Then they join the school of older fish.
I feed my fry chilled live bbs. I found this method helps get the shrimp to the bottom so the fry are sure to get their share, even with such strong currents in their tanks. The fry will also feed on finely ground flake or pellet foods.
This may not seem to be the most productive method but I found that after all losses are accounted for, it is about as productive as using bare tanks but I think that is much less fun and it's more enjoyable to keep and breed the Dwarf Corys using this "natural method".

I was thinking that I would take the adult Corys out of the spawning tanks to put back in with my betta in his ten gallon so the fry won't get eaten, even with cover and so I don't have bunches of babies all the time. I would rather have it controlled.

Also, I don't think I can keep up with another permanent tank. This way, when the fry are large enough, they can go in with the parents and I can put the tank away. I have four tanks already, well, five if you count me as the care taker of my brother's. And occasionally a quarantine tank. I would be pretty nice if I could get them to breed in the quarantine tank before moving them into their home tank.

Your method sounds good though if I was really into the hobby but I'm doing this more to see if I can do this.

Can I breed all the different Pygmies together or do I have to separate out the species? I'm really new to them so I don't know how great I'll be at doing this. And the females are the larger, fatter ones, right?

Do you treat the eggs or just let them be? Do you think it's the high protein diet that's getting them into season?