I think my panda corys laid eggs...help?

westwood8183 · Post by **westwood8183** » 28 Oct 2003, 21:07

I turned on the tank lights this morning and found a small clutch of eggs right on the front of the glass. There's about 20 eggs, and none of the fish seem to be tending to them so I'm assuming it was my panda corys...I have 2 golden rams, 1 bolivian ram, 4 panda corys and one queen arabesque pleco in the 20 gallon tank. I did a small water change last night, I'm not sure if this could have triggered the spawn?

What should I do with the eggs? I think most of them are fertile, they have a slight tan color to them. There are 3 or 4 that have a white speck on them, is this fungus and should I try to remove them? Is there a way to move the good eggs into a breeding net or something similar? I have read they take about 5 days to hatch, is this true?

Sorry about all the questions, this is all new to me and was totally unplanned...any advice would be extremely appreciated!
Here's a pic, not that it helps or anything, it doesn't really show the amber color very well.

Yann · Post by **Yann** » 28 Oct 2003, 21:47

Hi

Well it would be appreciate if you give us your location by going here: http://www.forum.planetcatfish.com/prof ... ditprofile

The water change surely did trigger your fish to spawn but with your population it is unlickly that they will stay there uneaten...

Then you can take the eggs by either gently rolling them with your finger or use a razor lame to take the eggs out and put them in a small plastic box filled with water from the tank. Add a drop of methyl blue plus an airstone. Place the box in a rather dark place.

Cheers
Yann

westwood8183 · Post by **westwood8183** » 29 Oct 2003, 01:38

Sorry, I just edited my profile and added my location. I'm from Wisconsin, in the US.

So far no one seems to be going after the eggs, but who knows what will happen once the lights go out. I have an aquaclear 200 on the tank which makes a very strong current down the front and center of the tank, right where they laid the eggs, and most of the fish avoid this area.

So a breeder net wouldn't be a good idea? Don't they need some water circulation? If they do hatch what should I feed them? Baby brine shrimp? Or would those little packets of fry food from the lfs work? Thanks for the help.

westwood8183 · Post by **westwood8183** » 29 Oct 2003, 01:46

Sorry, I forgot one more thing. If I remove the eggs and put them in a seperate container, how will I keep it warm? My house can get chilly at night, so I really wouldn't want them without a heater unless that is okay...could I use one of those little flat

perware things for sandwiches and just fill it part way with water and let it float in the tank? It wouldn't be very dark, but I would imagine it would stay pretty warm...

I forgot another question-should I put an air stone in whatever container I put them into?

magnum4 · Post by **magnum4** » 29 Oct 2003, 18:52

...could I use one of those little flat perware things for sandwiches and just fill it part way with water and let it float in the tank?

yes, or use an old ice cream tub.

I forgot another question-should I put an air stone in whatever container I put them into?

yes just to keep water movement ect, you could also add a couple of drops of methylene blue, to protect from fungus.

westwood8183 · Post by **westwood8183** » 31 Oct 2003, 01:16

The eggs were laid on Monday night and today (Thursday) they are a very dark brown and I think I can see a little black speck-which I assume is an eye? I removed them all from the glass and into a breeder net for now, so far no fungus. When should I expect them to hatch? Tomorrow or Saturday? I'm afraid I won't know what to look for when they do emerge, are they clearly visible even though they're so small?

westwood8183 · Post by **westwood8183** » 01 Nov 2003, 19:24

Today (saturday) I can see several free swimming fry! When should I start feeding them? I have read that they will use the nutrients from their egg sack for a day or two, so should I wait until tomorrow? I don't want to put any excess waste into the breeder net.

magnum4 · Post by **magnum4** » 01 Nov 2003, 19:31

You answered your own question, when the "egg sack" runs out, you can start feeding.

questions:
What container did you end up using?
what are you planning to use as a first food?
how many eggs did you save?

Yann · Post by **Yann** » 01 Nov 2003, 19:51

Hi!

No don't feed today.... you shal wait for about 48hours ( 2 days) before starting feeding...until then the fry feed themselves on their yolk sac, once this is gone you may feed them
By the way... congratulation...
Cheers
Yann

westwood8183 · Post by **westwood8183** » 01 Nov 2003, 19:53

HI, thank you for the reply. I ended up using one of the mesh type breeder nets that hang onto the side of the tank. I have approximately 10-15 eggs inside. I was planning on hatching my own baby brine shrimp to feed them, but I have searched all of the lfs in my area and none of them carry the eggs! I think I may order some off of the internet for future use. For now I did find frozen baby brine shrimp that are the san francisco bay brand, it says on the package "hatched daily, quickly rinsed in fresh water to remove the salt, and frozen (while still alive) to retain all of their natural food values". I know this is not an ideal food but I don't know what else to do! I also bought some powdered food called "first bites" which one of the locally owned places recommended. I may take a trip to a neighboring city to see if I can find the brine shrimp eggs or the liquifry food which was also recommended to me. What do you think?

Yann · Post by **Yann** » 01 Nov 2003, 20:26

HI !

The problem with brine shrimp is that they are lure away by lights so they won't swimm in the lower part of the nursery, the best would be to feed the fry with microworms as these sink to the bottom.
You can also feed them a very thiny portion of tablets.
Make sure to clean the uneaten food everyday
The hatching nest is not the best choice you might want to have a plastix nursery instead... just be careful that the fry can't get out...
Cheers
Yann

magnum4 · Post by **magnum4** » 01 Nov 2003, 20:39

hikari first bites is too fine and is difficult/impossible to get to sink. liquifry is not much use either. Tetra tabimin might be the easiest in this unprepared situation.

you might not get the fastest growth rate depending on how often and how much you feed and how often and how much you change the water. But it does contain enough to raise your panda to adult.

westwood8183 · Post by **westwood8183** » 01 Nov 2003, 22:07

Is the frozen baby brine shrimp pretty much useless then? I tested a little bit in the main tank and it does sink. I haven't tried the first bites-what if I used a medicine dropper to get it to the bottom? I will go to the lfs today and see if they have the tetra tabimin, but I don't remember seeing it anywhere...

magnum4 · Post by **magnum4** » 01 Nov 2003, 22:17

Is the frozen baby brine shrimp pretty much useless then?

No harm in trying a little bit i've never used and baby frozen brine shrimp before.
but if it looks to big just take it out and feed it to the inhabitants of you main tank.

I haven't tried the first bites-what if I used a medicine dropper to get it to the bottom?

if you want to get it to sink suggest you put it in some water first i use a glass for about 5mins then use you medicine dropper.

Yann · Post by **Yann** » 02 Nov 2003, 00:25

HI!

Using frozen brine shrimps might not be a good idea, first because some nutriments can be lost due to the freezing, secondly you don't know for sure if they were freshly hatch brine shrimps at the time they got frozen or if they were already several days old. Thirdly they might be a bit too big for them to eat it properly. Finally if any egg shell remain with them this can cause mortality to the young fry if the ingest these shell...
Cheers
Yann

Post by **Coryman** » 02 Nov 2003, 23:39

If you take any quality flake food and just powder it down whith your fingers and then wet it. It will sink straight to the bottom.

Brine shrimp are attracted to light but when the light goes out it goes to the bottom and thats where the babies are, all Corys including babies forage and feed at night so there should be no problem feeding brine shrimp.

NEVER use liquifry with Cory fry, its more trouble than its worth. Tetra Tabimin are available world wide so your LFS should be able to get it for you.

Ian

westwood8183 · Post by **westwood8183** » 04 Nov 2003, 03:36

Thank you for all the replies! Most of the babies hatched on Saturday, but I fed them today (Monday) and I didn't see any of them eat...for the most part they are just hanging onto the sides of the breeder net-is this unusual? I guess I thought they would be a little more active. They do swim around when I wipe the net clean every day, but other than that they pretty much just sit there.

I tried some of the baby brine shrimp and it is VERY small. There's no way my other fish would ever find it! Should I put some food in before I turn off the tank lights? I was worried about any extra sitting in there overnight, but if they eat at night I will leave it in and clean it out in the morning. How much longer should I wait before I starting feeding several times daily? I'm pretty sure they still have part of their egg sack, but I've never had cory babies before...

Viking Bear · Post by **Viking Bear** » 05 Nov 2003, 23:24

I have C. panda fry right now. I had several different spawns during the last three weeks. The adult tank is unheatedwith a temperature that stays around the mid-seventies. The eggs took seven days to hatch. The yolks took six days to be absorbed. before the fry would eat the first time. This is a long compared to other species that I have raised. The yolk belly on the panda is dark grey color. You will be able to tell if the fry have eatern because they will have orange bellies. You only want to only feed a small amount at first. Be careful to collect without brine shrimp without the shell. In the past some of the babies will eat the shells only and starve to death or worse remain stunted. The brime will remain alive for several hours before falling to the floor of the container. If the brine shrimp are not eaten they can be carefully siphoned of using air tube. You should look carefully at the water before discard it sometimes fry are accidently sucked up.

When I had small spawns of C. paleatus I used one of plastic breeder traps with the slits on the sides. The holes are too small for the fry to escape. You do need to have a air tube to keep the water from getting scumy on the top.

By the way, my pandas seem to prefer placing the eggs in Java Moss. I have been using the clumps of Java Moss like spawn mops. I have been using 2 liter pop bottle with top cut off to move the eggs into a 5-gallon tanks for the hatching.

westwood8183 · Post by **westwood8183** » 07 Nov 2003, 00:45

Thanks for the info, my pandas actually laid more eggs today right next to the breeder net. I do believe that the fry are eating now, I have been feeding the frozen baby brine shrimp, first bites, and I found tetra tabimin as well. I can definitely tell they are getting bigger, and they are becoming more active every day. I looked for the plastic type breeder, but all the ones I found had pretty large slits in the side, and the babies could definetly get out. How long should I wait before I remove any uneaten food? Would it be okay if I fed them at about 7:00 and then cleaned up the excess at about 12:30? I have classes in between those times, so I don't know if it is okay to leave the excess in the breeder that long-but otherwise I won't be able to feed them in the morning at all.
Thanks for any advice!

Viking Bear · Post by **Viking Bear** » 07 Nov 2003, 19:12

[quote="westwood8183"] How long should I wait before I remove any uneaten food? Would it be okay if I fed them at about 7:00 and then cleaned up the excess at about 12:30?

Does your breeder net allow the water exchange between the main tank and the small amount of water in the net you can be a little more relaxed about cleaning up the food. You want to remove it before it becomes fungused. Live food puts less ammonia in the water since it is not decaying immediately like dry or frozen food. The live brine shrimp live for several hours before dying. The water stays cleaner for laster since almost is eaten and absorbed by the growing fry. I think that cleaned one day before clean is not excessive. You wil learn how much to give with experience.

westwood8183 · Post by **westwood8183** » 08 Nov 2003, 01:29

Yes, there is a good amount of water flow from the main tank into the breeder net. I make sure to clean the netting every day so that it doesn't get clogged up. I also have the top of the net just a little under the water surface so that the water inside the breeder doesn't get that scum/film on the top. If a few babies get out, I'm not too worried. Thanks again for everyone's help!

nonamethefish · Post by **nonamethefish** » 22 Feb 2004, 04:06

The package says they've been hatched form Decapsulated cysts. The stuff sinks quite slowly, and is pretty fine. The little cubes are bright red, so that must be a good sign.

Picklefish · Post by **Picklefish** » 22 Feb 2004, 17:46

How about using Cyclopeeze ?? It sinks and my c*****d fry really go after it. I havent tried it on cory fry though.