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Hi!
I have just bought 6 Corydoras Sterbai!These are my first cats and I would really like to raise babies, but I don't even know their sex. They are going to live in a 72l/20g full-planted tank among 3 Amano Shrimp.
Here are some pics! I hope I have both males and females!
Thanks

IMO, they need to be fattened up a bit to be sure, but I would guess the first one to be a male. The others not so sure.

Thanks for the reply!
I will post pics as soon as they fatten up.I am planning to feed five different flakes , three different frozen foods, shrimp pellets and live Grindal .I hope that is enough Do I have any chance for a successful breeding with only one male ?

There's always a chance as long as there is a male, just better odds if you have multiple males for each female. At one of my LFS a pair of albino aenus were dropped off, they have successfully spawned 3 times in the tank with surviving fry in a community tank.

OK then! I will post new pics soon but I don't know how I'm going to catch them!They are faaaast!

One more question.I know that it is normal for corydoras to go up to the surface and breath sometimes, but one of mine does it all the time.S/he spends much more time up there than the other sterbai and I'm a little worried.What can I do?

Hi,
Some months have passed and my Corydoras look more healthy. I still can't figure their sex, but they look like females to me .
Here's a recent pic. Does it give you any clue or taking the fish out of the tank for better pics is necessary? I wouldn't like to stress them. If this photo helps I'll post more, at least one for every fish.

Thanks a lot,
Billy

UP!

BBetta, I think the only way to work out the gender is to see the group together so the relative sizes are apparent. Assuming they're all mature, the females should be larger and fatter relative to the males. The difference isn't enormous but it certainly is visible.

Hello everyone,
I have been trying really hard to catch my corydoras but with no result.I want to take some pictures of them from above and try to tell their gender.Any tips?
The don't seem to fall for the common bottle trap and I can't catch them with a net because the tank is full planted.
Thanks

PICS

PICS

Anyone?

Based on those pics, at least two females. I could be wrong, there could be more. Continue feeding them for a few more months. Then, you'll find out females have plump bodies compared to the male's tapered appearance. Good luck!

magdalo wrote:Based on those pics, at least two females. I could be wrong, there could be more. Continue feeding them for a few more months. Then, you'll find out females have plump bodies compared to the male's tapered appearance. Good luck!

Thanks for your reply.Could you please tell me which fish are females in you opinion?

Second pic from the very first pic shows a lone female. Third pic shows a male in the middle flocked by two females. Latest pics hard to tell because of the gravel.

bbetta wrote:Hello everyone,
I have been trying really hard to catch my corydoras but with no result.I want to take some pictures of them from above and try to tell their gender.Any tips?
The don't seem to fall for the common bottle trap and I can't catch them with a net because the tank is full planted.
Thanks

What size is the tank? Drop the water level so that you only have three or four inches of water in the tank, Chase the corries slowly, use pieces of plastic inserted into the substrate to form barriers so that they can not run as far. use your hands instead of a net.

This is one of the reasons that most of my tanks have the plants potted in pots so the plants can be removed to allow me to catch fish

Hello everyone! I have great news! My cories have just spawned! I had noticed the pre-spawning behaviour the last days and today I decided to make a WC to get them into mood, but they have already laid eggs! Unfortunately there are just 5-6 of them so far but I have read that this may happen at their first spawn.
Questions:
1)I could set up a small aquarium that I have (23litres-6.1 gallons), put biology in its filter from my main tank and wait 10-15 days.Meanwhile, I'm thinking to put the eggs in a breeding box http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Aquarium ... 27478.html with some gravel from the tank so the fry won't slip from the openings.I will add some esha 2000 (it has methylene blue) and I'll turn my circulator's output toward the box. Once they become stronger and the 23l tank is stable I will transfer them. What's your opinion?
2) Could you please suggest me a good first food? This one looks good http://www.oceannutrition.com/?post=ins ... ine-shrimp


Thanks

If you have an old margarine tub or even a Tupperware sandwich container that you could (wider being optimum) drill a hole or two on the side and use suction cups to attach to the side of the tank so it floats on top of the water would work better as gravel could squish them and makes difficult to clean.

Thanks for the reply,
What you suggest was my other alternative but I didn't have any of the materials needed in hand and wanted to take the eggs out of the main tank as soon as possible.Also, I've been told that Cory fry usually eats their own poop when they are in a small container without substrate and I didn't wanna risk it.As of this moment I have 12 eggs in my breeding box (2 of them look like they are going to turn white). I've added methylene blue and the flow is gentle.
I will keep you posted.
Any suggestions would be very helpful

Thanks

"2) Could you please suggest me a good first food? "

Bio film, sponge grunge,apr, egg yolk emulsion ,vinegar eels. Good luck.

Glad your cories have spawned and best of luck with the babies.
I suppose you figured the sexes of the parents too .
I am pretty good distinguishing the sex of other breeds of cories but with my sterbai I really am useless because their shape is kind of deceiving me. However the males have pointy dorsal fin in comparison to the females from what I've noticed as I managed to sex mine after they started breeding...

I copied and pasted this from the C. pygmeus topic. http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... =6&t=40192
It is how I feed Corydoras fry.
I adopted the practice of harvesting my large hatches of Artemia nauplii daily then storing them in the refrigerator.
I always use a Reef salt @ 1 tbs/gal for both hatching and storage.
I put the harvested nauplii in a plastic shoe box in >1" of clean saltwater. This is approximately one pint or 500 ml.
This made it easier to feed the fish several times a day but only having to harvest one time a day.
The chilled nauplii may last 48 hours although not all will be alive they remain edible for most species except for the rare species which insists upon living foods.