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Channelling my inner Filipe - Christmas Corys

Quick update, i have only just seen the 7th cory. For the past week i have been really keeping an eye out for the 7th one, but weirdly only 6 were out together or could that be seen everytime. I have been feeding a really tiny amount of food at night as that's they are most active, even then only 6 came out each time. I even messaged the guy that works at the LFS asking if he definitely gave me 7 🤣

But yeah, just put a tiny bit of food in just now and watched patiently for about 25mins, and i counted 7 luckily, thats because the 7th one doesnt seem to come out to the sand area like the others. Also i would say it's the biggest one so probably a she as two smaller ones were following her i assume they are male. She seems to be inside the bigger crypts in the middle of the tank where its pretty dark because of the big leaves, she must have been chilling around there the whole time.

What are the signs of breeding? I would assume any eggs they lay would be best in the dark "crypt cave" maybe on the underside of leaves? @dw1305

Really glad i have seen all 7 now as i was really confused and frustrated to why i could only see 6 out and about.🙈
 
Hi all,
Sammy Islam said:
I would assume any eggs they lay would be best in the dark "crypt cave" maybe on the underside of leaves?
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It depends little bit on the species, some lay batches of eggs on the glass, but they often lay their eggs singly on plants. If you go to <"PlanetCatfish"> or <"ScotCat"> it has breeding reports for the different species.

cheers Darrel
 
Hi @Sammy Islam my six pandas do exactly the same thing. They only ever let me see four of them at once. Occasionally they'll vanish behind a rock, do a switcheroo and a different four will appear. I had to rope my son in to look at the tank from a different angle at the same time, and then we caught them doing it! I think it's some sort of Clark Kent thing...
Cheers,
Simon
 
Karmicnull said:
Hi @Sammy Islam my six pandas do exactly the same thing. They only ever let me see four of them at once. Occasionally they'll vanish behind a rock, do a switcheroo and a different four will appear. I had to rope my son in to look at the tank from a different angle at the same time, and then we caught them doing it! I think it's some sort of Clark Kent thing...
Cheers,
Simon
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It is really random how only 6 come out to the front. But they have only been in a weeo so hopefully they will feel more comfortable in the weeks to come. But i'm really happy that i have seen all 7, hopefully they learn to come out more at feeding time during the photoperiod.
alto said:
Another excellent Friday Photospread from Sumer Tiwari

www.reef2rainforest.com

Friday Photospread: Care and Breeding of Corydoras melini - AMAZONAS Magazine

Sumer Tiwari describes his experience with Corydoras melini, from acquisition to spawning and rearing the fry. Bloodworms were the main diet for adults and juveniles.
www.reef2rainforest.com www.reef2rainforest.com

And his awesome FB page 😉

Streamlined Sparkles
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Thanks Alto, that's really helpful. Now i know what their eggs look like, i assumed they would be smaller 🤔
 
dw1305 said:
Hi all,

Those are large eggs for a relatively small Corydoras sp.

cheers Darrel
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Hopefully i see some egg action at some point. I will keep an eye out in the areas with the most flow, as the crypt area probably has the least amount of flow.
 
I have seen all 7 a few times now they are becoming more confident and come out at feeding time. They go crazy for fluval bug bites and mini blood worms. If i ever see them in the LFS again i will probably grab a few more littles ones to make it up to 11 or 12.
IMG_20201230_220332_HDR__01.jpgIMG_20201230_220250_HDR__01.jpg
 
Quick update....

The tank/scape is nearly a year old next week. Things are ticking along pretty well. Been doing extra water changes since i turned down my CO2, got a tiny bit of BBA on my annubias but spot dosing it will sort that that. Got a little bit of BBA in my gravel area so cleaned that up and swapped it out for new gravel.

Something really random happened too, my female ram seemed to have a bit of gravel stuck in her mouth and she was struggling to get it out as she was thrashing about. I didn't know what to do so i tired blowing it out her mouth with a turkey baster which didn't help. I decided to put the tweezers in and tried to get close, she actually let me get it out her mouth. She stayed completely still 3 times for about 20secs at a time and i was luckily able to gently knock it out her mouth. Was a very cool experience, i'm convinced she let me help.

I also saw the worm (earthworm jim) the other night, he is flipping huuge now, probably 15cm. Pretty freaked out by it and would love to get it out but i can't seem to get myself to pull him out with tweezers. 🤣 I guess he will have to stay in there until i completely rescape. 🤮
 
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Really love having corys again, they are so cool, love how they gobble up bloodworms like noodles! 🤣They are a lot more confident and they have definitely grown since i got them. They have coloured up too, when i got them they were more grey, now they are more brown if anything.

I have a few questions...
1) they are very active all day and night, do they ever "sleep"?
2) when feeding them with say bloodworms, why do they eat specific worms at a time rather than gourge on a bigger pile? Like they will dig around the sand area and don't eat every worm/bit of food they come in contact with and seem very "picky" when selecting each "bite".


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Sammy Islam said:
Something really random happened too, my female ram seemed to have a bit of gravel stuck in her mouth and she was struggling to get it out as she was thrashing about. I didn't know what to do so i tired blowing it out her mouth with a turkey baster which didn't help. I decided to put the tweezers in and tried to get close, she actually let me get it out her mouth. She stayed completely still 3 times for about 20secs at a time and i was luckily able to gently knock it out her mouth. Was a very cool experience, i'm convinced she let me help
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that’s fantastic ! 😮
 
I've always loved cories to. They pick certain worms to eat because they have relatively small mouths and suck them up like spaghetti. They probably only eat the ones that smell right fish as they taste/detect them with their barbels.

They are mostly active in dimmer light but when used to our tanks are happy to come out during the day as we feed them. Most fish will move around during the whole day but cories have a quite sedentary lifestyle for a fair part of the day it's just split into much smaller rests than we do.
 
mort said:
I've always loved cories to. They pick certain worms to eat because they have relatively small mouths and suck them up like spaghetti. They probably only eat the ones that smell right fish as they taste/detect them with their barbels.

They are mostly active in dimmer light but when used to our tanks are happy to come out during the day as we feed them. Most fish will move around during the whole day but cories have a quite sedentary lifestyle for a fair part of the day it's just split into much smaller rests than we do.
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Ah ok that makes more sense if they smell out the bits they want and that will fit in their mouths, they are very selective. Can they see the food with their eyes?
 
Hi all,
Sammy Islam said:
....... and they have definitely grown since i got them. They have coloured up too, when i got them they were more grey, now they are more brown if anything.
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I'd be pleased with them, they look really good.
mort said:
They pick certain worms to eat because they have relatively small mouths and suck them up like spaghetti. They probably only eat the ones that smell right fish as they taste/detect them with their barbels.
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Sammy Islam said:
Can they see the food with their eyes?
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I've noticed this as well particlularly when I feed Micro worms. The fish become active as the cloud of Micro worms approaches them, they definitely aren't seeing them, so some olfactory stimulus must tell them that a snack is arriving.

cheers Darrel
 
They can use their eyes but prodominantely the whiskers/barbels as the food could be hidden under their chin (it's a bit like my dog, her blindsight is right under her nose). They use their barbels to detect food in the upper layers of the sand so they can eat even when it's pitch black.
 
dw1305 said:
Hi all,

I'd be pleased with them, they look really good.


I've noticed this as well particlularly when I feed Micro worms. The fish become active as the cloud of Micro worms approaches them, they definitely aren't seeing them, so some olfactory stimulus must tell them that a snack is arriving.

cheers Darrel
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I love them, so happy i found some small ones. They look so good when they are all out together, they really complete the tank for me.
 
Quick update....

Everything is going really well at the moment, i've been doing "experiments" aka fiddling, especially with lockdown blah blah gives me something to do and observe.

I have been dosing half micros for 6 or 7 weeks now with APF micro, just to see if it helped with pinholes in my h.pinnatafida as a few articles/posts concluded with it may be sensetive to heavy metals. To be honest it hasn't made a difference to the h.pinnatifida, but i feel like it has improved the growth of my s.repens, p.helferi, anubias and buces. The buce and anubias are definitely growing faster with multiple leaves at a time rather just one. But it's all anecdotal still but i'm going to carry on for now.

I've increased my CO2 again slowly over the last week as my male ram seems good and isn't hiding anymore. I've also raised my lights (twinstar 900SA) a few CM which i should have done ages ago as it has given me much better spread, i guess i was too fixated on it being at the height of the fixed bracket version. Hopefully this will help my h.pinnatifida as they sit under the lights.

Will have an update with some photos soon, the scape is nearly 13 months old and going strong, so happy days really.

I'll leave you with a cory gobbling up some bloodworms. 😀
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Little update....

Everything is going really well at the moment, really just plodding along nicely. Been increasing my CO2 over the last month slowly and my male ram seems fine, if anything he's doing even better. Fed them some bloodworms earlier and my male ram was just so colourful, never seen his nose so red/orange, must be in breeding mode. My male sunset gourami has definitely got his breeding colours showing, he's really active at the moment and still BFFs with my male ram, they definitely have a unique relationship and definitely are "friends".

Still experimenting with ferts, this month's mix contains no NO3 and extra PO4. I suspect my tapwater provides enough, with 80% WC i assume it will bring in around 20ppm NO3. So if i don't become deficiant, i can confidently assume that my tapwater supplies enough or my plants are not using the supplied amount. If my plants are not using 20ppm NO3, they probably are not using 30ppm K, so next month i will drop down to 20ppm k and observe. The reason behind that will also be to see if my rotala grows any better with less K like some others have observed.

H.pinnatifida seems to be growing better again now i have increased my CO2 makes me happy. I even have some contenders for some ermersed growth on both sides, will see how that goes, pretty excited. 😀
IMG_20210302_213713.jpg
 
Little update....

It's happened, h.pinnitifida has started breaching the surface! 😀 I'm really enjoying the tank right now. My CO2 and flow is much better and i have noticed a big difference since the last update. The rotala have gone crazy, they are growing so quickly, feels like an inch a day. The H.pinnitifida is growing very well, i've got less melting of older leaves, it must be a proper CO2 hog especially as they are directly under the light.

All fish and shrimp are doing well. The corys have grown loads since i got them and they seem to be proper enjoying themselves. Since lockdown i can't resist feeding everyday, i tell myself they are having a day off but as soon as i see them i can't help myself! 🤣 I have also been feeding my shrimp once a week at night with nettle sticks and shrimp king complete, gives me a chance to check up on their numbers and health. Never seen so many berried shrimp in my life, i assume i must have hundreds by now.
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