A Tale of Five Corys
by John & Helen McGuire
(Dictated by Helen, written by John)
First published in the newsletter of the Greenock and District
Aquarist Society (Scotland), and scotcat.com
Aquarticles
It all started when I bought a bag of 5 small albino corys ( Corydoras
aeneus) at Solway ( Dumfries) last October.
When I got home I put them in a tank to grow them on. Once they started growing I
started to sex them out, and to my horror they were all females. As I wanted to breed them
I started my quest to find a male. Now for such a common wee cory you would think, 'nae
bother' to pick one up, wrong!. For a couple of months we tried... nae joy at shops,
shows, auctions, even people known at the shows... still no joy. Then one night at our
club, bingo! (no, I don't mean Agnes McCartney's bingo!) - Andy Morton told me he had a
male. Now Andy, being the nice chap that he is, allowed me to borrow his male, and I gave
it the tenancy of a 2ft.x 15in x 12in tank, complete with dark gravel, bio filter and a
small powerhead to add extra current to the water, which had a pH. of approx. 6.5, and let
him settle in.
The next day I picked my best female and put her in with her new friend. Now to try
and get them to spawn.
I had only half filled the tank with water (approx. 7in), temp. about 70ºF.
and changed a gallon of water each day for four days. Then, hey presto! they
spawned.
I removed the parents back to a 3ft tank, but no
joy, the eggs fungused and I lost them.
Now patience (lots of it) is the name of this game, so here we go again. This time,
after I took the parents out I put in fungicide at the recommended dose, and crossed
my fingers and waited for the eggs to hatch. I watched them and saw the tiny little fry
wriggle from the egg and dive straight to the bottom of the tank and hide in the gravel,
until their yolk sac was absorbed.
After about three days I noticed they were free swimming about the bottom of the
tank scavenging for food. (I had removed the small power head when the eggs started to
hatch).
Now the hard work begins: to try and rear them without any major tragedy. In
between my household chores, and every time I passed by the tank, it was a case of feed
me, feed me now!.
Food for them was no problem, fry powder, microworm, crushed
flake, with a wee treat of brine shrimp and mashed bloodworm (frozen stuff).
I am still rearing two spawnings of albino corys and my reward for all this
patience and effort is my Breeders' Certificate. After all this is our "hobby"!
Epilogue: Andy's male certainly enjoyed his stay with us,
(well wouldn't you? - two good meals a day, plus enjoyment) and I'm sure my females would
welcome him back with "open fins". Thanks Andy.
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