Best substrate for cory cats

Huey · Joined: 21 Dec 2007 Posts: 2

I am interestedin trying to breed cory cats and have heard its not
necessary to use any substrate but have also heard you need substrate. I
have been told that you can use coarse gravel, builders sand, pieces of
slate or glass, or marbles.

Do they need deep tanks or shallow tanks?

Does anyone here breed corys? Any help is appreciated.

HC

Archived from group: rec>aquaria>freshwater>misc

Reel McKoi · Joined: 27 Sep 2007 Posts: 385

"Huey" wrote in message @85.214.90.236...
>I am interestedin trying to breed cory cats and have heard its not
> necessary to use any substrate but have also heard you need substrate. I
> have been told that you can use coarse gravel, builders sand, pieces of
> slate or glass, or marbles.
>
> Do they need deep tanks or shallow tanks?
>
> Does anyone here breed corys? Any help is appreciated.
==========================================
I always believed the closer you can get to their natural habitat the
better. I saw a pair of gray cory's spawning in a tank at PetsMart last
week.
--
RM....
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
~~~~ } ~~~ }

Tynk · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 200

On Dec 21, 4:56�pm, "Reel McKoi" wrote:
> "Huey" wrote in message
>
> @85.214.90.236...>I am interestedin trying to breed cory cats and have heard its not
> > necessary to use any substrate but have also heard you need substrate. I
> > have been told that you can use coarse gravel, builders sand, pieces of
> > slate or glass, or marbles.
>
> > Do they need deep tanks or shallow tanks?
>
> > Does anyone here breed corys? Any help is appreciated.
>
> ==========================================
> I always believed the closer you can get to their natural habitat the
> better. I saw a pair of gray cory's spawning in a tank at PetsMart last
> week.
> --
> RM....
> Zone 6. �Middle TN USA
> ~~~~ �} �~~~ � }

RM...
A lot of species of fish need their tank situation as close to the
wild as you can, but there are some that require particular spawning
needs in the home aquaria that are different from the wild.
Such as:
Angelfish should have a bare bottom tank, as opposed to gravel or
river rock (depending on the set up).
The fry will get trapped when bedded down for the night.
Bettas need a bare bottom as well, as the eggs and fry would get
trapped and die.
I've even seen live bearer fry (as large as they are), get trapped in
gravel, so I always use a bare bottom tank for spawning and raising
fry.
Fish like egg scatterers need large gravel or river rock or marbles,
etc because their eggs *need* to get lost in it so that they don't get
munched by the parents.
Some need certain types of plants to spawn in...
As for Cories, either a bare tank or maybe some sand.
Sponge filter.
Live plants for depositing eggs on, or spawning mop can be used.
They sometimes also put them on the glass or somewhere you didn't plan
on.
Condition the adults on bloodworms, etc and when in top condition
start changing 50% of the water daily with water a couple degrees
cooler than the tank water. This is done daily until they spawn.
After spawning, remove the parents.
Fry can be fed microworms or baby Brine shrimp.
I've fed angel fry the frozen baby brine and they eat it just fine.
I find if you "swoosh" it around it looks alive and the fry snatch it
up quickly.
Any uneaten should be cleaned up ( this is why a bare bottom tank is
usually better in this case).

Larry Blanchard · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 98

On Sat, 22 Dec 2007 08:02:07 -0800, Tynk wrote:

> As for Cories, either a bare tank or maybe some sand.

Mine seem to do well with fine gravel, i.e. tube sand.

> Sponge filter.

Yep.

> Live plants for depositing eggs on, or spawning mop can be used.
> They sometimes also put them on the glass or somewhere you didn't plan
> on.

My albino corys prefer the glass to anything. Works out, as I don't
really want to raise cory fry, and the snails eat the eggs from the glass.

I've got a 30 gallon tank full of Batanta Island rainbowfish right now and
that's enough fry for me.

Reel McKoi · Joined: 27 Sep 2007 Posts: 385

"Larry Blanchard" wrote in message @fastmail.fm...
>
> My albino corys prefer the glass to anything. Works out, as I don't
> really want to raise cory fry, and the snails eat the eggs from the glass.
=======================
These corys were using a tacky plastic plant near the back of the tank.

I have seen baby fish get trapped in gravel. Tynks is right.
--

RM....
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
~~~~ } ~~~ }

Bran Everseeking · Joined: 26 Dec 2007 Posts: 1

Huey wrote:

>
> Do they need deep tanks or shallow tanks?
>
> Does anyone here breed corys? Any help is appreciated.

I go with sand; pool filter sand is cheap; clean and less abrasive than some
others. watching corydoras barbling through the sand is one of the
pleasures of keeping them. that said I also keep a variety of
rock "beaches" and wood in their tanks as well.

I would not tend to keep them in tanks over 24" as they have a passion for
darting to the surface.

I like species groups in odd number of nine or more.

a cool water change of 25-30% will inevitibly spawn furious breeding
behaviour.

Bran