Are they at it?

Mating Slinkys

OK, IN the time that my internet has been down, i have introduced 12 more pygmy cories into the 35g, bringing the total to 20.

What i'd like to know it how to tell if they are mating. When i introduced the new ones, they all went a little bit nuts, swarming around the tank and then partnering off in to twos (and sometimes threes) and the smaller of the two would kind of bend around the larger one, curving it's body in a pronounced manner, whilst kind of twitching. This lasted a few seconds and then they'd go somewhere else and repeat the process.

There were about 4-5 pairs doing this at any one time, but i'm not sure if it was always the same fish, as everyone was kind of mixing and matching. I can't see any eggs knocking around (although to be honest i don't really know what i'm looking for) and even if there were, i'm not expecting much of a result, as they are in a community tank with Emporer tetras and Kribs, both of which seem to me to be quite good egg-hunters (not to mention the yoyo loaches...)

I'd just like to know what they were up to!

Cheers folks!

willow

hi
sounds promising,
you need to look at the glass front, back and sides,
also plant leaves and rocks(don't know about the rocks ?)
anyways if they are busy,you may see very small
clusters of eggs suck around.
Falina would be of great help here.
good luck.

Falina

It does sound quite promising Toby, but I would be quite surprised if they spawned so soon after you introduced them. I have found that they usually like a few weeks to settle in first. Whenever I add new cories they all swim about quite insanely for a little while, but what you described does sound like the first stages. With you having a high number there is a fairly certain chance that you have a mix, and with you saying that it is the smaller of the pair that does the rubbing this indeed seems like mating behaviour.

Things to look out for to see if they have actually spawned is the T formatin. The male (normally the smaller one, depending of course on age) will sort of nuzzle the females belly for a few seconds and soon after you'll see the female carrying a few eggs between her fins. She'll then deposit them on the glass, on plant leaves, maybe an ornament and, a favourite egg depositing lace for mine - the side of the filter.

If eggs have been laid you'll see them in a few places within the tank. They eggs are really small in standard sized cories, so I'd imagine the pgymy eggs would be really tiny. They are sort of transparent in colour with a hint of white to begin with and turn browner if they are fertilised and white if they are bad eggs.

The fry are truly tiny if they hatch and if they survive you may not even see them for weeks simply because they are so tiny, so don't loose hope initially if you don't see anything.

If the eggs are laid on plants this is quite easy because you can remove the leaf and put it in a breeder net. If they are stuck to the glass or filter it's tricky to remove them but you can try "sucking" them up with a pipette and placing them in the breeder unit, or using a razor blade to remove them. I've been very unsucessful here as the eggs always seem to get damaged. The pygmy eggs, being so tiny, might lend themselves better to the pipette method.

Good luck and please let us know how you get on, with photos if appropriate. :D