Minimum tank size to breed C. Melanotaenia?

tigger

Per the title :D

By breed, I mean to condition a group of six to promote spawning, before removing the adults leaving the fry to grow.

fish_4_all

http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/...anotaenia.html


This should help you get started. If you really want to breed them and do a lot of it I would recommend setting up a 15 or 20 gallon long with 3 of each sex or 4 males to 2 females as per the site. I would also leave the adults in the main tank and remove the eggs. This is very easy to do. About 2 hours after the egg is layed you can role them off or use a small pipette to suction them off and put them in another tank or in a net breeder. The adults should lay eggs many many times if they are left in the main tank and you can continue to remove the eggs as wanted.

tigger

Thanks for the superfast reply!

That answers that then - my tank is waaaayyyyy too small - c.8US gallons.

Oh well, as I didn't know the answer, it was a question worth asking.

EDIT: to clarify before anybody gets the wrong idea, my corys are in a much larger community tank currently. I just wanted to condition them separately so I could devote my attention on them alone. :)

fish_4_all

Well 8 gallons is a little small but I did my C. Trilineatus to breed in a 10 gallon without much trouble and they were in with BN plecos so it might work. 6 of them would be the very max in an 8 gallon with a good filter and a steady regiment of water changes. I would still suggest at least a 10 gallon though just for the extra room. Especially when you have to deal with all the babies.

tigger

Yeah, I have have asked the question elsewhere and concern was expressed (which my instincts agreed with if I am honest), but only by one person, hence my request for more opinion.

Unfortunately, I have only 2 tanks I am *allowed* to use - one is 185l where the corys live and one is as described previously. If I notice a female who is gravid I could move her and a couple of males into the other tank to spawn, but really, these corys are shy and so observation of their behaviour is difficult in a tank where they can hide very easily.

I wanted to move them to I could observe and condition but it's obviously not possible. I have no problems in raising the fry (initially at least) in that tank, but it's the adults pre-spawning I was really worried about

BTW these aren't true melanotaenia, their 'gold lasers' who haven't been classified but the breeder believed them to be more like melanotaenia than aeneus and in terms or size and breeding habits they are very similar.

Thank you for your advice - appreciated :)

Falina

I just wanted to add something.

The eggs and fry are very sensitive to changes in any water parameters in the early stages of their lives. I know breeding units are not often recommended but in this case I would recommend one for the eggs, and the first, say wekk, of the fry's lives.

Mine so far have done very well this way.

And also, before I moved my cories into their 30g home, I had 6 of them in a 10g with a betta, and they spawned. I recommend a bigger tank though as the 10g was only temporary for mine, and they are definitely so much happier now.

tigger

Thanks for the input Julie :)