The
basic Cory breeding setup..
Basic tools needed
-scraping device and a catching utensil. Metal pie slicer and a small tablespoon strainer. I have stopped using these tools and now just roll the egg off of the glass or plants with my index finger. The eggs either sticks to your finger or you need to pinch it between your thumb and index finger. The eggs are surprisingly strong.
-turkey baster to clean the container
-Over the tank specimen container. There are no openings in this container so daily cleanings are required. If you use a breeding box, it will have holes and the eggs/fry will fall through.
1- Fill the specimen container with tank water and hang it over the inside of the tank. This way the specimen container will remain the same temperature as the tank. I put sand in the bottom of the container. It seems to reduce stress of making them think they are not sitting on the bottom.
2- remove eggs carefully and place them into the specimen container. The eggs will be sticky and will likely stick to your scrapper. Do one egg at a time where possible and try to scrape them to the wall of the inside of the specimen container, don't worry if the eggs fall to the bottom of the specimen container and bunch up. Viable eggs will turn a grey color or dark color about 24 hours after being laid. Unfertilized eggs will turn a solid white. Remove these if you can, along with any eggs that have fungi growing on them.
3- Eggs will hatch 3 to 5 days after the parents spawned.
4- Start feeding around 2 days after the the babies hatch. Very fine flake food will work do this several times a day. If you see any babies without an egg sac, start feeding.
These babies still have their egg sac
This baby is around 3 days old and does not have the egg sac.
5- remove 50% of the water in the specimen container at least once a day. I remove the water from the specimen container with a turkey baster and pour it into the main tank. Make sure that you remove any food from the bottom. Once I remove 50%, I fill it back up from the main tank. It is best to do this an hour or two after feeding to make sure left over food doesn't pollute the water. The idea is to provide a small area for the babies so you can watch the babies progress and so they can find food without polluting the tank. They are very poor at finding food for the first few months.
6- I would wait until their dorsal fin has completely formed before removing them from the specimen container. ~1 month old.