CW010 - Tell me about successful spawning

[HootinHoller]

I have a wild caught group of 7 in a 40B, pool filter sand substrate with some Buce, sticks and leaf litter. I'm in Frederick and my water (city) is on the hard side, but you don't have to chew it.

I've tried the low water with cool fill thing. They seem to behave like Corys, all wiggley around the substrate and playing with each other. I've fed live blackworms, frozen brine shrimp, frozen bloodworms and a variety of flake and pellets.

I've even played Barry White on a loop overnight.

What conditions did you have when they spawned for you?

 

[FishEggs]

You have to buy Don's magical spawning water and use that for water changes.

 

[HootinHoller]

You have to buy Don's magical spawning water and use that for water changes.

I didn't know Don Vito was into fishes, other than having people swim with them.

 

[FishEggs]

I'm talking about Don Kinyon finzz THEE Don.

 

[finzz]

It sounds to me like you're doing things right. I use my tap water (well water) and it's around 7.2 pH, 130ppm TDS. They usually spawn after a big water change, and if you use cooler water it can help trigger spawning. Wild fish are almost always a little harder to trigger, but with patience, you'll do it no problem.

 

[mchambers]

Barry White is usually enough for my Corydoras, but wild caught can be tricky. As Don said, you're doing the right things. Some other ideas:

1. Time the water change to coincide with a big drop in barometric pressure. I'm not convinced this works, but some people claim it does.

2. Add a powerhead to the tank to increase flow.

3. Hold off on water changes, reduce flow, increase the temperature, decrease feeding for a few weeks. Then do a big change, increase flow, decrease the temperature, feed frozen or live food.

4. My go-to for corydoras spawning: move them to a different tank. It's a pain to do it, but it is my most reliable way to trigger a spawn.

 

[finzz]

Yes! Matt's right. Your family may look at you funny when you start running around with hoses and buckets every time you hear a thunder storm coming, but it does work (sometimes).

 

[b considine]

Ted,

If it makes you feel any better, I do everything Don and Matt do and have a fraction of their success. So all you have to do is spawn them once and you'll pass me, a guy who has been trying this for years.

Blaise

 

[Becca]

I usually use tap with them, but occasionally will dump some rain water in the tank. Create some areas of high flow, and they're more likely to lay eggs in relation to those areas,rather than scatter them around. Mine did better, acted more naturally, and produced more eggs when I added a driftwood branch, a couple smooth/round stones, and a bit of leaf litter to their tank. I have just a dusting of sand on the bottom of my tank for them to sift through.

I most commonly find eggs between the hours of 11am and 3pm. If I find some eggs early, I almost always find more later in the day. I'm more likely to find eggs on days that there's been a big rain/thunderstorm, with or without doing a water change. I got lots of spawns in the fall through early winter, but haven't had many over the winter. I suspect some of it is seasonal with them. I keep they're tank in the low-mid 70s for spawning.

I hope some of this helps.

 

[HootinHoller]

4. My go-to for corydoras spawning: move them to a different tank. It's a pain to do it, but it is my most reliable way to trigger a spawn.

Now there's a notion. Could it be tank placement rather than just a different tank? The tank in question never really gets all the way dark due to a kitchen night light. It also gets walked by quite a bit. Walking past doesn't seem to spook them though, and there's not usually anyone there during the day.

I have a HOB running but it may not be enough flow? It's there mainly to support using a bag of purigen more than flow. How much flow am I looking for?

The main filtration is a sponge. I lost one of the original 8 I bought after it got stuck in the lift tube of the sponge filter. It was alive when I got it unstuck, but it wasn't very happy and died a few days later.

 

[mchambers]

Hard to say on flow. They do tend to put their eggs where there is flow, perhaps to combat fungus. I know Don has described some of his tanks as looking like a toilet flushing, or words to that effect.

On the new tank, I think the shock of being moved spurs them to spawn. I asked Ian Fuller about this two years ago and he agreed that a move often triggers spawning.

 

[CSnyder00]

My cories almost always spawn immediately after a move. It's nearly instantaneous. I also have luck with water changes before a storm. I use tap water and feed frozen/live food a few days before as well. A combo of all three of these works nearly without fail.