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I've got 9 pygmy's, and the past day or so they have broken into smaller groups, wiggling and shimmying, and making T formations, then repeating the wiggling and shimmying.......
The tank they are in has lemon tetras, zebra danios, and some snails, but is well planted with crypts, wisteria, javas and apons....
I've looked for eggs- havent seen any, but considering the fish are .75-1 inch the eggs have to be miniscule, so not seeing them doesnt mean they arent there...
If I do end up with fry- How do I raise them up?
Taking the danios out will probably help the lil ones chances Im sure, But besides that??
THe only fry Ive had have been live bearers or Finding a couple new babies once they hit the 1/2 in mark....

Any suggestions, as Id love to raise any pygmy cory fry I could- I just love the lil buggers...

I would leave the Pygmy Corydoras on their own, with a few plants & they'll breed without problems. They also ignore the eggs & fry.

Mine spawned with the front glass & as you well said, the eggs are very small, but visible, if you look well.

They also spawned on the Hornworth plants I had.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/corydoras/
Member of the Malta Aquarist Society - 1970.
http://www.maltaaquarist.com

If these are Corydoras pygmaeus, the eggs are actually surprisingly large for the size of the fish - they're about 1mm across. Also, if you look closely when the fish are spawning, the female's eyes dilate during spawning, then return to normal afterwards. Quite why they do this has never been satisfactorily explained to me, but it's one of those quirks of the species that's fun to watch out for.

If you have heavy planting, first of all, Corydoras are pretty astute at hiding the eggs. I've had Pandas breed in a community aquarium before today and add to the numbers, though they've only had Cardinal Tetras and Otocinclus for company. Also, the babies, when they hatch, are pretty good at hiding themselves in a planted aquarium until they're large enough to venture out into the open. Chances are you'll have one or two survive even in a community setup. possibly more if you have nice forests of Java Moss for the babies to hide in as I do.

If you want to set up a separate breeding aquarium for your Pygmy Corys, then I'd definitely recommend you obtain some Java Moss. It'll make the babies very hard to see until they reach a reasonable size, but it'll also provide cover, and a place where they can find small micro-organisms to eat to supplement the fry food you give them. If there's one thing that baby Corys like, it's cover to hide in for the first 7 to 14 days or so, and if you provide Java Moss, that's probably the best cover you can give them.

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Ok sorry its been awhile...

The cory are Corydoras pygmaeus, I still havent seen any eggs, or fry. But the behavior continues. The tank is very well planted, and actually has turned into a "Jungle". Only the front1/2 remains open, the rest is grown FULL of wisteria, hornwort, java ferns, anubias nana, apons, lotus, and quite a bit of duckweed.The apons and duckweed are covering about a 1/3 of the surface.Which is shading the open portion of the tank.

If there are cory fry, they are remaining well hidden.Which is actually very easy to do in this tank.

Id love to improve the chances of saving as many cory fry as possible, but moving the corys, and RCS will be quite a feat, without almost tearing down the tank aka jungle. Moving the Lemon tetras out would be infinately easier!When I moved out the danios- I placed the net, then fed, and was easily able to scoop them up, and the lemons were so busy being piggies they didnt even notice the net.

To be honest you will have to spend a lot of very careful time looking for the cory fry, if you find them. I had a 125 that seemed to be instant breeding grounds for anything tossed in. As you describe your tank you have it very well planted will be great. Now as Cali mentioned you do want to add some Java Moss, it gives them a great place to hide and I found mine would nibble on odd things that ended up on/in the java moss. Best of luck with the fry, I know how exciting it can be.

Oh and just to show you how tiny a try can be take a look at this pic. Was one of the babies I managed to catch (was gonna move them to another tank.) it's in a plastic baggy that is laid on top of a penny. Though it is a Panda Fry it will give you an idea of just how tiny they are...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v601/hmlaird/corries/Baby%20April%202005/68203009285_290.jpg

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle