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Can in put 5mm Peppered Corydoras fry, with 4cm Bronze Corydoras, or should i leave them to grow more?.

Thanks alot in advance.


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Id say wait becuase the 4cm bronze corys will easily out compete the 5mm corries for food and such

If you have them in a seperate tank, it's best to leave them where they are. No need to stress the young fish out by capturing and moving them, that should wait until they are older and tougher.

---

And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Yes, they are in a seperate tank & growing fast aswell, as i am still feeding them some Live food, apart from sinking tablets. So, i'll leave them where they are, till they get bigger.


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Bronze and Peppered fry are usually considered fairly hardy fry, but even so, the less disturbance they experience until they're a bit bigger, the better. At 4 and 5 mm, I'd say they're less than 3 weeks old, and at that age, minimual disturbance is the key to ensuring that they'll grow well. That is, of course, other than the necessary disturbance of aquarium maintenance - they'll withstand some disturbance if the end result is a nicely hoovered gravel bed and new, nitrate-free water added to the tank.

In the case of my Pandas, they're notorious for being delicate until they're at least 21 days old - before that time, water changes have to be administered trickle style if they're to be happy. Pandas also need to be kept in the nursery for a minimum of 16 weeks, and preferably up to 20, before being shipped. One of the reasons so many juvenile Pandas croak after being sent to a dealer's is that they're shipped too early - the difference in survival rates between Pandas shipped at 16 weeks and Pandas shipped at 20 weeks is considerable. While Peppered and Bronze Corys are a good deal tougher, it wouldn't hurt to lavish the same tender loving care upon your fry and treat them as if they were Pandas - they'll reward you for it by becoming fairly big, bouncy Corys in no time at all, and they'll be a LOT happier once you DO ship them to somewhere else, be it a fellow aquarist as part of a swap, or a dealer to make a spot of money for the next round of live foods!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Yes, they look quite hardy & growing at a very good rate. I will leave them on their own for more time & the tank don't have any sand or gravel. It's just a breeding tank & there's only a box filter.

Thanks alot Calilasseia, for sharing your Panda experience.


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Member of the Malta Aquarist Society - 1970.
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Oh, and as an addendum Jason, once your fry are approaching around 8 weeks old, you can mix them quite happily and they'll live together without one species outcompeting another being too problematic. The trick once you do that is to make sure that the food is spread about so that all the fishes get their chance to eat. You may be able to mix them at an earlier stage depending upon their relative sizes, but 8 weeks will probably be the 'safe zone' after which they'll frolic about together without any major issues arising.

Oops - just looked again at the sizes - 5mm versus 4 cm? Ah, might be a different story. Before mixing the smaller ones with the larger ones, I'd wait until the smaller ones were at least 2cm long. At that size they'll be able to compete effectively. I was under the misapprehension that you had some that were 4mm long and another batch that were 5mm long!

If they are more equal sizes, mixing them at an early age, around 8 weeks, isn't a problem. With the size difference you've quoted, however, and which I initially misread, then you'd better wait until your youngest fry are at least 16 weeks old and preferably 20 weeks, give them chance to build up some body mass so that they can compete effectively with the older ones.

Having said that though, I've had two fry appear in the main aquarium that only betrayed their presence after gravel vacs, and they've been able to find food with 10 adults in there as well. Bear in mind that adult Corys are fairly messy eaters, and spread small particles about as they are eating ... in the main aquarium, small particles of food have plenty of crevices to end up in where fry can find them under cover, such as the rootstocks of my Amazon swords and the truly labyrinthine rhizome tangles of my Java Ferns. With that kind of environment, small fry can survive in my main aquarium alongside the adults because they can reach the food that the adults can't. If you're raising fry in a bare nursery as opposed to a furnished one, however, then you might find that larger fishes scoff all the food before the smaller ones get a decent feeding chance.

That's another reason why I go for furnished nurseries - not only do tangles of Java Moss and Java Ferns give fry nice hiding places to stay safe in, they also act as food traps for the hiding fry, and allow them to find lunch.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Thanks alot once again & i'll wait a bit more to put them with the other grown up Corydoras. I bought some Java Moss this week & i'll be putting it in my Peppered Corydoras breeding tank, so hopefully i'll save more eggs.


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http://www.geocities.com/s8xi5heh/classic_blue.html
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/buzaqq/
http://www.deathbydyeing.org/

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