FishProfiles.com Message Forums

Hello all, I was wondering if anyone knows how to breed Pepper Cories. I have 4 in my 20g tank but am not sure if they are male or female. I really enjoy the cories I have and down the road want to get a few more, but I want to try and breed them myself. I will be buying a 20g long in the next month or so, so I was just trying to get the info before hand. I will also be putting in a couple guppies and a few cherry barbs in the same tank. Any info would be great and very helpful. I just need to know a good setup, the type of water prams ect, ect to enable this feat. Thanks

---

Live life to it's fullest
Who knows what tomorrow holds

---

I'm going to take the lazy way out and give you a few posts to look at. Seriously, a lot of general information can be found in these threads. I'm in all of them, so you can tell it's a self-plug too.
http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/threads/24277.1.htm?14#
http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/threads/26672.1.htm?7#
http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/threads/2111.1.htm?7#

Peppered cories (Corydoras paleatus) are one of the easiest to breed. Many folks just have them spawn in their fish tanks without even trying, and sometimes babies result. Again, this is without making any effort to raise the fry.

If there's anything not covered that you would like to know, just ask.

---

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

Well the first thing is, how do I tell if they are male or female? From reading it says the females are alittle wider then males but all mine look about the same size. Is there any other ways to tell. I know I do have 2 that like to swim up and down the side of the tank glass and have heard that this is what a female does when she is looking for a clean place to lay her eggs. I have a total of 6 pepper Cories in my tank now as I just added 2 smaller ones that were in my other tank. My water prams are...

Nitrate 20
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0
pH 8.2
General Hardness 300ppm
Alkalinity 300ppm
Temp 76-78d F

I do water changes every Sunday of between 25-50%. I clean the gravel every week but not much to clean as I also have a RUGF system with a HOB filter. I have 2 live swords and about 9 other fake plants in the tank. I also have a few different caves for hiding. The water very clear. All the cories are pretty active. I feed them Algae disks one day then I feed Sinking Shrimp pellets the next. They also get whatever flakes that sink to the bottom. I use Omega One & TetraMin Flakes. I also put in Tetra Freeze Dried Bloodworms every other day.

Is there any other things becides the cool water changes that would help the breeding. Thanks

---

Live life to it's fullest
Who knows what tomorrow holds

---

Females also grow longer than the males. It's really easy to see the differences on older fish. Female peppered cories are almost half an inch longer, and very fat compared with the males. On young fish the sexes can't be as easily told. The glass swimming behavior won't help you with sexing, because this is probably not spawning behavior that you're seeing. Oftentimes cories just like to cruise the glass.

If you are able to drop the hardness and pH of the tank with RO water, that will make the fish more likely to spawn. Slowly switching out the tank water with acid-buffered RO water will go a long ways in persuading the cories to spawn, as your water appears to be very hard and filled with salts/minerals.

---

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

My peppereds spawned three times once when i changed the water and let the temp drop to about 68 then after I moved the parents to the garage tank and changed the water they spawned in a spawning mop intended for the killifish, then spawned again on there own after it was removed at that point I let the eggs get eaten as I already had nearly 100 of the little buggers, I JUST recently got rid of them all for 25bux I coulednt even give them away in town. So make sure you have homes for them cause when they spawn even with a group of 6 with a female to male ratio of 1 to 2 I ended up with hundreds of eggs on there first two attempts.

Hello and thanks for the replies. I am planing on getting a 20L in a week or so and was just wondering. I also hope to get a 55g or a 75g by the end of the year. I really enjoy my cories and this is why I wanted to know. When all the tanks are setup I will have 1 10g, 1 20H, 1 20L and either a 55g or a 75g so I beleive there should be enough space for all. If I run short on room I can always donate them to my LFS as they will take them and they are good with there fish. Thanks again.

---

Live life to it's fullest
Who knows what tomorrow holds

---