An experience breeding Corydoras duplicareus
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An experience breeding Corydoras duplicareus
Contributed by: Corydorus
Published on: 29-03-2005
Views: 13087
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| Corydoras duplicareus - no doubt one of the more
colorful species of Corydoras family. It was by no easy means
that I managed to lay my hands on these wonderful fish in Singapore when
I first kick started by freshwater fish hobby a couple of years
ago. Due to typical Multinational Corporation reorganization, I grabbed
the opportunity to relocate to Taiwan alone to further my career. As
chance would have been, I managed to lay my hands on two bright, healthy fine
Corydoras duplicareus specimens I discovered in a tank on the shelf of a local DanSui (淡水) Fish Store.
Their colors are remarkably clean and sharp. |
| On the right is the Jan’03 photo of my first in
a 2.5ft Community
Tank. A couple of months later, I decided to expand my collection to have
a possible breeding group of 7. Should have been 8 if not for the loss of
one in the first two weeks of quarantine.
Due to inability to obtain tubifex worms in Taipei, I fed mainly a diet
of dry foods about twice daily. Frozen bloodworm is more of an occasional
treat as it goes bad pretty fast due to my lousy refrigeration unit.
More feedings on weekends routinely before 25-35% water changes. Around
winter end 2003, temperature started to fluctuate between 10°C-18°C room with
water ph6.6 and kH about 4. A 300W thermo-heater warmed up the tank to
24°C. One fine day on 11/27, spotted at least 5 eggs in this community tank. |
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The
picture on the left shows an egg just before it hatches. Eggs size is bigger compared to
those of the trilineatus and sterbai. Before long spotted two of the duplicareus
fellows mating in front of the tank under the
Plant shades and concluded the work of
duplicareus. The eggs were found all over the planted tank probably due
to the high flow-rate.
16 eggs (2.1mm diameter) were rolled off with
fingers couple hours later. Earlier attempt resulted in a sticky situation.
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Observation of 3 conditions of Eggs
1. White “meat” offset inside the egg (dead foetus), which will be overrun
with fungus
later on.
2. Black/Brown “meat” inside as above picture (living foetus) and
3. Empty egg seen as clear through (Infertile).
Eggs started to hatch on the fifth day dependent on the tank
temperature. More batches of eggs later every fortnight with hatching
period varying between 3 to 6 days as I continued with my water changing
regime. Batch size is about 12 each time.
Fertility rate & hatching rate improved from 50% to 90% as both fish and
me gain more experience.
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The above photo shows the fry at 10 days, fed on BBS (for the first few feeds) and
crushed dry food diet.
Water change about 30% daily till they were released into my main tank.
Their nursery setup
includes java moss, ramhorn snails and a foam bubble filter in a 1 feet tank
layered with fine sand.
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Left Picture - Body
color yet fully formed. Typical Cory body taken
shape. Fed with chopped frozen blood worm. Fry grow quickly. Fry is
ready to be released into the Corydoras Community Tank. |
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Left Picture – Body
color fully formed. At
this time it looks exactly like a mini version of
the parent. Able to take food fed to other adult Corydoras as well. |
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Left Picture – One year old
Corydoras duplicareus beside his younger sibling. |
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One interesting point is that the same
brood of eggs yield significant fry size as they grow. The bigger one
was released just a couple of days earlier into the main Corydoras tank
once the body takes shape. Body colors look fully formed compared
to the one on the right.
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Environment of the
planted Corydoras-only tank
where breeding takes place in.
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| Frequent overseas travel and
the inability to obtain fresh
water/food for the fry kept the death toll rate for the young fry very high initially
in
the first month or so. Later on, with Frozen BBS and Daphnia feeds
increasing more available, I have
managed to grow out the fry steadily, filling up the tank nicely to able show the
pictures here to share with everyone. |
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