The panda cories were all taking a rare short break from their almost incessant burrowing and digging and allowed me to photograph 4 of them. The second one from right is one that I bred myself only 3 months ago, so you can see how quickly they grow!
Notice that their substrate is a mixture of black sand and coarse blunt gravel. This was chosen so as to be the least hostile to their sensitive barbels. The sand is very soft, and the gravel rounded. It is of extreme importance when keeping corydoras to have ‘friendly’ gravel, as cories will not survive damaged barbels: they can become easily infected, and additionally impair their ability to find food.
They’ve been very busy recently – we had a lot of rain in Auckland recently (which is a statement applicable at almost any time of the year!) – and the cories took this as all the invitation they needed to get breeding. Compared to the bronzes, who lay over 100 eggs at a time, the Pandas are not particularly prolific (only 5 this time around). This might be due to their enormous eggs, which are almost double the size of the bronze cories’ – whereas the Pandas only grow to half as big as the bronzes! I’m not sure why this is – a possibility is that the larger eggs allow more nutrition within the egg, allowing the young to survive better in conditions potentially more food-scarce than those where the bronzes originate – but this is just speculation.
Auckland’s tap water is amongst the highest quality water in the world – almost unfailingly pH 7.0 and with barely any contaminants. As good as this is, these are not the conditions that cories are used to in the wild. The South American rivers are in general blackwater systems: the enormous quantity of leaf litter and branches in the water arising from the rainforest conditions leaches tannins into the water, lowering in the process the pH and hardness. This can be replicated in part by the use of aquarium peat. The photo above shows a bag that I have engineered out of a stocking, a few cable ties, and a pebble. The bag is filled with 2 teaspoons of peat (for 40 litres of water), and is hung off a little widget stuck on the glass lid with a cable tie. (The pebble weights everything down, as the peat floats). The bag is positioned so that it is in the path of the water flow of the filter. The peat is then replaced once every two weeks or so. I also put driftwood in to aid the process. Be sure to use peat specifically for aquariums, as other peat can contain toxins that are harmful to your fish. The peat should hopefully stimulate breeding in your fish (although, if they’re particularly stubborn, even that might not be enough – but they will certainly be happier!)
January 15, 2012 at 3:25 am |
Great post with excellent information, it’s no surprise you have such success with your Cories, you really know your stuff!
January 17, 2012 at 1:33 am |
Thank you very much! It’s great receiving positive feedback, especially from all around the world.