Breeding of Corydoras panda
Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2012 8:12 pm
Since the success of breeding CPDs I have tried to breed some other species, but the hot temperatures made it impossible..so I switched to survival mode 
.
Since the temperature has become moderate in the past few weeks, finally I am able to continue my experiments.
Corydoras panda are small, pretty coloured catfish. Their peaceful behavior makes them perfect tank mates for community tanks. They do not harm plants and do not dig too deep in the substrate, so they are also perfect for a planted tank setup…however, tanks, which have the whole bottom covered by carpet plants are not ideal for pandas, since they love to dig in the ground all the time.
It is a schooling fish, which feels more confident and safe in groups.
Their favorite temperature is around 22C…so a bit difficult to keep during Delhi summers, but mine were doing fine in 27C…for a couple of weeks.
With decreasing temperature I separated a group of 7: 5 females and 2 males.
In a 2ft tank, just equipped with some old substrate, pots, java fern and a air-sponge-filter. I tried to cool down the temperature as much as possible by using pc-fans…24C is the lowest I was able to reach so far.
For spawning I added a woollen mop, which is also used for breeding of killi fish.
Conditioning of the parents took around 10 weeks with frozen mosquito larvae, micro worms and tetra bits.
No water changes and only scarce feeding in the first 4 weeks. After 4 weeks I started to change the water frequently, using more and more RO water, with increasing of water level.
Parallel the amount of food was increased, particularly more frozen mosquito larvae.
Still, nothing happened. Maybe the temperature was still too high, maybe the parents not matured enough.
I just continued the proceedings, without paying too much attention.
Although never seen any eggs, after another 3 weeks I found some frys swimming in the parents tank.
Now I searched the woollen mop frequently and finally found some eggs attached after a few days.
The eggs are quite firm, almost like sand grains.
In a separate tank the frys hatch after 4-5 days and feed 2-3 days from their yolk. After that I start to feed them powdered tetra bits, and micro worms…do not know if they eat it, but they grow and develop.
3 days old:
After 2,3 weeks:
After 4-5 weeks:
I was able to raise 23 pandas in 3 months now. Fellow breeders report 15-20 eggs per week per pair, which I have not reached so far. I hope this will improve with falling temperatures and once my parent pandas get more matured.
I am very open to advices, how to improve the spawning rate.
.Since the temperature has become moderate in the past few weeks, finally I am able to continue my experiments.
Corydoras panda are small, pretty coloured catfish. Their peaceful behavior makes them perfect tank mates for community tanks. They do not harm plants and do not dig too deep in the substrate, so they are also perfect for a planted tank setup…however, tanks, which have the whole bottom covered by carpet plants are not ideal for pandas, since they love to dig in the ground all the time.
It is a schooling fish, which feels more confident and safe in groups.
Their favorite temperature is around 22C…so a bit difficult to keep during Delhi summers, but mine were doing fine in 27C…for a couple of weeks.
With decreasing temperature I separated a group of 7: 5 females and 2 males.
In a 2ft tank, just equipped with some old substrate, pots, java fern and a air-sponge-filter. I tried to cool down the temperature as much as possible by using pc-fans…24C is the lowest I was able to reach so far.
For spawning I added a woollen mop, which is also used for breeding of killi fish.
Conditioning of the parents took around 10 weeks with frozen mosquito larvae, micro worms and tetra bits.
No water changes and only scarce feeding in the first 4 weeks. After 4 weeks I started to change the water frequently, using more and more RO water, with increasing of water level.
Parallel the amount of food was increased, particularly more frozen mosquito larvae.
Still, nothing happened. Maybe the temperature was still too high, maybe the parents not matured enough.
I just continued the proceedings, without paying too much attention.
Although never seen any eggs, after another 3 weeks I found some frys swimming in the parents tank.
Now I searched the woollen mop frequently and finally found some eggs attached after a few days.
The eggs are quite firm, almost like sand grains.
In a separate tank the frys hatch after 4-5 days and feed 2-3 days from their yolk. After that I start to feed them powdered tetra bits, and micro worms…do not know if they eat it, but they grow and develop.
3 days old:
After 2,3 weeks:
After 4-5 weeks:
I was able to raise 23 pandas in 3 months now. Fellow breeders report 15-20 eggs per week per pair, which I have not reached so far. I hope this will improve with falling temperatures and once my parent pandas get more matured.
I am very open to advices, how to improve the spawning rate.
