Help with pregnant Julii Cory please

Dudes... my Julii Cory has been preggies for about a week now and there has been no sign of eggs anywhere. Two days ago she changed colour. She is a lot darker than she was before and today I noticed that her belly is quite red. The males keep harassing her so I've put her in a little fry tank for now. My water conditions all check out. Ammonia - indeterminable, Nitrite - 0, Nitrate - 20ppm, pH - 5.5, kH - 2, gH - 5. Could she be egg bound? What do you think could be causing her colour to change?



Regards
K

 

Hi K.C

How many corys do you have in the tank? A very easy way to induce corys into spawning is by doing a large water change with cold water. It stimulates behavior that corys associate to that of the rainy season or spawning season. Let her into the main tank and do a water change of +-40% and see what happens from there.

 

The harassing is part of the pre-spawning. Colourchange is new for me.

 

Do you have a front-pic? Most Corys sold as Julii are in fact Trilineatus !!

 

Hi @ Firefly, @ DoubleDutch

I have four Cory's.. 3 males and the one female. I did a 40% water change on Sunday but they were mating before that already. I saw the males wriggling up against her last week and looked at some vid's of Cory's mating, that's when I realized what was going on. I can take a frontal pic tomorrow afternoon after work and upload. What distinguishes the Julii's from Trilineatus when looking at them from the front? Can the failure to spawn be fatal to her?

 

I don't think she will failure to spawn. My fish are going around the tank a few days before the actual spawning. She will be fine. Julii is quite rare coning from another part of the Amazon-region where less fish is caught. Julii has real dots on the head, Trili is spotted otherwise.

 

Have a look at Corydoras Julii - A buyers guide.

 

Leave her with the males. That is what they do. They go quite frantic when spawning. Mine go beserk and then I know that there will be eggs in the morning.

 

@DoubleDutch - Yip, mine doesn't look like she is a Julii anymore:cry:, but a Trili. Interesting read in that thread you posted. I can see how easy it is to get confused between those species. A fish keeper who is unaware of that would definitely not be able to tell the difference between those species!

Here's the frontal pic you asked for. I let her back into the main tank so it's difficult to get a good picture of her. So what's your verdict on this one?



@Irma - She is back with the males in the main tank.. going absolutely crazy! It was the first time that I witnessed this so my initial reaction was that something was wrong.

@Reedfish - I can imagine that they would make quite a tasty snack to the other inhabitants! Fresh Cory Caviar:sick:

So when she lays the eggs, do the males follow her to fertilize? What are their chances of survival if I remove them and put them in the little fry tank?

 

Yep It's a Trili !!! Strangely enough they are sold over the world (even importers and lFS's) as Julii. 99% not right. When spawning you have to move the eggs to a seperate tank (or accept they are eaten) .

 

+1!! Thanks for the lesson.. you taught me something valuable! Now when I go to the LFS I can look like I know what I'm talking about Will leave the fry tank in there and transfer the eggs as soon as I see them. Cant wait! Saw your baby Cory's in your MTS thread. Really cute little things!

 

They are nice. About 30 eggs hatched today. Hope a lot will survive !!

 

As mentioned, you need to move the eggs but just wait till they harden before attempting to do so or else they will burst. It does not take long, maybe half an hour or so.
I just roll them off the glass and on to my finger and then roll them off my finger and into the breeder net.

 

Mine are eaten within half an our, so I dontake the risk of bursting. Scrape them of the glass wit a razorblade or a creditcard (my wife's being emptied hahaha).

 

I've been watching the tank like a hawk... but no eggies yet. Going to do my scheduled water change on Sunday so hopefully she will pop them out after that.

What usually follows is 'Baaabe.. can you please...' hahaha

 

Less friendly !!!