The only really difficult aspect of breeding these albino catfish is figuring out which are the boys and which are the girls. Your best bet is to compare mature specimens, which will be about 2 inches long. Female corys have more compressed bodies, "stand" taller structurally, and are thicker around the abdomen due to the internal presence of eggs. Males have bodies that are much more streamlined than those of the females.
Things You'll Need
- Dozen albino Corydora catfish 30-gallon aquarium 20-gallon high aquarium 100-watt aquarium heater 2 aquarium thermometers Small air pump Air stone Methylene Blue Sponge filter Live daphnia and microworms Frozen brine shrimp Frozen baby brine shrimp Pelleted fish food Fine flaked food
Instructions
Choose about a dozen albino catfish breeders. Begin conditioning them for breeding and spawning for the next 30 days by putting them in a 30-gallon aquarium. Set the heater to maintain a temperature of 70 to 74 degrees F, and feed the catfish four times daily. They should receive a variety of pelleted, frozen and live foods. After about a month of adequate conditioning, it will be much easier to discern males from females.
Set up a bare 20-gallon high breeding tank. Set the heater so that the temperature is exactly the same as that of the water the fish are presently kept in. Fill the tank half full of water. Set up an air pump connected to an air stone, which you won't turn on until eggs are laid. Set it aside nearby. Don't put any gravel, rocks or ornaments in this breeding tank.
Choose two breeding trios--a female and two males in each--and transfer the fish to the 20-gallon breeding tank. Make sure that the water temperatures of both aquaria are exactly the same, between 70 and 74 degrees F. Allow the albino catfish several days to acclimate to their new surroundings. Continue to feed them four times daily, using the same foods you used for conditioning.
Start adding a gallon of slightly cooler water to the half-filled breeding tank each night beginning on the third or fourth day following the introduction of the fish to the tank. Monitor the temperature carefully, adding just enough cooler water to lower the temperature in the tank at two to four degree increments. If one gallon isn't enough to lower the temperature sufficiently, then add another gallon. Don't remove any water. The goal is to bring the temperature down to about 65 degrees F.
Siphon half of the water from the tank when it's completely filled with water, if the albino catfish haven't spawned by then. Keep repeating the daily additions of cooler water. If the fish have been conditioned properly, you should see breeding activity within a few days. Once they begin breeding, both trios of fish will spawn simultaneously, and deposit the eggs on the bottom and sides of the aquarium.
Watch the spawning trios carefully for signs that they have finished spawning. Remove them immediately so that they don't eat the eggs. Place them back into the conditioning aquarium as quickly as possible, and slowly wean them from the conditioning and breeding diet over the next few days, returning them to their normal food.
Treat the water in the breeding tank with 40 to 50 drops of methylene blue to protect the eggs from fungus infection. Put the nearby air stone in the water, and set the pump as high as it will go. Increase the water temperature by two degrees once every six hours, bringing it up to 72 degrees F, where it must be maintained for the developing eggs. Expect several hundred albino catfish fry to hatch in about 10 days.
Begin caring for the albino catfish fry by feeding them live or frozen baby brine shrimp for about a week. After that, begin feeding them a variety of fine flaked food, microworms, baby brine shrimp and daphnia.
Add a sponge filter to the fry aquarium. Change about 5 percent of the water every day for the next several weeks. Add more filtration when the fry are large enough, at about three to four weeks of age.