Wierd Sterbai?

[Melody]

I thought I had a normal Sterbai until I got some from Mr. Edgezilla. Are his weird or is mine weird? is there that much variance in the colors? I thought mine might be C. haraldshultzi since its so light, but I checked and I don't think so. The pattern on the back is weird too. :confused:

While we're here discussing my weird fish or a lack thereof, anyone want to take a shot at sexing them? I'm thinkin' either a male and two females or two males and my weirdo is a female.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-Sterbais3.jpg


http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-Sterbais2.jpg


http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-Sterbais.jpg


Thanks for working your brain over it!

[Edgezilla]

2 female and 1 male. front left is male in the first photo.

They are normal color. the color can varies quite a bit, or the pattern at least.

[Melody]

I guessed right! What do I win?

I think I like your dark ones better, Mr. Edgezilla, but it will be interesting to see what a combination of the two produces. I like documenting dominant genes & all that.

At least they're not related so some fresh blood will come into the line.

Thank you sir! :smile:

[madattiver]

they are all sterbai.. lol.. and yes, color variation is quite common within corys.

as for sexing.. I would guess in the second pic the bottom one is a male and the other two may be females.. so hard to tell with side body pics.. best to sex them from above.

[Melody]

Thanks - that works with the vote so far. Glad I have both sexes. I think I'll try to find time to spawn the light female with the male first, just to see what they produce.

I like the fact that there is variety in shades/pattern. That's one thing that I don't like about breeding a species that all looks the same - boooooring. I'd much rather be playing with colour & finnage. That's why I got so heavily into Livebearers from the start. :smile:

[Edgezilla]

should be real fun. I have about 60 wigglers right now in a 5 gallon.

I would definately remove any non pleco/corydoras fish out of the tank for spawning. The other type of fish tends to get stress out when you replicate rain season to trigger corydoras to spawn.

[Melody]

I hadn't thought of that, thanks. I'll stick them in a small tank when the time comes. I always say I'm going to do these things and never get around to them. Then I lose one of the pair or something and kick myself. I don't want to tell you how long ago I purchased the original Sterbai pair, but I'm surprised the female doesn't use a cane :rolleyes: .

Ever see the Albino Sterbai?

[mykiss]

You need some? lol

I've got about 5 of them. They look like albino aeneus but with the shape of the regular sterbai and orange pectoral fins.

[Melody]

Do you have a fish magic wand or something? LOL I'd like to try them, but I doubt I can afford them. Ever spawn them?

[madattiver]

lots of shops have been getting in albino sterbai.. they are different, but don't really look like anything special. I actually turned them down when i was offered to buy some as I have others I would rather have at this moment.

[Edgezilla]

I never did like albino forms myself. I would keep them if they were a product of spawning, but I wouldn't go out just to get albino form.

I only have 8 tanks to go around right now and 4 of them are used by non corydoras :\

Speaking of which. I started feeding the sterbai fry with microworms on the 3rd day. I was trying madattiver suggestions of feeding after a week and the first batch started dying on the 5 th day.

[madattiver]

was it a week after hatching?? and was there javamoss in the tanks with the fry?

[Edgezilla]

5 days after hatching and there is java moss in the tank. Barebottom tank so nothing juicy is collected between gravel for them to eat. Aside from that, there is 60 little guys in a 5 gallon eating all day. I don't think theres enough good stuff just to keep them going.

[madattiver]

ya.. normally when i do this i may have 20 max per container.. maybe all those little mouths eat any goodies they can find and some start to starve.. best keep doing what works for you as I have found that everyone does things different and get the same results.

[Melody]

Apparently they first albinos started appearing in 2002, but the expense has been a turn-off. I don't know how much they are now but I suspect they've come down. I like the albino (or I guess more accurately, red-eye) form of all fish - novelty I suppose. :smile:

If its dependent on Java Moss I assume its dependent on Infusorians, of which the population can vary greatly from one tank, or minute, to the next. A couple of Applesnails will boost the population but I wouldn't rely on it.

[Edgezilla]

ahh.. expense.. I remember the good old days when wild barbatus cost $50 each.

Long nose corys are fun to keep, but they can be really aggressive even when they are not in spawning mode :\. Both the male and female can get feisty.

I have kept cory fry with the parents before. The ratio is far less per tank compare to feeding them with food. 5-6 fry with 2 parent in a 20 gallon. They need a lot of cover for the first 3 weeks to survive and didnt grow as fast as the fry in a seperate tank.

[Melody]

I've heard that growth rate fact before for several species. I don't know if its food competition or what, but its a common occurance.

Its great to have lots of breeders to compare notes with so people know all of their options. If one thing doesn't work, you have it on good authority that something else might. :smile:

[Edgezilla]

Domesticated corydoras can reach wild caught size if they are fed 3-4 times a day up to the 1 year mark. Corydoras has about 1 year of growth. There is no point in stuffing corydoras with food with the intention of increasing their size after 1 year. This is uaually not possible in an aquarium environment because of the lack of time we have looking after them or not feeding enough in fear of overfeeding. Thats why report tends to suggest the average fish kept in a fish tank are smaller than wild caught.


Thats why we should always start with healthy stock than trying to heal a sick fish. The time to heal a growing fish will eventually lead to a stunted fish. This is pretty much the same for all the fish. The only difference is how much time they have to grow before reaching maturity age.

Right now, I am feeding 10-15 wardley shrimp pellet in a 20 gallon 4 to 5 times a day. Theres about 20 1.5 to 1.75" sterbai in there. This is mostly for conditioning the fish to spawn. Dirty water, definately. I do a water change in this tank every few days and use a 50 gallon rated sponge filter + internal filter for filtration.

If I can feed 10-15 pellet 4 to 5 times a day, can you imagine how little we are feeding corydoras normally or other fish for that matter?

[Melody]

Interesting observations. One thing that is interesting about most Shrimp Pellets is that they're not terribly high in protein. Wardley Shrimp Pellets are 30% protein and Omega One (which I use) has 38%. They are easier for the little ones to eat than other pellets though. One thing that I'm looking foreward to trying is the decapsulated Brine Shrimp, but I'll have to put it into the homemade food to make it sink for the bottom feeders.

I find that there is also much confusion about the difference between achieving fast growth and achieving optimum growth. The fish that grow the fastest are not necessarily healthy fish, and it can in fact decrease the lifespan if we speed it up too much. Optimum growth is based more on what we know of their wild sizes / growth rates, as you mentioned.

I am going to be utilizing pure spirulina in more of my fry diets as well. A lot of fish thrive on algae and the micro creatures that live in it when they're small. Spirulina is high in vegie protein so it should be an interesting experiment. I'd like to try it on BN Plecos one of these days, for starters.

[Edgezilla]

I use wardley shrimp pellet more of a filler and tetra tablet as the nutrients. Tetra tablet is way too expensive to feed 3-4 times a day. Corydoras don't need a lot of vegetable in their diet. In fact, thats why most if not all of the wild caught corydoras hates hikari sinking wafer; there is too much vegetable matter. Ian fuller recommand using tetra tablet for a good reason. I have never gotten wild caught long nose cory to eat tetra tablet or any other commercial made food but the short nose will eat tetra tablet eventually.

Tetra tablet is very messy to use and I wouldn't recommand feeding them in a planted tank. This is the best way to have an algae outbreak in a planted tank.

[Melody]

The adults like the 100% Spirulina tablets, but they don't devour them. Most of my bottom feeders aren't crazy about algae wafers for some reason, even Shrimp & Plecos. I use Omega One Algae wafers and they do eat that but they don't bother hardly at all with the others. I find that most algae wafers fog my tanks. It could just be because I use so many fresh sources of vegetation so they don't want/need the algae wafers.

You could look into getting the powdered Shrimp, which is all the pellets have in them, and mix up your own food with the ultimate combination, including more shrimp content. If you use commercial food to make the homemade mixtures it can get expensive, but I've started sourcing out the powders and getting most of the rest at grocery stores - much cheaper and far superior in content.

The other way to save is, of course, with your own cultures, but especially cultures which breed. Brine Shrimp you have to constantly buy eggs for, but the worm cultures breed themselves.

I'd like to get my hands on Ian's second book, I enjoyed the first one. Remember too that in the UK his choices were quite limited over the years and even now he doesn't necessarily have the brands that we have to choose from. He certainly is the authority on Cory's though! Nice guy too - very friendly.

I'm big on experimenting with food. I'm trying a lot of the better private label foods as we speak. I only buy those which have premium ingredients, yet they're still far less expensive than they are off the shelf.

You can often get brand names in bulk too, like HBH. I just ordered some HBH Color Brite Flake - 3 pounds for $21. Ground shipping is very reasonable and still doesn't bring the cost up to anything close to what we pay off the shelf. We're lucky to get two normal size cans for that off the shelf.

[Edgezilla]

I am trying to find a source of live food for corydoras as well. They can put the most growth on the fish compare to commercial food. I can't remember where I saw this. Someone was selling those small redworms (miniture earthworm) a while ago. I wonder if those will be small enough to feed corydoras. Too bad the worms need to be the size of bloodworm, tubifex worm, or blackworm for them to eat.

Someone told me white worm isn't a good choice for fish. They are too fatty as a staple diet. Heck. I tried grindalworm culture for a while and ended up with tonnes of fungus gnat in the container.

Where do you get powder shrimp? cyclops ezee would have been my alternative as a staple diet for corydoras.. but the dang thing don't sink.

[Melody]

Mr. Mykiss is your guy for all cultures. If he doesn't have it, chances are he knows where to get it. He even has Cyclopeze cultures.

Whiteworms are more for growing fry, I agree. No food is best on its own in my opinion - the key is in the mix. They all have their good points. Freeze dried foods are very good for fish too - the process they use these days leaves it right up there in nutrition, but of course, it can get expensive. I just ordered in a quarter pound of freeze dried earthworms for $10.95, so I'll let you know how that goes over. It will have to be presoaked for bottom feeders or mixed with a homemade food. I like to presoak in a garlic mix anyway.

You can get Krill and Spirulina Powder here (http://www.angelsplus.com/PelletPowder.htm), and there's a great selection of powders here (http://www.mreed.com/frytreats.shtml), but I know I've seen shrimp powder somewhere else for far less. I'll keep looking for that one. Mike has some great food overall.

[CACAdmin]

I just ordered in a quarter pound of freeze dried earthworms for $10.95


What you need is a compost bin. Once you get the worms started in there you'll have an endless supply of worms, and excellent compost for your (non aquatic) plants.

[hp10BII]

I have a bin of red wigglers (compost worms). You can feed the babies whole but they're time consuming to dig around. I leave the bigger worms as my breeders and hunt for the midsized ones and chop them up with a pair of scissors and in they go!

The corys really seem excited when they come across one - looks like they're eating candy.

[Melody]

It appears that you have forgotten that I am the shame of women's libbers everywhere. All I have to say about handling worms, let alone bathing them & chopping them up, is....

:Eeewww:

Let's just say that I'm using freeze-dried so I don't introduce organisms and leave it at that. ;)

[Edgezilla]

microworm leaves a funny smell on your hand after touching them. yummy:laugh:

I need to find some red wigglers. What type of soil do you keep them in?

[Melody]

I use a q-tip for Microworms - told you I'm a girly girl :Blush: .

Mr. Mykiss has the Wigglers (http://www.canadianaquariumconnection.com/forum/showthread.php?t=553) and he'll tell you all about keeping them. He's good about that stuff. Never makes me feel like an idiot, even when I'm acting like one :laugh: .

[Edgezilla]

I should have asked about that when I was on the phone with him. chopping up red wigglers sounds like fun. I need something MEATY..

[Melody]

:Eeewww: You boys are gonna be the death of me... :rolleyes:

[CACAdmin]

But they're RED! The perfect valentine's gift for your fishies! :DevilGrin: :BOLTS:

[Melody]

:FishOnDaHead: :Eeewww:

[hp10BII]

microworm leaves a funny smell on your hand after touching them. yummy:laugh:

I need to find some red wigglers. What type of soil do you keep them in?

I started the worm bin with just a handful of garden soil, IIRC the worms don't actually eat the garden wastes directly, but feed on the bacteria growing from it. The garden soil seeds your worm bin with bacteria and it would multiply with added garden wastes.

People use all sorts of worm bedding. COIR bricks are coconut husks, holds XX times their weight in water, peat moss, sand for grit, crushed egg shells for calcium. Some buy worm bedding from fishing tackle shops but I just use plain newspaper - newsprint, not the glossy flyers/inserts. Tear them up in strips, soak in water, squeeze excess and layer it in. The worms chew up the newspaper for fibre, the end results are rich castings for your garden or you can make a worm tea for your house and garden plants.