Breeding Bronze Corydoras (Corydoras Aeneus) In The Aquarium

Location

This freshwater fish lives in standing and flowing reservoirs in Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Peru, Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.

Body description

Colour of the fish is various and it depends on habitat they live in. There are albino, gold, black and more versions of this fish. There are also artificially colored versions of this fish - pigment is injected directly under the skin of the fish. Colour of the basic form is beige-olive with pink-creamy under-side. There is a gray dot with metallic shine dot which spreads from gill cover to the base of the tail. The scales overlap and form defensive cuirass. The first rays of the pectoral fins are transformed into spikes. This species can breathe atmospheric air with help of the intestine. Female is larger and thicker than male. Male has the dorsal fin higher than female and pointed.

Temperament and behaviour

This is bottom feeding species which prefers to swim at the bottom water level. This fish is active, peaceful and shoal. Fish prefers to live in a group of several minimum but you should always keep more males than females. This fish may be kept in a general tank with small tetras, other corydoras, dwarf cichlids and barbs.

Aquarium decoration

These fish likes spacious tanks which are longer than higher. Aquarium should have dimmed light, soft substrate (sand or fine gravel), a lot of hideouts among roots, rocks, caves. The substrate should be systematically cleaned to avoid fish to get ill.

Breeding

This is an oviparous species which you could breed in the general tank but you should use separate aquarium if you want to increase the efficiency of breeding. Group of fish (single female and two males) should be abundantly feed with live food. You can stimulate fish to spawn by doing bigger (about 50-70%) partial water exchanges on cooler water over the next few days to imitate the rain season. Males start to swim intensively up and down when they are ready. They stay with the female only for a few moments. Female chooses and cleans a place where she will lay eggs - it is mostly plant leave or aquarium glass. Now female takes the initiative. Insemination takes place in a characteristic "T-position". Female swims up to male's genital parts. Female lays portion of eggs to her pectoral fins. Male releases sperm to her mouth. Female swallows and expels this sperm and fertilizes eggs in her pectoral fins. She swims away and deposits the eggs in previously prepared hideout. The process repeats until female lays all eggs (up to around 300 eggs). The roe is very sticky. You should remove the parents after spawning. The eggs hatch after 4 days. The fry starts to swim and feed 4-5 days later. The offspring are sensitive to water conditions - you should do 10% partial water changes every day or two days.