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It was time to look around for a new Cory to breed. I had always thought that "burgessi" were very attractive corys. I had just bred the C. adolfoi before but thought this species was a more boldly and beautifully marked cory. (In any case, I found growing on the adolfoi fry a painfully slow process!) Eventually I managed to buy 4 very young fish at an auction and grew them on. After 12 months and surprisingly quite rapid growth, they had attained a length of 3.5 cms. For a change my luck was in and I had 2 males and 2 females. The spawning ritual began with 3 of the fish doing the usual restless charging up and down the tank. They were constantly nudging each other and touching the tops of heads.  The activity was still continuing and by fortunate timing I observed the usual "T-position" during spawning. For once it was almost out in the open!  I watched the dash for a while and came back expecting to see some eggs on the aquarium glass, but saw none. However on closer examination, nearly all the eggs were laid on, and underneath, a piece of bogwood and on the Java Fern leaves attached to the bogwood.They were quite large eggs, measuring approx. 2mm. During this first day, despite frenzied activity, only 5 eggs were laid. Not exactly prolific but these were young fish and this was their first spawning.  Two days later and I removed 3 more eggs. I continued to remove the eggs as they appeared and put them in a plastic toffee jar with some methylene blue and an airstone. This staggered spawning meant that I would have fairly well developed "wrigglers" moving around at the same time as newly laid eggs. This laying of relatively few eggs continued over the next 11 days until spawning stopped. By now I had removed 12 eggs with a very good hatching rate (1 loss) and also left in 3 eggs which I spotted late on the bogwood. After 4 days the expected wrigglers were moving round the base of the jar. Each day I removed around 25% of the Meth.Blue mix and replaced it with the aquarium water until the water was nice and clear. I fed them microworms for the first 2 weeks and still continued the daily water changes.  At 3 weeks old they were fuller in body with more markings and by now were housed in a 9" "mini-tank with air stone. However it was from here that things started to go wrong. Put simply, they seemed to stop feeding and soon I was down to 4 fry. I decided to gamble and put these in the planted tank with the parents to see if they fended any better for themselves. (I had some similar "sudden losses" with C. Barbatus, (or Scleromystax barbatus as it is now known), but did eventually rear them in satisfactory numbers). |
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This was at least a part solution! Three of the fry grew on and when they were just over 1.0 cm they were quite mottled and not marked in the way I expected. The rear half was very speckled but the main surprise was the eye mark which went back at an angle away from the eye. There is just the beginning of the mark at the base of the dorsal, which I expected to see. Age possibly around 5 weeks (?) but due to staggered births and losses, couldn't be sure. |
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At this point, things went pear shaped, perhaps partially due to a July heatwave during my short holiday break. On my return there were no surviving fry in the tank. More chances ...... However, a month later and they spawned again. I removed 14 eggs, of which 12 hatched. One week later and I had 8 survivors in an 9" mini tank floating in the main tank. Again I got the "sudden losses" around the 3 weeks old stage and had to gamble and put 3 fry in the adults 24" tank. Again, they didn't grow on and all three were lost. Keep them in a mini tank;- I fail. Put them in a mature tank;- I fail! Around this time, I met a few other aquarists who had successfully bred and raised a good variety of Corys. They said that they had also struggled, for whatever reasons, to successfully grow on burgessi fry. Same pattern, same result! Over the next months, the group continued to lay eggs at regular intervals, with a very good hatching rate, but I failed to grow any on to the adult stage. Summary I put this on site as an an example of one of my frustrating failures! Despite breeding quite a good number of different Cory species, (all with basically the same approach), this is the only Cory where I haven't succeeded in rearing any from the fry stage! Now I'm not trying! I decided to have a break from my efforts and let nature take its course....any eggs will be left in the tank and see if, by "looking after themselves" from the word go, they manage to survive. I will see how it goes.... my results can't be any worse! Watch this space! In early 2007 I saw one fry of about 6 mms and left it in and it grew on! By May it had developed further than any previous fry and had a quite a tall, really black dorsal. So far, so good but hardly breeding on a grand scale!  The youngster can be seen here near one of the adults and was about 1.5 cms long. However despite looking after itself from birth in this tank and reaching a fairly good stage of development, I could see it starting to go thinner in the body. Within a few days, it had died. HELP! To have a breedable, beautiful Cory like burgessi and keep losing them is so frustrating. If anyone reading this, has had similar problems with burgessi (and failed!) or, even better, knows what's wrong and has a solution, I really would appreciate your advice. Copyright Text and photos by Ivor Hilton |
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