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On first seeing these I was very taken by how attractive these Cory "goldline" were and how different from the numerous Corys that I had bred with variations on a black and white pattern. At the time of buying these there seemed to be two very similar species, the other one being referred to as Cory "gold laser". I bought 5 young fish at auction and as usual, beat "the law of averages" because they turned out to be all males! As I grew them on, I was really pleased with how bold and bright the "gold line" was. Fortunately, fellow Preston & Dist. A.S. aquarist Alan Vaissiere had a surplus of females and was pleased to swap 2 of his females for two of my males. A larger female in the "swaps" was, by Alan's admission, "a little dull on the gold line" so I put her with one male in my larger tank. Of course it's not the main group who spawn but this single pair! She only laid 12 eggs, most of which were well hidden and scattered throughout the tank on broad leafed plants. I collected them all, followed by my usual Meth. Blue and airstone method. Unfortunately only 5 fry emerged, no eggs had fungussed up so I assumed the others were infertile. I fed my usual mix of microworm and fine powder food and even though they were small fry they grew steadily. At 1 month old they were around 1 cm in length. By now, the early body markings aren't as bold, the body is pale with just a few marks and as yet, no sign of the gold line.  The next stage of development is that these "marks" gradually fade and the juvenile cory has a completely plain body with just the merest pale hint of the line to come. At this stage of growth, the 2 months old juvenile is around 2.5 cms.  I had no losses, no problems and all 5 youngsters grew steadily. As they grew, the gold line gradually got better, so as can be seen below, the dull colour from the female didn't prevail in the few fry I got.  Summary and update.. I kept the same group of fish for a while after, but I have to confess, I wasn't able to get them to spawn for a second time! Very significantly, it was interesting to talk to Alan Vaissiere about his experience with this species of Corydoras;- he kept his group longer but, (as up to this article) three years later he had not succeeded in spawning them. In our hobby it's often very difficult and frustrating with certain species of Cory but the challenge is what makes breeding fish so enjoyable! Copyright; Text and photos. Ivor Hilton. |
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