The trusty corydoras is one of the most commonly kept genus of fish all over the world with a number of different species of corydoras being particularly popular such as the Bandit cory, Panda cory, and Sterbai cory all being relatively popular where as there are a number of less popular species of corydoras that never really took off.
One thing that is very popular right now is to breed hybrid corydoras with there being a number of unique looking fish produced over the last couple of years that have gone viral on social media.
The majority of species of corydoras can crossbreed with each other due to being from the same genus making it relatively easy to crossbreed your pet corydoras if you wish.
If you leave a suitable male and female corydoras in your aquarium that are from different sub-species of corydoras then there is a high chance of you naturally having little hybrid corydoras swimming around within the year.
Just keep in mind that many of the other fish in your aquarium as well as snails and shrimp will eat the eggs prior to them hatching and with the majority of female corydoras species spawning around 15 eggs at a time, this can cause a problem with survival rates.
If you are intentionally trying to breed hybrid corydoras then putting the breeding pair in a safe breeding tank can drastically increase survival rates.
Should You Breed Hybrid Corydoras?
Breeding hybrid corydoras is becoming very popular but it is a controversial topic within the fish keeping community with valid arguments being made on both sides of the discussion.
The main worry about breeding hybrid corydoras is that the barrier for entry is very low so it can pose a risk to the integrity of the bloodlines of the core species.
There have been a large number of reports of hybrid corydoras being sold both online and in local pet stores when they were advertised as either of the parent species of corydoras to get a higher price tag.
This is due to the majority of the hybrid corydoras not even looking close to the unique ones that go viral on social media due to the gene match up for the unique colors and patterns being difficult and often resulting in a dull looking fish.
On the other side of the argument are the people who want to try and develop new lines of corydoras similar to how breeders develop new lines of dogs such as the Labradoodle that has proven to be extremely popular over the years.
Although there are some reputable breeders out there trying to develop their own unique hybrid corydoras lines, there are countless people out there who are giving the reputable breeders a bad name.
Can Corydoras Crossbreed?
All species of corydoras are from the corydoras genus that is from the callichthyidae family meaning that they are able to crossbreed in most cases.
Due to most aquariums offering optimal breeding conditions there is a high chance of fertile eggs bring produced if you do have male and female corydoras in your tank from different species but the other fish in the tank will often eat the eggs prior to hatching.
The majority of the hybrid corydoras that go viral on social media usually have a panda corydoras as one of their parents with the other parent often being a range of different species of corydoras with the sterbai corydoras probably being the second most common species for hybrids.
This is due to people wanting to mix the blue polkadot look of the sterbai corydoras onto the pale section of the panda corydoras but this is not as easy as it sounds.
A julii corydoras sterbai corydoras hybrid recently went viral due to its unique colors and pattern and ended up selling for $3000 with it being the highest price point publically known corydoras hybrid sale to date.
Just keep in mind that the vast majority of hybrid corydoras will not fetch anywhere near that and the majority of the fish have no real resell market and the majority of hobbyist fish breeders end up losing money rather than making money no matter the species of fish they breed.
How Do You Breed Your Own Hybrid Corydoras?
It is very easy to breed hybrid corydoras in your own aquarium due to all species of corydoras being able to interbreed with each other so your only real task is to have a male and female from different species of corydoras in the tank and maintain optimal water parameters and wait.
Putting the breeding pair of corydoras into their own breeding tank can help as it removes the potential predators for the fertilized eggs too.
There have been countless reports of accidental hybrid corydoras being bred in aquariums over the years due to people new to the fish keeping hobby just liking the look of different species of corydoras and adding them to their aquarium.
We have seen a number of people reaching out who never even knew that different species of corydoras were able to crossbreed with each other and this was the main reason we decided to publish this article.
The more cover for the eggs and baby hybrid corydoras in your community tank, the higher the chances of the egg and fry surviving long enough to grow into a juvenile fish.
The most difficult part of crossbreeding corydoras is probably keeping the fertilized eggs and hybrid fry safe and off the menu for their tank mates. This is why we mentioned getting yourself a separate breeding tank earlier in the article to keep them as safe as possible.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over breeding hybrid corydoras to an end. Although it is very easy to crossbreed corydoras, it is controversial within the fish keeping community and people often get into breeding fish with a goal of making money but the majority of people fail to make a profit. The chances of being able to make a profit is even lower with hybrid fish due to the look, color, size, and pattern of the hybrid fish being unpredictable and most people not being willing to pay much for them.
