my cory catfish had eggs help!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Question
my cory catfish just layed 52 of her eggs on the side of my 5 gal. tank and i had to take them out because one of my 2 males just ate half of them now how do i know there fertile. and what do i with them now.  

Answer
Hi Sarah,
You would need to place them in a small tank that is a well  aerated tank.  They can get fungus very easy so try to keep the tank dark. Also, make sure that you are not using a filter that will suck them up into it.  It is better to use a sponge filter, and if you can't do that at least cover the intake tube of any filter you are using with some type of netting or even a small piece of panty hose and secure it with a rubber band. They should hatch in about 3 days if they are fertile. They will be free-swimming in 3-5 days. Don't feed them until they are free swimming. Starting out try feeding them fry food for the first few days.  You can usually find fry food at your local fish store.  Sometimes, it is in a tube, just make sure you get food that is designed for fry since they will be too small at this point to eat anything that isn't extremely small. You can feed them baby brine shrimp after a few days or you could try tubifex worms.  You will probably have better luck with the baby brine shrimp.  It has to be food that is live and very small. They will grow quickly. Be sure if you get the shrimp that you are getting the "baby" brine shrimp, not the regular sized brine shrimp.Let them thaw in a small amount of water and then pour some of them into their tank. Using a small dropper  makes it easier to place them in the water. Just put a small amount so you don't pollute your water too much. I would feed them at least 3 times a day. You can sometimes find the shrimp frozen at your fish store or you can hatch them your self with a shrimp hatchery that you can also find at your local fish store. Baby brine shrimp should be their primary food source for at least 2 weeks, and then you can start weaning them over to crushed flake food supplemented with baby brine shrimp or some frozen food chopped very finely. Make sure you do small water changes each day after they hatch especially after their last feeding. Make sure the replacement water is the same temperature as the tank water. You may have to use only the syphon hose to try to carefully syphon water and debris from the bottom of their tank. Just be sure to watch out for babies since they will easily be sucked into the syphon. I have also used netting placed over the end of my syphon just to be sure not to syphon up babies.  Best of luck!
Hope this helps,
Karen