Need help selecting small Cory

[ArkansasCatfish]

I would really like to add about 6-8 dwarf Corys to our 75 gallon tank. It is still cycling so I'm trying to do some research. I really like the Cory Habrosus, but have heard it is not very hardy. Which of the smaller Corys are the hardiest that you would recommend? They will be in a planted tank with Eco Complete substrate topped with a layer of sand. Tank mates will be Endler Livebearers and Neon Tetras. Maybe a few Golden Pencilfish.

[syno321]

At least a dozen hastatus, if you can find them.

[rupertoooo]

While not a dwarf the Corydoras Loretoensis is a fantastic small species. The elongated dorsal fin is definitely an eye catcher and one of my favorites.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5thLGQx_su8

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Corydoras panda

is a reasonably small Corydoras that does well in most tanks.

cheers Darrel

[Cory Ben]

Have you consider Aspidoras'? These are Aspidoras Paucirodiatus. I can't comment on their hardiness however as I've only had my group since the weekend.

[Karsten S.]

Hi,

I would not call C. hastatus and C. loretoensis the hardiest corys.
To my experience C. panda and C. pygmaeus are hardier and both also small.
C. venezuelanus is certainly also an option.

Cheers,

[jodilynn]

I have a

Corydoras habrosus

and a

Aspidoras depinnai

in my 5 gallon. They are both small and pal around together. Lovely little fish, they seem to be happy and healthy and eat very well!

I also have a

Corydoras panda

in my 10 gallon with a

Corydoras aeneus

and a

Corydoras sterbai

. He is much smaller than the other two but definitely holds his own and is doing very well.

I would recommend the Habrosus, Panda or any Aspidora species you can find!

Interesting thing I had happen with my

Corydoras pygmaeus

, I have 2 in one of my Betta tanks, I decided to make them a trio, and ever since I added the 3rd I NEVER see them anymore. They used to be super active, swimming around, hanging in the plants, chasing my cranky dinosaur of a Betta, Copper (they would actually hitch rides on him, much to his chargrin ).

But now that the third one is in there, they hide and the back of the tank and never come out.

SO maybe if there is a much larger school they are more active?

(And yes please I understand that Corys are ideally kept in schools of 6 of the same species, but sometimes space and availablilty does not allow for these things, my corys are happy, have GREAT diets, clean water and happy homes! SO please know I do my best for my fish!)

[rmc]

C.habrosus is fairly easy to find, somewhat easy to spawn, and does well in small tanks. My question to you is if you have a 75 gallon tank why are you looking for a "dwarf cory"? I would think something larger would be easier to find/see in a larger tank. A school of C.sterbai for example would be a great "more visible" addition to larger planted tank.

Jodilynn where did you get your Aspidoras depinnai? Are you breeding them?

Cheers,
Rob

[jodilynn]

I got the last one at the LFS. Never saw them before and I have not seen them anywhere since.

[ArkansasCatfish]

All my other fish are very small, under 2 inches, so I was trying to keep with a smaller Cory as well. But I will take a look at some of the others! I still haven't bought any yet, such a hard time making up my mind and then actually finding any for sale. My LFS has very limited Corys and they are huge! Petsmart sometimes gets a few Julii in and some regular sized Peppers and that is about it around here.

[bekateen]

Then Panda Corys might be a good idea. They aren't dwarfs, but the ones I've seen stay pretty small (compared to other full sized Corys). And I do find them in my LFS and at places like PetSmart.

[rmc]

The "julii" your Petsmart gets are most likely Corydoras trilineatus - these would be fine as they don't get overly large and really won't bother small fish in your tank. They can look really nice if they are fed properly and kept in good water conditions as well. As bekateen stated Panda Corys would be a nice choice as well. "Peppers" are typically Corydoras paleatus and I've seen them reach a pretty decent size (at least the "tank strain" ones - which seems to be the only C.paleatus available in the US). I don't think many Corys will bother your smaller fish too much so if you want larger ones I don't see the harm. I keep 2.5 to 3 inch Corys (which is about as big as Corys ever get!) with tiny fish like Celestial Pearl Danios and never have any trouble with either sp.

[VelcroWY]

C.pygmaeus are usually available and I find them easy to keep. I currently have just 6 in a 50g and am looking to add a few more.

As others mentioned, all Corys do better in a school and the more the better. I prefer at least 20 or 30 but 10 is adequate to make them comfortable and happy.

C.habrosus are not difficult to keep, in my experience

C.hastatus are a dwarf that tends to prefer more time in mid-water areas. I have never kept this species.

As someone else suggested, consider Aspidoras. They tend to be smaller than Corydoras but are closely related.

[MarlonnekeW]

I have both panda's and pygmaeus and they are very different. Where my panda's spend most of their time searching for food on the bottom (and eating everything they can find), my pygmaeus are not so much interested in food. They spend a lot of time swimming in the middle layer of the aquarium (sometimes they look like underwater hummingbirds; staying in one spot, while moving their fins very rapidly. Very cute.) or just hanging out on a big leaf.
They are both lovely fish, but they have their own qualities. Panda's can be great if you have slow-eating tank mates, because they will make sure that there will be no left-over food on the bottom. Pygmaeus are great to watch and because they are smaller, can be kept in a bigger group. In my aquarium (125L with 13 corydoras panda and 8 corydoras pygmaeus) the pygmaeus are more sociable than the panda's.

Maybe it's different in the States, but here in The Netherlands Corydoras pygmaeus are mostly wild-caught, while Corydoras panda are bred for the aquarium.

[Jobro]

I have both panda's and pygmaeus and they are very different. Where my panda's spend most of their time searching for food on the bottom (and eating everything they can find), my pygmaeus are not so much interested in food. They spend a lot of time swimming in the middle layer of the aquarium (sometimes they look like underwater hummingbirds; staying in one spot, while moving their fins very rapidly. Very cute.) or just hanging out on a big leaf.
They are both lovely fish, but they have their own qualities. Panda's can be great if you have slow-eating tank mates, because they will make sure that there will be no left-over food on the bottom. Pygmaeus are great to watch and because they are smaller, can be kept in a bigger group. In my aquarium (125L with 13 corydoras panda and 8 corydoras pygmaeus) the pygmaeus are more sociable than the panda's.

Absolutely my experience as well. C. Pygmaeus as well as C. Hastatus don't behave like any other Corydoras at all. They will make up big schools and will always be seen in groups. They love to explore the midwaters and sit upon higher leaves, stones or wood - like on a watch tower sometimes they sit there for hours and I have a feeling the same pygmaeus will be sitting on his very personal spot every day. They will socialize with other smaller group fishes like tetras or otocinli and swarm together. I would prefer C. Hastatus or C. Pygmaeus to most of the smaller Tetras when it comes to "swarmfish".

With a 75 gallon tank I can not recommend putting in 6-8 Hastatus or Pygmaeus, please don't. They will not feel comfortable.
Even with bigger corys I would take 10. But with the dwarfs you should go for something like 20-30 or maybe more, depending on the remaining inhabitants. They are very social and need the cover of the group to feel safe.

I do have C. Habrosus as well. Quite small, cute and nice. But they tend to behave like the larger corys and will dig up the ground a lot (even unrooting smaller plants, I have that trouble right now with Eleocharis sp...). They are not as midwater oriented as the dwarfs and wont swarm as much - but still very nice.

Did u make a choice, yet?

[MarlonnekeW]

Great to read that you have similar experiences with your pygmaeus!

In the last months, I've leaned that their behavior also depends a lot on their tank mates. In the beginning I (temporarily) kept my pygmaeus in a 125 liter/33 gallon aquarium, together with a.o. Corydoras panda and Boraras brigittae. Here they were very active and visible and did hang out a lot on 'higher ground'. After a few weeks, I gave them their own aquarium, a 63 liter/17 gallon aquarium with only 2 Ancistrus claro as tank mates. In this aquarium my pygmaeus were hardly visible; they stayed between the plants a lot and hardly ever swam around. What they did do was breed, so I discovered more and more baby cory's.

Because I was afraid of overstocking, I decided to move them back to my 125 liter/33 gallon aquarium. The population of this aquarium had changed in the meantime and instead of the Corydoras panda and Boraras brigittae, their tankmates became a school of yellow phantom tetra. I expected them to be even more shy than in the 63 liter aquarium, because of the larger space with the same number of pygmaeus. But I was wrong. In this aquarium, they are active and visible again. I can count all eleven of them multiple times a day, which I never managed to do in the 63 liter aquarium. They do tend to rest on the bottom a lot more than when they had to share the aquarium with the panda's. Most of the time 1/2 to 2/3 of the school is resting on the bottom, while the rest is swimming.

In my 63 aquarium I still have a lot of baby cory's and they are display the same behavior as the adults, even though they are in a much larger group. I also have a few baby's in my shrimp aquarium (54 liter/14 gallon) together with my Boraras brigittae and these pygmaeus are swimming a lot together with the Boraras.

[Jobro]

I also have a few baby's in my shrimp aquarium (54 liter/14 gallon) together with my Boraras brigittae and these pygmaeus are swimming a lot together with the Boraras.

Yes, they seem to enjoy the company of other small swarm/groupfish.

I also put some Pygmaeus into a smaller tank for breeding, without any other tankmates. They are very shy as well, in that smaller tank. looks like they need space as well as some smaller tankmates to live up.

cheers johannes