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Hiya, cat enthusiasts. So I was at a big box store the other day and looking through their Corys. Usually just the same old "Juliis", Peppers, and Albinos, but there were two listed as Sterba's. Nowwwww, I know Corys can be confusing, but these two are obviously not the same type (and when I pointed that out to the lady working, I basically got told that I'm a moron and these fish are identical. Oooooookay, then). I only wanted to get the darker cat (which more resembles an actual Sterbai to me), but I didn't want him to be lonely, so I bought the other to go with him. Now, my question is - what is it?? (Possibly just a mutt?) It does NOT have yellow pectorals. They are clear/grey. And to be honest, I'm questioning the ID on the Sterbai as well. Most well-bred Sterbai have well-defined tiny spots of white on a dark background. This guy's coloring is a little more messy. He does have the yellowish pectoral fins though. (Perhaps just poorly bred?) Soooo, those of you in the know, a little help, please?? The mystery Cory was a little harder to get a pic of, so sorry about that. He's shy (and my jerk Betta kept shoving him out of the way to parade in front of the camera).

Please give me your thoughts!
Thanks in advance!
Angela

Also, looks like this will only let me attach 5 pix at a time, so continued in the next post!

Sorry, I'm a newb to the forum and didn't realize it would auto-shrink photos and then open up large versions, so I shrunk all my pix so they wouldn't load as huge, annoying files. Aah, live and learn. Here's that last photo again. If you click this one, it will open to a larger version to better see mystery homie's markings.

I would think its a miscolored sterba, but i am no expert on corys. i am no expert on anything lol

I agree with nvcichlids - I think it's an off-colored sterbai. Also, it appears to be smaller than your other sterbai. I think you'll find that it darkens up as it ages.

Please update us with new photos as it grows. I'm curious to see what it looks like as an adult.

Cheers, Eric

Yes, they are both babies. The bigger one is maybe an inch long, from tip of the nose to tip of the tail. I'll post some pix once they get a little more age under their belts. Thanks!

Hi Angela,
My team of 10 sterbai run the spectrum from light to dark coloration. So may be you have a "blonde." Blonde corys have more fun! I doubt its due to poor breeding. Now sterbai will pale when stressed - so do the things that make them relaxed and happy. They are happiest in a group of at least six since they are very social fish. You might want to add a few more so they have lots of friends and won't get bored. Its never good to have a single cory as they can get lonely and depressed.

Feed them some of these and they will love you forever! All the best!

https://www.amazon.com/Tetra-Shrimp-Waf ... imp+wafers

The two Corys are in a tank together, so they have a buddy. Once I get my larger tanks set up, and can find more Sterba's, I'll be getting a school of them, but there isn't enough room for a school of them in the tank they're in now without stressing them and screwing up my water parameters (and it seems as though I bought the last two in the valley). Soon, soon! Nothing cuter than a school of Corys!

Here is my gang of 10 having a snack on Cory Beach. The lone C. paleatus is a rescue cat that was alone, sick and malnourished in a tank at Petco. He's fine now and part of Team Sterbai. He seems quite happy!

I didn't even see him! I was like, "What paleatus?" Haha!

I got a Petco rescue once. A little albino. She only had one eye. Didn't look like the other had been ripped out, just looked like it never existed. Her skin was totally smooth on that side. When I asked about buying the one-eyed fish, the lady was like, "OMG, it has one eye? We can't sell you that." I asked why not, and she said they weren't allowed to sell defective fish. So I asked what she was going to do with it, and she told me she'd just throw it in the quarantine tank in the back. I was like, "Wait, so rather than selling it, you're going to throw it in with sick fish to kill it?" WTH? I told her I wanted it. She had to drag the store manager over, and I had to persuade that lady to sell me the stupid fish. You would have thought I was asking to smuggle parrots out of Africa. She finally said she wasn't allowed to sell it to me, but since it was just going to die anyway if they threw it in with all the sick fish in the back, she could give it to me. I had that fish for a long, long time. Her name was Coda, after Batty Coda, because she was blind as a bat (which is to say, not completely blind). Haha! Whenever I found oddball Corys at the store, she'd get a new buddy. Man, I can't wait to set up a new rack for breeders! I was just watching a video on YouTube of a fish room with more than 450 tanks, and almost all of them were Cory breeders. Drool!!! I looked the breeder up on Aquabid, and they sell Sterbai, and at half the price of the chain pet store! Looks like I know where I'm getting the Corys to finish out my Sterbai school.

"Pepper" the paleatus thinks hes a Sterbai! He loves his friends: Trixie, Datsun, Otis, Oliver, Nano, Chessie, Jim, Ziggy and Blackie!

Its good you rescued Coda. Every Cory deserves a good home!

Every time I go in Petco or Petsmart I want to rescue all their catfish, they all look so sad. I need more tanks!

Don't we all!