cory cats??

[sumphead]

I have never had cory cats but always thought highly of them. A few posts on here about thier spunk and activity had mt sold. I went yersterday and bought three quite small ones. Immediately the activty was great but one of the cats (all bronze cats) is without spotting at all. He is almost translucent. Possibly a different species or just wierd? TIA
R-

 

[sumphead]

Well after just a few minutes of research I may have answered my own question. I think my LFS is just full of a bunch of nuts. I believe what they are selling as "bronze corys" are actually peppered and somehow i ended up with one Brochis. Sound right? Thanks to this forum and sites like liveaquaria.com I can keep my LFS in check. Thanks again.

 

[tkos]

There are tons of cories out there and many look the same. The peppered are quite common and are great little guys. They don't get as big as a bronze. Bronze, Panada and Albino are the others generally sold. However, in the end it doesn't really matter as they are get along great. I have bronze and peppered and they hang out all the time.

LFS 's often times just clump them in one tank and sell them as Cory Catfish, as they are generally easy to breed and all cost the same. It is always annoying when they put the wrong names on things though. I am sure you will enjoy these guys. Make sure to get sinking food tablets for them as flake food won't be enough.

 

[sumphead]

WILCO, thanks

 

[webmoose]

I have two bronze cories (sold as bronze cories ) They've been great. I tried to add a panda cory (indonesian) to the "pack" but was unsucessful. I would waited to get peppered if I had known they would be smaller than my bronze maybe I would have been able to have 3 peppered...

 

[shawmutt]

I bought two cories two times and got whatever was available. The first time I got peppered and the second time I got emerald. They are weird. Sometimes the two pairs will hang out at opposite sides of the tank, sometimes they will school together, but I never see just one emerald and one peppered hanging out together. Perhaps you should watch your cories and see if the odd one getting left alone a lot. If this is the case, you may want to buy more of his species or return him for one of the other species, since they are happiest in schools.

 

[tkos]

They are pretty loose schoolers to begin with. Mostly I think they just like knowing someone else is in the tank with them. It is a busy job looking for food so they are constantly busy guys.

 

[An t-iasg]

I also was thinking about getting two cory cats (one for each side of my divided aquarium). The lfs said they would be good tankmates for a betta.

I'm not sure of that -- what does everyone think? Just from watching them in the store, they were very active, and that might bother the betta, who sometimes lies on the bottom. I did some reading on them, and it said that they do best in schools of 6 or more. So why did the lfs tell me one would be ok with a betta?? I may not get one now. I think they are really cute, but I don't want it to be unhappy. I don't think he could "bond" with the betta.

 

[Allivymar]

There are actually 3 species of pygmy corys: Corydoras hastatus: Corydoras habrosus: and Corydoras pygmaeus. Cute lil buggers and get about inch or less long; you could prob keep 3 easily with a betta in your divided tank (I'm guessing your tank is 5 gallons or more total). Of course more is better, but 3 will suffice in your case and keep the corys happy. They may be a little hard to find; I'm still looking for some in my area, but well worth it IHMO.

 

[tkos]

Yeah, you need at least 3 cories to keep them happy. The LFS is just trying to make another sale it looks like. However, bettas and cories do seem to mix fine. The betta will probably do a little chasing around every so often but won't actually attack or anything.

 

[TankGirl]

I have had a betta with cory cats (peppered) no problem. I have currently 4 in my 55 and they keep a loose school (shoal) and are mainly nocturnal these days. I love 'em.

 

[AtodaJ]

I bought two cories two times and got whatever was available. The first time I got peppered and the second time I got emerald. They are weird. Sometimes the two pairs will hang out at opposite sides of the tank, sometimes they will school together, but I never see just one emerald and one peppered hanging out together. Perhaps you should watch your cories and see if the odd one getting left alone a lot. If this is the case, you may want to buy more of his species or return him for one of the other species, since they are happiest in schools.

"Corydoras Catfish enjoy schooling together. They can easily distinguish members of their species from other species of Corydoras Catfish. Long ago a friend of mine, named Pat, had a very large aquarium. It was about six feet long with over 100 gallons of water. There were three or four schools of Corydoras species. Maybe ten to twenty Corys in each school.
Once in a while two schools would swim through each other, and none of the Corys would ever get confused and join the group with another species. It was fun to watch and kind of amazing."

Got the above quote from the below web link which explains what you were seeing. Enjoy!

http://www.aquariumfish.net/catalog_pages/scavengers/corydoras.htm#top2

 

[ghettorigged]

I LOVED having corys! They were little class clowns in my tank of serious tetras.
Good luck with them.

 

[webmoose]

Thanks everyone! I replaced the Panda with a bronze cory. I would have loved to add a bunch of panda's but I don't have a big enough tank. Decide to stick with 3 bronze. They are having a great time in my tank....

 

[webmoose]

He was doing fine for a week.

" Your new cory is doing some trick where he looks like he is playing dead and is upside down"
(according to phone message I just got from home).

Guess when i get home I might have a dead cory....

 

[myriam]

They are active!

I have two Aeneus Cory catfish...both are quite translucent and if the light hits them in a certain way, you can see many thin translucent vertical lines on their bodies...quite pretty. Maybe that's what you have? The LFS guy told me they would only grow to be 3".

They are all over the tank, very hyper. I thought they were supposed to be bottom feeders but every once in awhile one will zoom to the surface and grab a flake and zoom it back down to the bottom. They seem to suck on every surface of the tank, too. I saw one eat one of my Platy fry :-( Ghastly sight.

 

[TankGirl]

Corys will eat fish eggs, too. They zoom to the surface to get a gulp of air, as they have an organ in their stomachs to get oxygen. This is perfectly normal behavior, not to worry.

 

[webmoose]

Well it's official. I lost one of my cories... I measured him before putting him/her to rest he was 2 1/2 inches long. Guess he was one of my original two.. Did all my water tests. Everything tested fine. The only thing I can think of is we had a hot day and the tank heated up to 82 so maybe the heat got to him.

 

[Allivymar]

Aw I'm sorry webmoose; I had my fingers crossed that it was just being weird

 

[webmoose]

Thanks Allivymar Guess I'll just have to get a 55 Galloon Bow front so they have lots-o-room....