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I'm looking for a Corydoras that won't mind spending time out and about during the day. Tankmates are listed in my profile and my topic in General Freshwater and are shown in the Photo Booth. As a bonus it would be nice if they were easy to breed and would reproduce without too much trouble, just for the fun of it, with young that aren't too much trouble to raise either (I've heard of raising some fry without live foods such as with Liqui-fry or with egg yolk). As long as each fish isn't too expensive, I might buy anywhere from 6 to 15; tank size is 125 gallon. I'd rather not go for Aeneus or Paleatus, despite how well either of them might fit the description, I'm looking for something a little different.

I was thinking about some fish such as arcuatus, metae, panda, trilineatus, or sterbai (and would also like other species suggestions), but I haven't checked what the LFS actually has in stock. The LFS probably has between half a dozen and a dozen species, if not more, ignoring the possibility of contaminants. So are there any cories that are anywhere near as easy to breed and raise as aeneus or paleatus?

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

Pandas and sterbais are the easiest amongst the listed to breed, but the latter prefers covered areas.

I would've thought Pandas would prefer covered areas, considering they're smaller. Guess not.

Anymore comments? Also wouldn't mind possible recommendations of other species that I didn't list that might fit what I'm looking for.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

You're correct; I meant former.

Nope, you were right. The latter (or later) one is the C. sterbai.

I vote! Do you?

I would try C.sterbai, as i think they quite beautiful & also will give you a challange.

At the moment, i'm breeding the easier Corydoras & when the other, more difficult species grow a bit more, i'll give them a try as well.

So, Good Luck with your breeding programme.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/corydoras/
Member of the Malta Aquarist Society - 1970.
http://www.maltaaquarist.com

Agh, I must have been hallucinating when I went to the LFS last time because I thought they had a tank full of maybe 30 sterbai, and there aren't any today; granted, I've always gone through the corydoras in passing until today, so probably the likely reason is I mistook a different species for sterbai, and it probably wasn't even one that looked anything similar, lol. Also they didn't have any metae or melini like I thought. They have arcuatus (marked as agassizii, lol), panda, and schwartzi. There were also a schwartzi-like contaminants, except the body was spotted rather than having horizontal lines. Unfortunately I don't remember the arrangement of spots, but if it only comes in as a contaminant it can't be as easy to breed as I'd like. There was also some sort of green something catfish that could have been aeneus, but I think they're actually melanoteaenia; they were unfortunately not very active and I would somewhat prefer if the cory species I choose would be active.

Don't think I'm going to go for pandas. They all are being sold at only about half an inch in size for the same or greater price than all the other cories. I can't see any reason to pay that much if there is some other species that may be equally or more in attractiveness and ease of breeding.

I'm not looking for something too particularly hard; I have heard that both arcuatus and schwartzi are not as easy. I can probably ask the LFS to order a more common species in, which will open up my possibilities. Suggestions? I'm not looking for a huge investment on cories, and sterbais I hear can be pretty pricy, so I'll have to see how much they'd actually cost if they ordered them in.

I'm starting to get less picky since the availability of cories wasn't as great as I thought, lol. I might just go with the aeneus/melanotaenia (whichever it actually is at the LFS) and be done with it; the LFS actually had a good number of them for a fair price, so I could get a rather large group. If melanotaenia is reasonably easy to spawn I won't have to ask them to order in anything. Comments?

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

Go with arcuatus. They are quite difficult to spawn, but are active, hardy, and large, not to mention immensely attractive.

Well I'll need (want) more Cories than that; the LFS only has 4 individuals, so that leaves me open still. I'll agree that Arcuatus do look rather attractive, though are for some reason cheaper than Pandas. It also appears that melanotaenia is also not very easy to breed, so maybe I won't be going for them...

I'm thinking of just talking to the LFS and seeing it they'll order in sterbai's, if the price for sterbai's turns out to be low enough. If they're pricy I might have to go for something else, even though they look awesome.

With any luck, an easy-breeding cory species' activity and hormones will get more difficult species into the groove. I've heard the chances of hybridization are rather small among Corydoras. On the other hand, it seems that pandas might hybridize more often because they are geographically isolated from other cory species. Interesting, to say the least.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

Go with arcuatus. They are quite difficult to spawn, but are active, hardy, and large, not to mention immensely attractive.

I've actually had quite the opposite experience with C. arcuatus, mine were active when I first bought them but became pretty sluggish later on. Also, they're sensitive to nitrates and will suffer from barbel erosion because of it. Is it possible you had C. narcissus Cup?

Actually, I have noticed that the arcuatus at the LFS are not particularly active, but that could be because they're in an LFS.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

I also have some C.arcuatus & they are quite shy & like to hide alot. They spend most of the time under some bogwood or behind the filter.........

http://www.flickr.com/photos/corydoras/
Member of the Malta Aquarist Society - 1970.
http://www.maltaaquarist.com