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I would prefer to have MORE of the smaller cory, if I can find them. I don't know how many I could fit in my 30 gallon, oh, and as the thread started, I also have ONE angel..., and plan on getting a bristlenose or two later.

Well, in 30g, if they are the only
bottom fish, you could easily go with 10 pandas,
or if you went with a dwarf cory like pygmaeus or
hasbrosus, you could easily stock 12-14,
maybe even more.
Hasbrosus average 3/4-1 inches, females up
to 1.5 inches, pygmaeus both genders average
3/4-1 inch.
Pandas about 1.5-2 inches.


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Smallest Corys of the lot are Corydoras hastatus. (the Latin hasta, meaning 'spear', refers to the marking on the tail which resembles a spear head) and Corydoras pygmaeus (which differs from hastatus in having a prominent horizontal stripe). Then you have Corydoras cochui, Corydoras habrosus (which resembles cochui but there are key differences), and Corydoras panda is next in line. After those species you will be looking at rarities such as the sky high desirable but ludicrously expensive Corydoras weitzmani (here in the UK these things are £20 EACH ... at current exchange rates you would be looking at $38 per fish if you went with weitzmani - yeep) and Corydoras loxozonus, plus oddities such as Corydoras elegans (the only Cory that doesn't adopt the 'T' position when mating).

There's an interesting history behind these fishes, by the way. Corydoras hastatus was the first of the dwarf Corys to be named, way back in 1868 by Eigenmann & Eigenmann. Corydoras cochui was named in 1954 by Myers & Weitzman, Corydoras habrosus in 1960 by Weitzman, and Corydoras pygmaeus as late as 1966 by Knaack. Corydoras panda was the last of the small Corys in the list to be named, in 1971 by Nijssen and Isbrucker. Tabulate the fishes along with maximum length and date of naming, and something interesting arises:

hastatus 30mm [1868]
cochui 35mm (F) but more usually 30mm [1954]
habrosus 35mm [1960]
pygmaeus 30mm [1966]
panda 55mm (F) [1971]

pygmaeus isn't actually smaller than hastatus, which was named nearly 100 years earlier, and is separated from its close neighbour by habrosus and cochui, which bear striking similarities to each other to the untrained eye. The key difference is that habrosus has a black spot at the base of the anal fin (absent in cochui), and the irregular broken band along the body forms 4 or 5 irregular spots in cochui, while that of habrosus only forms 2 or 3 spots. After this quarter of dwarf Corys, along came panda, which, while bigger than the others, shares the same tendency to be avowedly social and require a good sized group in the aquarium to be happy. This applies to ALL the five species discussed in this history section - you should NEVER keep fewer than 8 if you can, and ideally more. Heidi once had a big bunch of habrosus in her 125 gallon along with a manic collection of Bandit Corys (metae I think) and they were almost as nutty as my Pandas because she kept a big group of them.

Basically, the requirements for all five of these species are pretty similar - good sized group (8 minimum), clean substrate given regular gravel vacs, plenty of decor features to keep them stimulated (bogwood arches with Java Moss growing upon them are a good idea in an aquarium containing the smaller Corys, as are gnarled bits of bogwood with cave provision) and companions that won't harass them unduly. Give them this combination of housing features, and they'll be lively little fishes that provide hours of vieing entertainment - Pandas in particular, which are, in a decent sized group, akin to the little animated Lemmings from the computer game once their sense of fun takes off!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

well i have not been on this web page for a few months so this post is a bit late but i thought i would share anyway i HAD 3 angels they came from a tank that was set up for 5 years and thoes 3 angels were there for most of that time i dont know if it was 5 4 3 years or what but for a long time anyway i got the tank everything was great and fine but one of them (i named ozzy) who also happens to be the best looking of the 3 would pick on all the fish not just the angles and he was really mean. one day i woke up turned the lights on in my tank and i found a dead angel fish in my tank (this one was the second best looking angel and also had a messed up mouth it was on the side of his face) and ozzy would always bite him. i didnt know if he died becasue of ozzy or his mouth or just being old so i didnt put to much thought into it cause i didnt know. Then for about a month ozzy was picking on my black ghost knife about a moth after that started i found him dead. i have now lost 5 fish over the past 3 months all who ozzy was picking on. i have moved ozzy into a 10 gallon tank that he has all to himself. and since i have done that no more fish have died so you never know maybe you have ozzys mean twin brother and he was the one killing all your other angels (the only reason ozzy is in a 10 gallon is cause i dont want to get rid of him cause he is a nice looking fish and i dont have any other tanks to put him in right now lol) hope this story gives you something else to think about your angle fish

Purple,
a 10g tank is no place for an angelfish, im sorry
to say.
Please sell him to someone with a suitable home or
buy a 25g tall tank minimum.
These fish grow to 8 inches snout to tail and up
to 14 inches tall, a 20x12x12 inch tank is nowhere near
sufficient for this size fish.
24x12x20 is the minimum tank size for an angelfish,
with 29g being even better.


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i know that but like i said in my post thats all i have for him right now i am going to get a bigger tank for him i just dont have the funds right at the moment thats all so please dont think that is a permanent home for him its just a temp till i can get a bigger tank

Well, I bought 4 emerald corys last night. They are really pretty. In 2 weeks I will get 3 or 4 more. The profile on here says they only get about 2.8 inches, is that pretty accurate? They really seem to be liking my all sand substrate, they are digging their noses down in it and pushing it around like little snow plows. My angel isnt bothering them at all, but he is hanging around the bottom of the tank more, I think he is wondering what all the commotion is!

i am thinking I may need to get a bigger tank soon, I also saw some stunning angelicus botias last night...., if they hadn't been $20 each, I probably would have bought those instead!

They only get about 2.8 inches? Wait till you see them filled out............ that is a lot of little catfish! I have 5 emeralds & 2 about that big. They look monsterous compared to the little ones you buy in the store.

If it says 2.8 on this site then I would assume that is pretty accurate. I'll bet they do like that sand! Mine should be so lucky. Your angel will hang around the bottom more at feeding time for them also. They love to steal the shrimp pellets & algea wafers from the catfish.

"i am thinking I may need to get a bigger tank soon, I also saw some stunning angelicus botias last night...., if they hadn't been $20 each, I probably would have bought those instead!"
Uh oh..................MTS is setting in!!

Actually, I would probably be more likely to just use the one bigger tank. I like my tank to be where I can enjoy it all the time, and I certainly dont want a bunch of tanks in my living room! One big one would be fine with me. Plus, I am not thrilled with the low wattage lighting that came with my eclipse system. Its very liminting in what kind of plants I can grow. It would be cool to get a larger tank and really do it up right! And by larger I only mean about twice what I have now.

My idea of a large aquarium at the moment is, sadly, constrained by wallet size and house size. Howwever, if money and space were no object, I'd be thinking about that 12ft long reef tank in a basement mimicking David Saxby's monster reef ... in case you haven't heard about that one Tankgrrl, David Saxby is a guy living in London who has a reef aquarium that is about the size of my kitchen ... do a Google search on "David Saxby" and when you see pics of his utterly gigantic aquarium, be prepared to gasp in awe ... I've described this system at length in the Marine section of the FP forums, and believe me, this is an aquarium constructed on an almost industrial scale!

Mind you, I'd still love to do a 6ft version of the Panda Fun Palace - because then I could have some South American Dwarf Cichlids in there with the other fishes ... and BIG shoals of Characins.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Oh, that is not at all what I mean when I say bigger tank! Lol. I could NEVER have the dedication to do the upkeep on that kind of tank, though it is exquisite! It's enough for my to do my pwc's on my 30 gallon! I was thinking more along the lines of a 55 gallon... just so I could fit some more fish in. I feel so limited with my tank size now. But at the time I got it, it was all I could afford, but now....

Emerald corys, well depends. Are they Bronze Corys,
species Corydoras Aeneus, these fish grow to 3.5-4 inches.
2.8 is probably a low average.
I have a large albino cory the bronze cory species that
is now reaching 3 inches, and shes still growing. Shes only 5 years old or so.
The true emerald cory, Brochis Splendens, which isnt
really even a cory at all, but just looks like one,
grows even larger, with 6 inches being about the maximum,
and 4-5 inches the average.


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"The true emerald cory, Brochis Splendens, which isnt
really even a cory at all, but just looks like one,
grows even larger, with 6 inches being about the maximum,
and 4-5 inches the average. "

I have 5 emerald & 5 bronze in my tank! It's going to look like wall to wall cory's!

Emerald not really a cory? Just looks & acts like one? Sounds odd to me! But oh well, as long as it cleans the tank.

Well, I don't know the latin name for the ones I got, but they look identical to the ones in the profile section here on FP. I guess I'll just have to wait and see how they turn out. That could be a good excuse to get a bigger tank... "Honey, I didn't know they were going to get THIS big!"

Bronze Cory cat:



Emerald Catfish Brochis Splendens



Article on PC about Brochis Splendens:

http://www.planetcatfish.com/cotm/cotm.php?article_id=229

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Yup......... those look like mine, more or less. I couldn' get your link to work but went to the site & found some articles about them. All I saw was they got to a size of size of 3.1 inches & another said about 3 1/2 inches. And one place said that they get larger than bronze cories & are more gregarius.

Doesn't really matter I guess.......... we got what we got & will live with them no matter how big they get. There sure were a lot of corys on that site! If I ever get another smaller tank I might get brave enough to go into a pet store & see what cory's they have. I live in the midwest, so think the selection around here would'nt be that great. But still........... would be something to consider.

As it is, I have hubby get most of my fish when he goes out of town cause I'm afraid to go myself. There will be so many pretty tanks & so many pretty fish I'm afraid I will be disatisfied with what I have now!

Thanks Sneaky!

Well, I am confused now. Mine are definately not as dark as the top picture, but not as light as the bottom picture. Hmm, I will have to wait til tomorrow and do another comparison when the tank lights come back on!

The diagnostic feature that allows Brochis and Corydora to be told apart is the dorsal fin. Corydoras species have a short, fairly tall dorsal fin with a small number of rays (a typical count being 7 or 8, as in the case of Corydoras diphyes). Brochis species have a long dorsal fin with a considerably higher ray count (15-18 for Brochis multiradiatus, 10-12 for Brochis splendens).

Load these two links into separate browser tabs or windows, and alternate between viewing the two, in order to see the difference in the dorsal fin length:

Corydoras aeneus

Brochis splendens

I deliberately hunted down the images that made this difference easy to spot for the beginners, by the way.

You will also notice that Brochis splendens has a more angular snout than the majority of regularly available domesticated Corydoras species - however, there are some long-snouted corydoras that originate from cooler hillstreams, but these have a distinctly 'horse faced' appearance when compared with the Brochis species - an example of a long snouted Corydoras exhibiting this 'horse faced trait well is Corydoras semiaquilus, which shares this trait with Corydoras amapensis, C. pastazensis, C. treitlii, C. simulatus, C. septentrionalis and to a lesser extent Corydoras stenocephalus. The long-snouted 'horse faced' Corys all need more specialised conditions than the 'round faced' ones such as Corydoras aeneus, C. paleatus, C. metae and other commonly available species - the 'horse faced' Corys inhabit cooler, more rapidly flowing and better oxygenated water in the main. The big exception to the rule of course is Corydoras panda - a round faced Cory that lives in cooler waters and has a preference for temperatures around 23 degrees Celsius, with heat stress becoming a potentially life-shortening danger if temperatures rise above 28 degrees Celsius.

Oh, as for compatibility with Cichlids, Brochis splendens is a fine fish to keep alongside the likes of Keyhole Cichlids and Festivums in larger aquaria. However, compatibility with some of the more strongly territorial species such as Convicts is best described as 'experimental' - attempt it if you wish, but be prepared to rehouse the Brochis in a less stressful environment at a moment's notice if the Cichlids treat them as intruders to be dispatched!

[Edited for broken tags]


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

I know what you mean tankgrrrl. I think these fish can differ slightly in coloration. Of my 5 bronze corys I don't think any two are colored exactly the same. Mine are more smudgy colored like the one Cali put up. And one of them is kind of dark all over!

My emeralds seem pretty much the same except for the two large ones. Their coloation is darker than the smaller ones. So for whatever reason, I'm thinking a coloration difference is normal......... at least for our aquarium fish. IMHO

If you will notice......... if you get any natural daylight on your tank at all........... I do for just a short while in late afternoon........... the fishes color really comes out & shows up very pretty under natural daylight.

Thanks for the comparison Cali, that really helped! Now I am certain that I have the brochis splendens. There are more fin rays than I can count on mine because they won't sit still! Lol.

As far as their coloration goes Patty, I have 4 so far, and they are all similar except one is quite a bit darker. The tank they had them in at Petsmart had black gravel substrate, and they were almost completely black in there. You could hardly see them! Once I got them home they lightened up considerably in my tank.