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Will different types of cories school together?

If you go to any forum, at the top of the page you will see the word "search". If you click on that another page will come up with a space in it. Type "cory school" & three different threads will come up discussing cory schooling. The vote more or less came out half & half. Yes they will........ no they won't. It's very informative reading anyway.

They will school together, but it is a less than ideal situation for the fish. Almost always when people want to keep different groups of Corydoras in a tank, they have only a few of each type. The fish are much happier in large schools, so I would encourage you to keep them that way. If you've got two big groups in a tank, you will notice that much of the time each species keeps to itself.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

You will also notice that if you keep a big school of one species, the individuals in that school are a LOT livelier and happier than when they're in small numbers. This applies with particular force to the smaller Corydoras species, which are more avowedly social than the larger species - habrossus, pygmaeus, hastatus, cochui and panda are ALL in this category, and should be kept in a group whose minimum size is 8 individuals, ideally more. If the mayhem and comedy antics of my 14 Pandas is anything to go by, I'd say that they are seriously happy.

If you are ever in the position to try, as an experiment, putting 40 Corydoras of one species in an aquarium, then you will be rewarded with non stop mayhem and slapstick comedy antics from them regardless of species. Even more so in the case of Pandas, which seem to become turbocharged Animaniacs with fins when in large numbers.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

how big a tank would be needed to house 40 cories?

While we're on the subject of cories Cali............. I was reading back posts & you advised someone to read an article of yours about why it was so important to have bottom feeders. You gave a link to that article but it didn't work for me. Can you by chance spring that up for me? Or even better, make a new post titling it, " Why it is important to have bottom feeders", so other beginners will know why it is important.

Better still..........just put all your stuff on the net so we can have ready access to it.
Though I must say, you are doing pretty good keeping up with people.

Here you go Fish Patty ... Hospital Forum Thread On Septicaemia With 'Light Bulb Over Head' Moment By Bruce Moomaw

That one should work - I just called it up myself


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Hmmmm I never was big on catfish.......... but think I always had one or two in each tank. I don't think I was good on water changes either. I think it takes something like this site to keep you on your toes.......... like all the repetition about keeping SCHOOLS of fish.......... doing those weekly water changes............. & keeping plenty of those cute cories. They are pretty neat to watch when they get together........... they swim together, chase each other & tumble all over each other. They aren't just a one or two catfish thing that you HAVE to have in your tank.......... but they are a fun to watch SCHOOLING fish deserving as much consideration and respect as any other fish in your tank.
(and i didn't use to know that till I joined here)

Thanks again Cali! /:'

Patty, you want to see my Pandas in action.

I have 14 of them. There were 12, but they spawned ... and spawned again ... and spawned again ... and somewhere along the line two babies survived and joined the throng.

At some point I'll have to let them loose in the nursery aquarium and breed some more babies by intent rather than accident. Back in 2003 through to late 2005 I bred three generations of Pandas ... which is a LOT easier to do when you have a big batch of adults to choose from.

I completed another water change and gravel vac about 3 hours ago. The Pandas are all out at the front frolicking like mad after their water change, and the comedy slapstick mayhem that they're engaging in is hilarious to watch. I'll have to try and capture a video sequence and stick it on the web somewhere ...



Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Is there anytimes that no matter what just won't school?

Thanks!
Ku,

I have found, that more often than not, corydoras merely seem to swim in pairs or small trios, even in large setups with mayn conspecifics. The fish will generally be in the same vicinity, but they'll each be doing their own thing.

Will watch for your video Cali. It may encourage people to keep more than just one or two.

Hmmmm I think I might tend to agree with you noodles. I have 3 bronze & 3 emerald (getting more) & think I have noticed this. If anything they remind me of a bunch of kids. The different species don't act like they are different (at least in this numbering anyway). Sometimes you see most of them in a group........... sometimes they are all off doing their own thing as if they are on a "scavenger hunt" (pun intended), or just want to be left alone. Other times you see them a lot in two or three's, of any species. The main point being, just like kids, they love to be in a lot of numbers, so they can pick & choose who to be around & when.

In my experience it really depends on the corries themselves. The ones I have in my classroom tank, like to all hang out together on the driftwood...the ones in my 125 (approximately 60 or so) hang out in groups, as small as 2 and 3 and as large as 20...but there is always one (never the same one I might add) that just wants to be alone for awhile. The pandas in my 29 are the same, I think I'm at 11 or 12 in total, and they typically stick together, if not "all together" then in assorted groups. You gotta love corries, they are like puppies, but they never grow up, and always make you laugh...even my students who didn't like what the Green Aeneus looked like at first can't stay away from the tank...they gotta check on the Cory Gang as they've been named

ps...the corries in the 125 are a wide variety...green, bronze, albino, black, schwartzi, melini, metae, habrosus, skunk, trili, agassizzi, davidsanii, elegans, julii, paleatus, rabauti, sterbai, axelrodi...I just have a few

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle

I have a group of 6 pandas and a lone bronze cory. The little pandas seem to "worship" or at least follow the bronze as if she is thier leader. I think it is because they feel safer with her. But I dont really know what they are thinking but for the most part I agree with houston that it is just the particular cories personality, like she said that sometimes they just like to be alone i definately agree with this.