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Can i keep 5 or 6 cories in my 16g along with 10 neons?
I was thinking either peppered or bronze, which would be more suitable?
Will they get along with ghost shrimp?
Thanks

It might be a bit of a squeeze.

If you can find a smaller species of Corydoras, I would choose one of those. Corydoras metae would be a good choice if you can find it, as it's fairly small AND reasonably hardy. Some of the smallest Corydoras species can be somewhat touchy about water conditions - Corydoras panda, for example, which is a delightful little fish and an EXCELLENT choice of Corydoras for your aquarium IF YOU HAVE SOME EXPERIENCE, demands scrupulous attention to water cleanliness and substrate cleanliness if it is to prosper, and as one of the most avowedly social members of the Genus Corydoras, demands a minimum group size of 8 to be really happy, and 12 is even better. I have 14 of them in my main aquarium and they are suitably grateful to me for my tending both to their social needs and their environmental needs.

Likewise, although Corydoras habrosus is a wonderful small species (and you could have 10 of those no trouble in your setup, again making them happy because they're an avowedly social species, only marginally less so than Pandas) it too needs some care and attention to get the best from it. You can't just toss them in and expect them to work as garbage labourers without giving them a little pampering. Strictly speaking, this is an approach that should be adopted with ALL Corydoras, namely treat them as honoured guests and attend to their needs, rather than just chucking them in like so many serfs forced to till the land under feudal conditions, but it's particularly important that some species be given the best conditions you can give them. Pandas are high on the list of species that will lead pitifully short lives if expected to wallow in filth, and habrosus probably doesn't like massive amounts of gunk in the substrate either. If you're looking for a Corydoras species that is both fairly small AND forgiving of beginner mistakes, go with metae. You can have 8 of those, and if you look after them properly, you can expect the patter of tiny fins to reward your efforts.

While Bronze and Peppered Corys are long domesticated and hardy, your problem with these fishes is size. They're among the largest of the regularly traded species, and strictly speaking, 6 in a 16 gallon might be pushing it a little bit. The fact that the larger Corys tend to be better described as "moderately gregarious" rather than "avowedly social" means that you can get away with a group of 6 no trouble, but the additional body size and mass means that the larger species are better suited to something like a 29 gallon setup. I would hunt down Corydoras metae if I were you, pay the extra, get 8 or even 10 of them and enjoy a spectacle of bustling industry that will be a delight to watch, especially as the smaller Corys tend to be more playful.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

thanks cali,
I hope metae arent more expensive than panda is.... they are too expensive for me to buy a school right now..

metae small?? No way. Ive seen adult metae corys the same size as adult pepper corys. Bandit corys are one of the 3 largest species, Paleatus, Aeneus, and metae all acheiving 3 inches or more in length.

My recommendation would be a small cory - hasbrosus, panda, pygmaeus, trilineatus, ambiacus, nanus, etc,
all corys that reach a maximum of 1-2 inches.
And yep, they get along fine with ghost shrimp and neons.

Hasbrosus are my faves, you could definitely put
6 in, and maybe even squeeze in 7 and 8.


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that should be read;

metae stay around the low 2"s; anything larger and I can pretty much guarentee that it's not c. metae. The largest cory of that group, which is probably davidsandsi, is only as large as the next medium sized cory (around the size of adolfois, I'd say)--in fact, ambiacus, your reputed "small" corydoras, grows larger than any metae group fish.

Yeah, Corydoras metae doesn't grow that large. Sneaky, you may be thinking of C. narcissus or C. simulatus, each of which is somewhat similar.

I also agree in the the bronze and peppered cories grow too large for a group of five or six. A species that hits two inches or less would be better off. The only problem is that in many areas, bronze, peppered, and emerald cats (Brochis splendens) are the only options. In that case you may need to call stores a little farther away and check out their stock, or order online if you can find low shipping costs.

---

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

thanks for posts every body
SirBooks, when i looked up narcissus it says they grow to 6cm, just like aeneus.The other one u said gets to 7.
If i cant fit 6 of the larger cories i think i will go with just ghost shrimp for cleanup

thats so weird.
My ambiacus corys only reach 1.75 inches in length,
way smaller than any metae i have ever seen.

This is the Cory I am talking about:


http://www.nettaigyo.com/corydoras/encyc/corydoras/metae3.jpg

A friend of mine has a group with a group of C. Aeneus, and the metae are much larger.



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That must mean they are either immature or not ambiacus. I have had indivduals that've grown even larger than my weitzmanis.

you IDed them for me Cup.


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I could always be wrong, but if you have another picture, I'd certainly check it out again. The only other explanation is that they've yet to grow to adult size. I've found with fry that once they hit, oh, 1.5", growth rate takes a notable nosedive.

Also, what exactly does that corydoras picture prove? We already know what metaes look like, and just because they are larger relative to certain aeneus specimens your friend has does not make them large fish. Frankly, all things being equal, there is no way in heck a metae will outgrow ANY of the aeneus variants. My own experience with both metae and a slew of different aeneus (mela) morphs coupled with a cesspool of online data will vouch for this assertion. Same goes for the ambiacus. I don't think that many people are going to be wrong about such readily available fish[es].

My ambiacus corys are like 5 years old, I highly doubt they have any more growing to do.

The picture is to show what fish Im talking about, thats what its supposed to prove, as you were naming a bunch of fish Ive never even heard of or seen in stores.

Also you say Ambiacus is a readily available fish - none of the corys youve named except Aeneus are readily available here.
My Ambiacus corys I paid 17 dollars each for, and have never ever seen them again for sale here.
Id consider them very rare fish indeed.
Same with metaes - they run 20 dollars plus a pop here.

Ill snap a pic of the metaes in question if our aquarium club meeting is at his place next month - all of them are much larger than the 3 or so inch bronze corys they share a tank with. It is possible they are a different species, but Ive only ever seen them sold as metae, and even then, not very often, and they are always larger than the bronze corys.
*Shrug*


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I think proximity is probably the issue here. In most places in the U.S., even places like petco have bandits and schwartzi marked species readily available. metaes don't go for more than six, and large ambiacus can hit 10, maybe 12 bucks, though I'll admit the latter is not quite as common as other similar species--by the way, nowhere did I mention that import frequency of any given fish had significant bearing as to it's identity, at least regarding your corydoras. If possible, though, I'd like to see the reputed ambiacus again. I'm not saying it's impossible, but everything you've brought to question seems to contradict the findings of pretty much every other catfish-centered hobbyist.

Also, if there is any remaining doubt in your mine, here's a pic of a full grown ambiacus. It doens't matter how you want to phrase it, it's still a notably large corydoras sp. And, given the wealth of knowledge provided by the internet, it would be only natural to assume that this fish is nowhere near as uncommon as say, evelynae, or whatnot. We still get shipments in maybe once every month during the catching season.

whoops. I forgot to include the hyperlink:

http://www.aquapia.co.kr/mall/file/DSCN3181.JPG