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It it alright to mix different species of corys (like a bronze and a panda cory) One time I got speckled ones and put them with my bronze ones and the nex day they were dead?

Yes, it is ok.

They wlnt schoal though.

its ok to mix. in my tank i have 2 species and 2 schools of 6. sometimes they stay close together as one big group, other times they are apart in smaller groups. just try to make sure each species has 6 in the school so they dont get upset when they get sepperated.

Yes, the corys will be fine if you mix them.

Though if you want to do it, it is best to do it with with species that are closely related and/or are found together in nature. In many parts of tropical South America, longnose and shortnose corys are found together because they have safety in numbers if they shoal together, and since they have different shaped mouths and have different choice foods, they do not compete with each other too much. They might look very different, but because they are often found together in the wild they make good candidates if you want to mix species.

Also, if you mix closely related species like members of the Julii group (C. julii, C. trilineatus, C. panda, C. axelrodi, C. adolfoi, C. leucomelas, C. schwartzi, etc...) together, then they do well. Another group of corys that can mix together well are the Elegans group, which includes species such as C. elegans, C. napoensis, C. bilineatus, C. undulatus, C. guapore, etc...

Corys in the wild are not schooling fish, but rather loose shoalers. In their native range under normal conditions, they are usually found in densities of no more than one individual per square meter, but there are hudreds if not thousands of corys in the vicinity. That means that once the fish are settled in and nothing is stressing them, they will be fine in smaller groups and living with other species. The main problem with mixing species is hybridization between different species, which is generally looked down upon in the hobby. This is most likely not going to be a problem unless you intentionally try to induce spawning behavior, though.

In my tank, I keep many different species in varying numbers. I have 6 members of a species that I cannot identify (and neither can Ian Fuller), 1 C. bilineatus, and 1 C. sp. C41 (all Elegans-type corys). I also have 4 C. duplicareus, 2 C. sodalis, and 2 C. cf. kanei (all Julii-type corys), and 2 C. sp. "orange laser" (which belong to neither group).

They mostly just sit around the tank all mixed together and behave pretty much the same (besides the slight species differences in behavior), dispite the fact that I have "adequate" numbers of some species and "inadequate" numbers other species by many members on this forum. They rarely divide into different groups, even when I perform water changes. In fact, basically the only time when they do divide themselves is when one of the females of either group becomes gravid and then a couple of other members of that group will chase that female around. Both the Elegans-type group and the Julii-type group do that.

So as for mixing bronze and panda corys, you should not have any problems with it. However, I would recommend that since bronze and panda corys are neither closely related nor found in the same area of South America, that you choose species that fit these criteria simply because they will "get along" better and have more similar care requirements (i.e... Bronze corys like lower temperatures while pandas like higher temperatures). Good mixes might be, for example, bronze and peppered corys or panda and three-lined corys. But both bronze and pandas (once established) are hardy fish, and they can easily adapt to living in the same environment.




Last edited by Cory Addict at 21-Feb-2005 14:15

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

It's Ok to mix Corydoras, s long as they are in a school of 6. The more Corydoras you have, the merrier.





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

It is certainly fine to mix different Corydoras species. It is preferable to have at least six cories per species, but they will not die from being mixed in smaller numbers. I don't know what it was that killed your catfish, but stress or aggression (from the cories, anyways) shouldn't be the reason. Maybe you added too many fish at the same time, and your filter couldn't catch up quickly enough. My guess is that water conditions were the cause of death, though I can't say for sure without more information. When did this happen?

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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."

A while ago. I olny introduced the two fish. Otherwise the tank had been running for about a year. I think the other cories did it.

Impossible. Corydoras catfish are completely peaceful, and have not been known to harm other fish, at least not on purpose. There is no way that your cories could have been engaged in killing.

Could it have been another tankmate? What other fish were in there? Also, do you remember any marks on the dead cory?

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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."

I find it hard to believe that your old cories "killed" the new ones. It was most likely stress from the move.