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Quick question before making my suggestion.

Does your aquarium have the kind of furnishings that provide 'steps' up to the surface?

Only since your aquarium if 17 inches tall, it might be a good idea to have your aquarium furnished with pieces of bogwood or the like that act as jumping-off points for the Corys to head for the surface, because the smaller Corys are usually shallow water dwellers, and 17 inches is quite a journey for a Panda or a habrosus to take to the surface to take a gulp of air.

If you have such furnishings, then 8 or 10 Pandas or habrosus would go in there nicely. I now have 12 Pandas in the Panda Fun Palace™ and they're nicely happy with their bogwood 'boot' as a kind of 'Panda Clubhouse' and the bogwood arch with the Java Ferns on it ...


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

A school of Corydoras will be fine in your tank, but your tank is quite high & the smaller species of Corydoras might find it difficult to go to the surface for some air.


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I currently have a 20 gallon tank with just a male betta and a male platy... I plan to put 2-3 more platies in... I was wondering what anyone could recommend for bottom dwellers??? If you need more info, let me know...

How about a shoal of smaller cories (Pandas, Habrosus, Pygmy).

Well I should have asked if it is a 20 long or tall first. That will decide numbers.

*Kristin*

i would recommend not getting any more platies and go with a small school of cories.

but if u do decide to get more platies i sugest getting males only, for overstocking issues.

It's dimensions are 24 l * 12 w * 17 h...

Not to hijack Honorarius's thread, but what if the tank is tall or doesn't have stepping stones to the top?

What type of bottom dweller would you recommend instead of the panda/pygmy corys?



Rick
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Does anyone have an answer to slickrb's question???

Honorarius,

I've been looking at corys a lot lately. I have pretty much the same tank as you except mine is 24x12x19in. I think it's a 25G tall tank. Since the panda and pygmy won't like the depth. I have been looking at the bigger corys. I have found that the Elegans Cory and the Adolfoi Cory don't get as big the Peppered or Aneus. This way they can handle the depth, but I can still have a decent size school. I was going to try them.

Anyone have any experience with these corys?



Rick
See all my pictures at Google Web Albums

Even in taller tanks, cories don't seem to have any problem reaching the surface. I don't think any species really has a problem with two feet of water or even more. In the wild, disadvantages to surface-oxygen intake are the energy expended by the fish, and the chance that it will be picked off and eaten. In an aquarium, cories generally don't have to worry about conserving energy or avoiding predators.

Corydoras elegans and C. adolfoi are both pretty hardy species. I have the elegans myself and like them. They're fairly active, but have drab coloration. C. adolfoi is an awesome fish, but you will probably end up paying more for it than you would for another species of Corydoras.

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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."

My 29g tank is 17.5 inches tall...well about 14 inches from the top of the gravel to the top of the tank...and my panda cories don't have a problem swimming to the surface. They were doing it earlier tonight
I don't have any DW in there yet either.

You could still have the larger cories if you wanted though. Just giving you my experience with a tall tank.

*Kristin*

Khuli loaches are also another option. . .I have three myself, and they are delightful little fish. . .and as long as you have plenty of plants near the front of the glass, you should see the more (mine don't know they are supposed to be nocturnal ) I would get three or more though, otherwise they are very shy and might stay in the substrate 24/7 and you will never see them

Another option is a TINY pleco, like under 4". One that comes to mind is the zebra pleco (L-46) but they are hard to find, and cost a lot! (250$ us dollars a pop ) Otherwise there is the slightly larger LDA-20 that gets to 4 and a half inches, but I wouldn't put one of those in anything less than a 25 gallon long.

If you don't like plecos, otos are tiny (1.5 inches) and totally peaceful, I have two of those as well. Cute little fish that prefer the middle bottom and will eat algae. They usually don't eat sinking wafers though

Cories are adorable and can be a great option as well, I had four juliis, and they were adorable!

Hope that helps, Jess

Fish are like potato chips. . .you can't have just one

A good choice for a taller aquarium, if Heidi's experience is anything to go by, is Corydoras habrosus. Smnll enough to get a decent sized shoal (say 10), but well and truly capable of hitting the surface - Heidi had hers in a big 125 gallon setup and they were utterly mad - they used to do kamikaze dive bombings of the airstone bubbles!

I think what matters here, however, is that your aquarium should be a decent length as well if it happens to be tall. So that if it's 18 inches tall, say, it will matter less if the aquarium is also at least 4 feet long because that will give the Corys 'runway space' to take a foray to the surface. In a setup like that (at least 4 feet long) height seems to be less of an issue - Heidi's 125 was huge, after all, and she had all sorts in there - habrosus, metae and a brace of other Cory critters that basically romped about spawning like mad!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

i'll just do another hiacking...

so what if i have a 55 gal long tank, and a rock? is that good enough for stepping stones upward.. i've had my pandas for about a month possibly two, and they've never really shown an interest in making it to the top..... pics of the tank are in my PF btw.

*Chelle*
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I love the fishes cuz they're SOOO delicious...

If it's just a fifty-five gallon, you shouldn't need to worry about the fish getting a boost. They'll do just fine since the water can only be a maximum of twenty inches off of the substrate.

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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."