CorydorasEthan

Wow nice! Although I haven't participated in any math competitions, but I do regularly participate in the Science Olympiad competitions.

Here's a general stocking idea: One male betta Around five of any of the following: neon tetra, cardinal tetra, pristella tetra, ember tetra, harlequin rasbora, porkchop rasbora, white cloud mountain minnow, endler's livebearer, guppy. Another four or five of any of the following: pygmy cory, false julii cory, kuhli loach, otocinclus A couple of the following: mystery snail, amano shrimp, nerite snail Lots of live plants (crypts, saggitaria, swordplants, hairgrass, java fern, anubias) I don't know if this is overstocked or not, but if it is please someone correct me.

Wow I haven't learned Euclidean geometry yet. I don't really enjoy math, but I am pretty okay at it. Right now I'm in my Freshman year taking Algebra II. I like history and science a lot more than math.

I grow Cryptocoryne wedtii, Vallisneria, dwarf hairgrass, and dwarf aquarium lily well without any fancy substrate (I use pool filter sand) and without any fertilizer (I've had all my plants for about a month and a half). But since I don't have any fertilizer/root tabs, my Amazon sword doesn't grow well, and the Vallisneria doesn't carpet very fast either. On the other hand, my crypts and lily bulb are doing extremely well. I even planted Java fern in my sand and it is the biggest plant in the tank already (it started as a mystery leaflet amongst floating plants I bought from my LFS). So I would recommend pretty much all of the plants that @James Black just mentioned, plus dwarf aquarium lily.

No, I didn't share it, but I did read the article. It was pretty interesting.

There is a poll option, so this could be interesting. I would enjoy it.

Do something like a tetra of some sort (many types will work). Most of them won't compete with bottom dwellers for food. Guppies and Endler's livebearers also work well. Most of the time, they will stay around the surface of the aquarium. Even though they may also eat off the bottom, they aren't big enough to really take food away from either the cories or the loaches, so your bottom dwellers can eat in peace. I've noticed they act kind of like pilot fish do for sharks or whales. They will swim near the cories while the cories eat at the bottom. The excess food that comes out of the cory gills will be eaten by the waiting guppies. This allows both fish to feed without competing with one another. Other types of fish you could try are rasboras, danios, and minnows, but I have not had experience with any of these yet. One fish to avoid is a gourami. In my experience, both male dwarf gourami and male pearl gourami will bite and chase cories away from the bottom dweller pellets I feed, even after I provide the gourami with plenty of flake (he gobbles it all up as well).

Hello everyone, I found this really cool article on mimicry between different Corydoras species and other catfish: - https://cefishessentials.com/blog/corydoras-catfish-pigment-patterns-behaviour-crypsis-and-habitats/ - https://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/features/the-littlest-hobos/ I found it pretty cool how many different species of catfish (certain species within the genera Corydoras, Brachyrhamdia, Otocinclus, and various tetra genera) sometimes mimic each other and school together for protection. Corydoras duplicareous and Brachyrhamdia rambarriani. "Skunk" Brachyrhamdia spec. Corydoras paleatus and Otocinclus flexilis. This article had me craving for an all Corydoras + mimics biotope for my next project (in the future. Of course, I have to ask my parents for a new tank once I have more space). I was wondering if anybody keeps/has kept any Brachyrhamdia, Otocinclus, or tetra species that interact/mimic with Corydoras species. How availible are they, how much did they cost, and where did you get them? Thanks.

Thanks for the advice! They have spawned three or four times now, but I have only had the albinos for a year, and the bronze a little less than a year, so maybe they need to grow a little older. Also, I don't know if this is of any importance, but they always lay their eggs in the same exact spot every time. It is right up high on the glass near the surface. The peppered cories on the other hand (which I have had just as long) lay their eggs in many different spaces, trying to hide them from everyone else that wants to eat the eggs. Does this have any significance?

I have seen my two albino cory females breed and spawn with a male what I thought was a bronze cory. Every time, the eggs have not been fertile, while the peppered cory eggs laid at the same time hatch in the same conditions. I have been wondering what the cause of this infertility has been. Then I stumbled upon pictures of a Venezuelan cory, which could possibly be a separate species or a variety of Corydoras aeneus. It looks similar to the "bronze" cory I bought from my LFS. I also noticed that this bronze cory that my LFS sold is different than the ones they normally sell. Under the label "green/bronze cory" you can find 1) what looks like emerald brochis, 2) large cories that have a dark bronze color, or 3) this type of cory that I have (sorry I don't have pictures of the other varieties my LFS sells). They all come in at different times. Could someone identify this cory please? Thanks.

Hello @Siett88. I have pool filter sand in my 29 gallon for maybe 3 or 4 months, and added a wide assortment of plants ordered from Aquarium Co-Op a month ago. My Cryptocoryne wedtii really seems to be doing well (growing faster than I expected and even sending runners all the way to another side of the tank. My Vallisneria and dwarf hairgrass are established, but just starting to send out runners. My dwarf aquarium lily does perfectly fine (don't bury it at first, but as it sends up lily pads, you can partially bury the bulb).(Sorry, my albino cories keep photobombing every picture I try to take of the plants!) One surprising thing I found was that my Java fern loves the sand. I found it as a tiny leaf in a mass of floating plants at my LFS, and decided to just plant it in gravel in my 10 gallon aquarium. As it grew, I realized that it was a Java fern, and it had grown roots. When I upgraded to a 29 gallon tank with sand instead of gravel, it grew even more, and is now very large and thriving. The only plant that didn't seem to do well is my Amazon swordplant from my LFS. It melted back (from a big plant that had been grown and propagated underwater) and keeps melting back each of the leaves that sprouts up. I haven't used root tabs or any sort of fertilizer in the tank so I am considering doing so. I just added in some water sprite a couple of days ago, and it is doing pretty well right now. I have had cabomba in the tank before too (it started losing needles because of its position near the filter). So that's my experience with plants growing in sand. It is perfectly achievable, just pick out some hardier plants. Hope this helps.

Even though the food floats to the bottom and the cories can eat, my gourami will always go down to the bottom and nip the cories and chase them away because he likes the food so much (he is never aggressive outside of feeding). So I would put chunks in several corners of the tank so everyone can eat without someone else bothering them. But that's just my experience. Otherwise, Repashy is a great food for all fish in your tank. All my fish love it. Hope this helps.

@DeepWater Wait sorry I didn't see the high pH requirement... How about Synodontis species? Or you could do small plecos? Or if you're cories are thriving in your water, then add a couple more of the same species (pandas) from the same source if possible.

My guppies and endlers prefer to stay right at the surface. They will venture lower, but mostly stay toward the top. @DeepWater I would recommend more corydoras, maybe a school of different species (or if you have only a couple pandas, get more). They are awesome in large groups. You won't regret it! Hope this helps.

Wait are we voting on the funniest/most odd picture or the best picture?

I thought a pearl gourami would work out well for my community tank (guppy/endler's livebearer, corydoras, bristlenose pleco, algae eaters, amano shrimp, assassin snails). He is really peaceful, he doesn't even eat the guppy fry (while I don't know but I've never seen him go after any or find any missing). The only thing is when I'm feeding my corydoras pellets on the bottom. Even though he eats flake, he will nip the cories and chase them away from their pellets. I think the reason that he feels he needs to be territorial/aggressive is because there might be too many animals in the tank and he feels crowded and like everyone's stealing his food (even though they aren't). That's why I ordered Sera O Nip tabs to try and keep him focused on something else above the area where the cories eat. But while I'm waiting, I transferred him to a 10 gallon tank to hold him for a week or so. So I would recommend a pearl gourami if your tank isn't highly stocked. Sparkling and honey gourami are great choices as well. I don't recommend a dwarf gourami, but I heard females are a lot more peaceful than males. Don't get a blue gourami though: (I took this photo at a pet store). They can be aggressive and territorial towards all members of your community. Hope this helps.

You know you're a nerm when... Your parents wouldn't let you have a fish tank at first, so you instead spend two whole years researching fish before they actually let you get one. Presenting to your English class a 30 minute presentation on Corydoras before you even get an aquarium. When you finally do get an aquarium, you spend around an hour a day just staring at it. You convince your parents to let you get bigger and bigger aquariums (I went from a 10 to a 29 a couple of months ago, but still get to keep the 10 for breeding purposes). You are so into keeping fish that your constant ranting about it has gotten your little sister into the hobby. You join this forum to discuss fish-related topics with people who share common interests.

Sorry to hear about your corydoras (they are my favorite fish). Actually, I was checking on my guppies in my tank during feeding, but when I came back to the tank a couple minutes later I noticed what looked like a dead leaf in the tank. When I looked closer, it was a flattened/crushed guppy. I was devastated, knowing that I was probably the cause (I don't remember crushing any, but I'm pretty sure something might have happened with the hardscape in the tank. Maybe it got stressed out or my hand/net trapped against something). I also do the same thing counting fish, but now in terms of guppies there are too many to count.

Me too! If only my parents would let me have one...

- I am using pool filter sand as my substrate. It is pretty cheap, but really messy if you don't rinse it very well (I did a simple wash and my tank was so cloudy when I put it in, so I would recommend running a hose through a bucket of this sand for at least 10 minutes to make sure the sand isn't messy and make the water cloudy when you put it in). All types of Corydoras love the sand because they can sift through it with their barbels. It is entertaining to watch too. - Okay about whether it's good for plants or not. While, I just started growing live plants in this tank about a month ago. I'm not sure if they grow well in the long run, but they seem to be doing well so far. My Java fern that I have had for about six months has grown from a tiny leaflet to a huge plant in this substrate (I didn't know it was a Java fern so I planted the tiny leaf into the substrate and it just grew). My Vallisneria have grown runners and are growing taller, my hairgrass is getting fuller, my Crytocoryne wendtii is bigger, and my Dwarf Aquarium Lily has grown a lot. The only one not going well is my Amazon sword. It melted right when I put it into my tank (it was grown at my Local Fish Store), and whenever it grows new leaflets, they always melt after a few weeks, so I don't think the swordplant is good with the sand. Hope this helps. I'm looking foreward to see how your aquarium turns out!

Only my Corydoras aeneus do this in my tank. Also some of my guppies and siamese algae eaters do it. The Corydoras paleatus, Corydoras pygmaeus and the pearl gourami in the tank do not though. I don't know why they do it, but it's been a long time since they started and they have had no problems that I can see. They behave just fine and are perfectly healthy. So I would not worry too much about it. Of course, I am not an expert, so I will leave it up to the more experienced hobbists to sort this one out. Hope this helps. (If I am wrong about anything, please correct me)

Yeah I heard they had body armor, but I didn't know they could fend off piranhas.

Although I don't agree with the way they just threw some innocent cories (probably very stressed and confused) into a tank with lots of hungry piranhas to experiment (they probably knew what they were doing though, so I'm by no means saying their experiment was without purpose), this was actually really interesting on how such a small and unlikely fish can fend of against one of the most feared river predators of the Amazon. Can't believe that the little bottom dwellers in my aquarium would be able to do such a thing!

In my experience, Corydoras paleatus (Peppered cory) get pretty big. Although I always advocate for a large school of cories, I personally have kept (and still have them) a pair of peppered cories in my 29 gallon community (used to be in my 10 gallon). They have now bred and have a bunch of little babies to school with. I would recommend to just get one as a buddy, or else they'll be pretty lonely and shy. Despite a couple in a 5 gallon being fine for a little while, (especially if you have females and not males) I would definitely consider upgrading to a 10 gallon or larger and get a school of them. They are great in a school and very social! Also, as algae eaters, I personally have never seem them eat any. I would go for nerite snails (for glass or flat surfaces) or Amano shrimp (better for some hair-like algaes). (Below you can see the size difference between my female peppered cory and a pygmy cory and female bristlenose pleco in the first picture. In the second you can see the male is much smaller than the female.) Hope this helps.

I have a similar situation. I have two female albino Corydoras aeneus, and one male C. aeneus (but he is the bronze strain). He will mate with them frequently and they will lay their eggs (always on the same spot on the glass I don't know why). Whenever I collect the eggs, none of them hatch, and they all turn pure white. I don't know, but based on this experience, some males not be fertile, or the crossing of the two strains might not work. Also, my Corydoras paleatus (peppered cory) breed sometimes at the same time as the aeneus. I would put both batches of eggs in the same tank and only the peppered cory eggs hatched, so I know for certain it has something to do with the fertility of the eggs, and not the care. Hope this helps.