Water Hardness with Cories

[Cinnebuns]

So, I'm torn if my tank situation needs to be changed or not. Having only been in the hobby about 4 months, I only recently started considering water hardness. It has been brought to my attention on Facebook that some of the fish I am keeping together are not compatible on water hardness, and I agree, mostly. 

The fish in question are panda cories and guppies. My water is super hard which is great great the guppies, but not as much for the cories. At first I was deciding how to remedy this so the cories can have softer water, until I realized something. My cories are not only regularly spawning, but (you may have seen some of my recent posts) I recently collected some eggs and have a random fry surviving in my main tank on its own. I may be wrong, but I seem to remember a video @Corydid that used the fact that cories spawn in hard water as evidence that they don't need soft. 

What do you think?  Am I just hoping I don't have to change my tank situation or is there some validity to this?  

I do have an idea if I decide the cories require softer water but I prefer not to do it. I also have glotetras. I could put the glotetras and cories in the main tank and the guppies and snails in the 10g, essentially dividing the species I have by hard/soft. Ideally, I would like to keep the guppies in the main tank though. 

[Colu]

If you Cory's are happy and breeding I wouldn't mess with water parameters 

[Guppysnail]

I kept my panda and guppies together for awhile. They are in their own tank but same really hard water. If they are breeding and fry surviving I would not do anything. Fish are incredibly adaptable and most have never been in their natural habitat water conditions. 

[Struggle]

On 2/24/2022 at 6:40 PM, Cinnebuns said:

So, I'm torn if my tank situation needs to be changed or not. Having only been in the hobby about 4 months, I only recently started considering water hardness. It has been brought to my attention on Facebook that some of the fish I am keeping together are not compatible on water hardness, and I agree, mostly. 

The fish in question are panda cories and guppies. My water is super hard which is great great the guppies, but not as much for the cories. At first I was deciding how to remedy this so the cories can have softer water, until I realized something. My cories are not only regularly spawning, but (you may have seen some of my recent posts) I recently collected some eggs and have a random fry surviving in my main tank on its own. I may be wrong, but I seem to remember a video @Corydid that used the fact that cories spawn in hard water as evidence that they don't need soft. 

What do you think?  Am I just hoping I don't have to change my tank situation or is there some validity to this?  

I do have an idea if I decide the cories require softer water but I prefer not to do it. I also have glotetras. I could put the glotetras and cories in the main tank and the guppies and snails in the 10g, essentially dividing the species I have by hard/soft. Ideally, I would like to keep the guppies in the main tank though. 

You’re good to go, I don’t suggest chasing water parameters. 

[KaitieG]

I've had cories with 350+Gh water that have bred and lived for 4+ years at this point.  I think overall they're quite adaptable to hardness.

[BettaHomesAndGardens]

Like others have said I have a school of six blue spotted corydoras in hard water and they have been thriving. 

[Wrencher_Scott]

Yep, it is a myth that fish MUST be kept in the parameters of their native waters. Of course there are exceptions of extremes but no worries here.  

[Biotope Biologist]

On 2/25/2022 at 8:34 AM, Wrencher_Scott said:

Yep, it is a myth that fish MUST be kept in the parameters of their native waters. Of course there are exceptions of extremes but no worries here.  

Even in their native waters Cories can be found closing in on amazonian deltas where water is certainly harder from the mixing of saltwater.
 

Likewise guppies can be found in ponds with little to no hardness and heavy decomposition.

 

I wouldn’t stress to much about water chemistry, fish are highly adaptive.

[Wrencher_Scott]

On 2/25/2022 at 8:48 AM, Biotope Biologist said:

Even in their native waters Cories can be found closing in on amazonian deltas where water is certainly harder from the mixing of saltwater.
 

Likewise guppies can be found in ponds with little to no hardness and heavy decomposition.

 

I wouldn’t stress to much about water chemistry, fish are highly adaptive.

Agreed! Some just seem to want to make this hobby harder than it should be.

[Torrey]

On 2/25/2022 at 10:01 AM, Wrencher_Scott said:

Agreed! Some just seem to want to make this hobby harder than it should be.

I think (and could definitely be wrong) that stress, and so many people feeling like they have no control over anything else, has brought out even more people in the hobby who use OCD as a stress coping technique. 

Combine that with global communities (especially in FB groups) and people are relating what **their** success tricks are... and forget to confirm whether or not the other person is getting fish from same suppliers with same parameters. 

On 2/24/2022 at 5:40 PM, Cinnebuns said:

So, I'm torn if my tank situation needs to be changed or not. Having only been in the hobby about 4 months, I only recently started considering water hardness. It has been brought to my attention on Facebook that some of the fish I am keeping together are not compatible on water hardness, and I agree, mostly. 

The fish in question are panda cories and guppies. My water is super hard which is great great the guppies, but not as much for the cories. At first I was deciding how to remedy this so the cories can have softer water, until I realized something. My cories are not only regularly spawning, but (you may have seen some of my recent posts) I recently collected some eggs and have a random fry surviving in my main tank on its own. I may be wrong, but I seem to remember a video @Corydid that used the fact that cories spawn in hard water as evidence that they don't need soft. 

What do you think?  Am I just hoping I don't have to change my tank situation or is there some validity to this?  

I do have an idea if I decide the cories require softer water but I prefer not to do it. I also have glotetras. I could put the glotetras and cories in the main tank and the guppies and snails in the 10g, essentially dividing the species I have by hard/soft. Ideally, I would like to keep the guppies in the main tank though. 

I have only found a few species that require soft water, and they only needed the soft water for successful egg hatch rates:

Discus, neons, and cardinals 

Discus being the most sensitive to water parameters, by far.

If you have fish breeding, and especially if you are having successful hatch rates (majority of eggs fertilized, and 80% or more of the fertilized eggs hatching) you are doing better than some commercial hatcheries. 

I wouldn't change anything on your cories, they crave consistency more than a specific GH.

 

[Cinnebuns]

On 2/26/2022 at 1:44 AM, Torrey said:

Combine that with global communities (especially in FB groups) and people are relating what **their** success tricks are... and forget to confirm whether or not the other person is getting fish from same suppliers with same parameters. 

Completely agree. That's why I didn't take it as 100% fact immediately. Facebook is a frustrating place to get info. Too many people who think that unwritten rules are law and that their experience is the entire world's experience. Not to mention, some of the people telling me I need to change the water my cories are kept in acted like I was an animal abuser how I'm keeping them. What I've realized in this hobby is there are many RIGHT ways to do things. Some people have a hard time with that and can only deal with 1 right answer.