Hardy Corydoras for a beginner?

[Spicyfish]

I'm looking for some hardy yet, smaller species of Corydoras for my 20 gallon tank. I currently have 3 platies in the tank. Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think I have enough room for a school of 6 Corydoras that are 2-3 inches in size.....? There are not too many small species of Cories except for pygmies but I have heard some mixed reviews on them...

[Tony s]

Pandas would be great. And they’re so much fun 

[JE47]

Depends on what if you tank is a twenty gallon or a twenty long

[Chad]

Like @Tony s said, panda Cory’s are great. Mine have been bullet proof. And they really are a lot of fun. 

[knee]

Plus one on the panda cory. When I neglected my tanks and most of my fish died only the panda cory were able to hold on without a single one dying. 
 

Also wanted to add that Corydoras habrosus stay small like the Pygmy and they act more like an actual cory compared to the Pygmy. They stay on the bottom compared to the Pygmy which swim all over the tank. 

Edited March 27 by knee

[Lennie]

In my experience, cories are prone to accumulating debris/mulm on the bottom. As long as you have a nice clean substrate, basically anything can work. The only times I had issues with cories was when I kept them in a tank that has neglected gravel vac or aquasoil accumulating mulm on top of it.

In nature the scenario might be different. But not in a limited tank space at home. 

That's my experience. I have pandas, pygmys, gold lasers and sterbais.

[Tony s]

On 3/27/2024 at 2:54 AM, Lennie said:

cories are prone to accumulating debris/mulm on the bottom

Except if you run canisters. Then they’re great at knocking debri loose and getting it back into the canister. Or at least my skunks are 

[MattyM]

On 3/27/2024 at 7:02 AM, Tony s said:

Except if you run canisters. Then they’re great at knocking debri loose and getting it back into the canister.

Yup - same, even in my 20H with an Aquaclear 55 on it, really kept the sand clean. 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

I think you have some great options. 
 

agree with panda corys, they will often colony breed, are easy tankmates and have instant color and movement impact. Less than 10 more than 5 would work. 
 

palleatus corys, sometimes called the salt and pepper they can hand a wide range of parameters and come in short and longfin. Group of 5-7. 
 

Bronze corys Coryadoras aeneus, or their albino brethren, great hardy full bodied Cory once again easy to colony spawn. I think a group of 5-7 could work in a 20. 
 

Any of the Pygmy corys will work- Pygmy, hastatus and habrosus- remember that they often will swim mid water as well as school with other species which is a lovely trait. I don’t know where the mixed reviews are coming for these are exceptional fishes. So much in a small package. 10-15, 20 depending on the stocking already in there. 
 

Venezuleanus, gold/green/orange lazer these are all thought to be related species to Bronze corys or just in the same group or lineage if you look at the Cory charts and I have not found them to be difficult to keep than bronze corys just note the price difference although gold laser pricing has seemed to come down recently. Same stocking applies to Bronze. 
 

Best of luck on your Cory journey. Happy to answer your questions here or in the Panda Cory page we keep! 
 

[NOLANANO]

On 3/26/2024 at 7:56 PM, Tony s said:

Pandas would be great. And they’re so much fun 

I second this. I have 8 Pandas and they are hardy and active. They don't hide nearly as much as other species I have had before.