Caught the Corydoras bug

[luenny]

Hi all,
I've recently had an empty tank and since I've had the cory bug for some time now I've decided to set it up as a cory species tank. I was told that there are 2 types of cories, wild caught and tank bred. I was told that tank bred ones are generally smaller and not so nice color but wild caught ones are more expensive and are harder to keep. Does anybody has any experience with keeping wild caught cories successfully? I.e. most of them survive?

By the way, I am thinking of a non-planted tank for them, only driftwood, stones and river sand, I heard they like sandy bottom. However, I only have a overhead filter for this. It's a 3 footer and I'm thinking of keeping 30 - 50 of them. Can they do ok with overhead filter with fortnightly water change of 30% - 50%?

[illumnae]

Haha I've recently caught the cory bug too luenny! Added alot more cories to all my existing tanks than i previously planned, and I'm thinking of setting up a cory biotope tank as well it'll be a 2-2.5ft only though.

I think 30-50 cories in a 3ft tank may be abit of an overload unless it's dwarf-cory only. you may want to consider 1-2 canisters instead to hold more biomedia to deal with the large bioload.

[luenny]

Hahaha ... looks like I'm not the only one who caught the bug. Which cory do you keep? I am still deciding on which species to buy.

[illumnae]

i don't have many yet, space constraints. I have C. duplicareus, C. sterbai, C. habrosus, C. trilineatus. Used to have C. panda and C. pygmaeus, but I sold off my pygmaeus to make space and my panda didn't make it through my rescape period

[luenny]

Hmmm ... duplicareus. That's nice. I'm considering between duplicareus, trilneatus and another one (don't know which one) which I saw in the farm the other day. Currently I have sterbai, napeonsis, aeneus, panda and another which I can really identify, it's either zygatus or rabauti.

[illumnae]

I love duplicareus, it's my favourite cory species along with adolfoi (since they look so similar, though duplicareus tops adolfoi slightly due to the thicker black band). I will probably keep more duplicareus/adolfoi in the biotope tank (pending stock availability at the point of setup), if i do end up setting up the cory biotope tank. Pity i can't set up the tank in time for Biotope's potential wild cory shipment...otherwise i'd definitely be getting a colony of wild adolfoi

[Quixotic]

I was told that there are 2 types of cories, wild caught and tank bred. I was told that tank bred ones are generally smaller and not so nice color but wild caught ones are more expensive and are harder to keep.

Personally, I am not sure that tank bred ones are generally smaller. Most are likely sold even before reaching adulthood, aren't they? So, I am not sure size can be used as a distinguishing criteria for tank bred fish. For me, there is not exceptional difference in size or colour between tank bred and wild caught fish. *shrug*

Anyway, wild caught fish are definitely a lot harder to keep, as they come from different river systems, hence different requirements. For example, some Corydoras species don't do as well in warm waters compared to others. Some can be difficult to be acclimitised to tank conditions, some depends on compatible tank mates and so on.

I have kept lots of different Corydoras before, and not too successful with certain species. However, I can't tell with absolute certainty if they are tank bred or wild, but certain assumptions can be made (can also be wrong).

The long and short of it is that, when the required water conditions are met, if kept as a species tank and the larger the tank, then the chances of being successful is a lot greater. As this is what you have in mind, then chances of keeping wild ones successfully should be good (when the required water conditions are met).

By the way, I am thinking of a non-planted tank for them, only driftwood, stones and river sand, I heard they like sandy bottom. However, I only have a overhead filter for this. It's a 3 footer and I'm thinking of keeping 30 - 50 of them. Can they do ok with overhead filter with fortnightly water change of 30% - 50%?

I am not too familiar with overhead filters, but no problem as long as it provides good dissolved oxygen (DO). It is okay to change water fortnightly, maximum 30%, provided the bioload isn't too high, possibly not more than 30 of 5-cm or less fish. Personally, I would opt for water change which is less and often (weekly 20%), rather than one that is more and infrequent (forthnightly 30%) due to them being wild fish.

Some of my current fish:
Corydoras sp. C129 (probably wild)


Corydoras sp. C003 (Dekeri) (probably wild)


Corydoras davidsandsi (probably wild)


Corydoras venezuelanus


Corydoras sp. (probably wild)

[corywink]

30-50 shouldn't be a problem as long as your filter and tank are mature. Maybe shouldn't add all at once. I have around 50 in my 3 ft planted and have just 1 eheim canister running, I do around 30-40% water changes weekly. But I think I have to thin out the bioload as the small ones get bigger. I'll share some pics later ^-^

[illumnae]

lovely pictures Quixotic. Thanks for sharing!

[sfk7]

I got the bug too! haha

Gotten 10 duplicareus from a bro in this forum and attention to my community tank now always straight to them first!!

To Luenny : Which farm(s) did you go for the different species of corydoras?

Nice Corydoras venezuelanus there Quixotic

[luenny]

Whoa! So many people got the bug! Nice cory photos Quixotic. The C003 looks like the one that I saw in the farm. Hmmm .... now I really don't know which one to get.

sfk, the farm that I go to is not open to public. Sorry.

Ok, here're some photos of my setup until now. Forgive the white background. This was a discus tank and I'm too lazy to tear down the background. Anyway, with brownish water, it should look fine.

1st - put in driftwood. I arrange such that there's lots of cave and some driftwood sticking out of the water.


2nd - put in stones. The stones are put at the back. The front will be filled with river sand later after the wood is properly soaked. I intend to put in some ketapang to get the water a bit brownish too.

[illumnae]

Looking good luenny! Wish I could see this firsthand. How about spreading the rocks out abit more, getting larger ones for the back and putting the current ones nearer to the front at the base of the wood to look more natural?

What are the tankmates gonna be, or is it gonna be purely corydoras?

[sfk7]

Looking really good!

Can just imagine the corys foraging in the open area. Just a 'hum-ding' with them is they are too skittish. Hides whenever there is movement near the tank

[luenny]

There are smaller pebbles that I'll be putting in front on top of the sand near the wood but that will have to come after I finish soaking the wood. I'll probably drain almost all the water after that, put in sand and the pebbles and refill the water. And then I'll put some ketapang to tint the water. I'll probably keep it there for a week or so after that before putting in fish.

As for tank mate, I'm thinking a small pleco (those that can't grow big) will do. May put in some freshwater crayfish/lobster but that is still uncertain. I don't know if those will survive soft slightly acidic water or not.

[illumnae]

i think having some Hypancistrus or perhaps L134 (abundant in the market now) would be good as tankmates, as well as some colourful tetras to make the top less boring? Perhaps try to make it a biotope style tank and choose cories/plecs/tetras all from the same river/locality

[luenny]

I did thought of the top part being boring. This is why I try to set the driftwood high. I notice from my existing cories that if there are no big fishes in the tank, from time to time they do swim up to the top of the driftwood.

As for them being skittish, I'm hoping that if there are enough of them in the tank they'll come out. That's what happen in one of my other tanks - especially with food around.

[iwishweallcouldwin]

Hey luenny,

This is an exciting thread to watch! Very tempting as usual

Nice woodscape! What's the ambience temperature of the tank going to be like?

By the way, are you planning for a species tank or an assortment of many types of cories? Think it will be quite a sight to see different types of corycats living and interacting with each other!

That being said, it also takes alot of discipline to stick to a species tank, with so many corydoras available in the market for us to choose from..

Im staying glued to this thread

[Shadow]

hey... I like you wood arrangement

Are you planning to use the pebbles? is it the shiny types? if not mistaken it is using some kind of wax to make it shiny. I planning to use it in my scape and when i soak it with hot water, the water surface end up oily. So I guess the hot water melt the wax and float.

[luenny]

Clint,
I already have a tank with a few types of cories but I find it lacking of something. Maybe the number of cories in each species is too little. Anyway, this will be a species tank but you're spot on, I really don't know which one to choose.

Robert,
The pebbles that I'm planning to use is the same as those stones you see in the second picture, only smaller version. I want to keep to only wood and 1 type of stones to keep it neat. When the sand goes in, I think the stones at the back will be covered partially so shouldn't be so distracting anymore. The pebbles have to go in last otherwise the sand will just cover it and it's as good as not putting. Anyway, I never like those shiny wax type of pebbles that they sell in some fish shop. It doesn't look natural.

[Shadow]

where you got the un polish one