Bottom Dweller Wanted

[smmetz]

Doh!!! Thanks for pointing that out, I'll fix it tomorrow.

 

[Jozlyn]

My LFS has Bronzy, Albino and Peppered Corys, can I get some of each or do I need to buy a "School" of the one type?

The also have what they're calling "Sucking Catfish" they have no idea what the species name is, they gave me the web address for the people they buy from and they don't have a species name there either, what is it?

It's almost at the bottom of the page

http/www.bayfish.com.au/category8_2.htm

 

[Jozlyn]

Hello??? Anybody there???

 

[LisaLQ]

The sucking catfish on there is a chinese algae eater. Avoid like the plague, they can get to 10" and get really nasty when they hit 4", and will harrass your fish.

Cories need to be in groups of at least three, but better still in groups of 5+

 

[QuotheRaven]

With cories you should have at least 3 of one type so 3 albino AT LEAST 3 Peppered AT LEAST etc. Also I believe the Albino's are usually the albino form of the bronze cories so say 3 bronze and 3 albino's in the tank perhaps.

 

[Jozlyn]

Okey doke, thanks

 

[Jozlyn]

The sucking catfish on there is a chinese algae eater. Avoid like the plague, they can get to 10" and get really nasty when they hit 4", and will harrass your fish.

Cories need to be in groups of at least three, but better still in groups of 5+

Do you know what the species name is?

 

[Jozlyn]

Ok, scratch the species name I found it, but I also found out that they're almost the same as Otto's to look at, are you sure it's a CAE?

 

[QuotheRaven]

There not really the same as oto's to look at if you notice the Oto's have a rounded kind of nose while the CAE don't also CAE's are usually labled as such in LFS and Oto's are much smaller than CAE's. Far to many abbreviations.

 

[lljdma06]

If you really want to get really cutey patutey, and if you can find them, go for the pygmy corydoras. Corydora pygmaeus, C. habrosus, C. hastatus, and C. gracillis. These little buggers are pretty hardy and stay...drum roll please....at about 1" max size and about a 1/4 of the body mass of a standard corydora. You literally can have an army of these little fish, and it will barely affect your bioload. I've seen shrimp poop bigger! You can seriously have about 14 of these tiny guys and that'll be the equivalent of 5 regular sized corydoras. C. pygmaeus also dwells in all the aquarium levels in close groups, so 14 of those swimming together is extremely entertaining. They sometimes school better than tetras and rasboras. All these tiny cories like temperatures to be a bit cooler, 73-75 fahrenheit is nice without hurting your other species. Just my two cents, or pence, or phenig, or whatever.

llj

 

[LisaLQ]

Ok, scratch the species name I found it, but I also found out that they're almost the same as Otto's to look at, are you sure it's a CAE?

Well some otos have the stripe but the similarity ends there. Otos are tiny - much smaller than any baby CAE. If it's over an inch, it's a CAE. If it's under an inch, with a pointy nose, and looking like it has more head than body, it's probably an oto.

Oto:
http/www.holendry.republika.pl/img/otocinclus_2_1_m.jpg
http/z.about.com/d/freshaquarium/1/8/w/X/oto01.jpg
http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/genus...genus_id=49#107

Chinese Algae Eater:
http/www2.biology.ualberta.ca/jackson.hp...aymonieri_1.jpg
http/www.aqua-global.de/Bilder/Gyrinocheilus_aymonieri.jpg
http/www.aqua-fish.net/imgs/fish/104.jpg
http/aquaworld.netfirms.com/Cyprinoidae/..._aymonieri1.jpg

 

[Majjie]

Actually - yes - I'd second lljdma's suggestion - if you like little fish. They're the only two corys I keep - pandas and pygmys. I have 12 pygmys and mine don't shoal a lot - but there's little groups of 2 or 3 of them all over the place. They like to sit on the top of rocks and on plant leaves

 

[fishy2578]

Hello All, I am concerned at the recommendations to put corydoras and plecos in such a small tank. Even otos need 30 gallons, as do all the others except the pygmy cory cats. I have had all these for years and my experience as well as the peteducationl.com site are my reasons for saying this. Fish can live in too small of quarters, just as we can, but it isn't really fair to ask them to. Perhaps the reason they aren't schooling is the confinement in too small a space. Usually, when fish that normally school don't it's due to some kind of stress. My cory cats, for instance, didn't school in my 70 gallon until I removed the large royal pleco. It never occurred to me that he might be a hindrance because he mostly confined himself to one corner. When he left, however, the entire ambiance in the tank changed. Even the angelfish are "happier" now.

 

[qoftheq]

I disagree about that. 24 gallons for a shoal of corys seems perfectly acceptable to me. They're two inch fish, they've got plently of room to move in that tank. I'd feel perfectly comfortable putting more than one shoal in a tank that size. I've got a shoal in my 10 gal right now (they'll be moving into my enormous 70 gal cory tank soon ) but they're perfectly happy and healthy where they are. And the smaller species of plecos will be fine in a 24, she's just got to avoid the commons.

 

[J4MES]

I saw some pgmy corys at my lfs last week, really pretty little things. They were about as big as a baked bean you get in tins

J4MES