Cold Water Corys

[webbkath]

I have always had tropical fish but have recently set up a small cold water tank. It currently has in it white cloud minnows and I am lookind at the next fish to add. I used to love my peppered corys and have read in places that certain types of cory can survive in cold water tanks. does any one know if this is true? And which type of cory I would need?

 

[richchappy]

as far as i know its not true,

 

[Sibelius]

It's not advisable. Some cases of the water temp being lowered to 16 celcius to get certain corys to breed do float around (and these could be true, because it's a sign of the rains arriving in the amazon basin.) But I would suggest that it's not a wise move to treat corys as cold water. They should be kept at 20C-27C in most circumstances IMO.

 

[CorysRusUK]

what temnp is ur cold water tank at?

 

[webbkath]

what temnp is ur cold water tank at?

Tank is 23c it is in a fairly warm room and gets some heat from the radiator and the kitchen

 

[CorysRusUK]

what temnp is ur cold water tank at?

Tank is 23c it is in a fairly warm room and gets some heat from the radiator and the kitchen

if thats a constant temp, you could maybe have some barbatus in at a push. However, how far does the temp drop on an evening?

 

[webbkath]

what temnp is ur cold water tank at?

Tank is 23c it is in a fairly warm room and gets some heat from the radiator and the kitchen

if thats a constant temp, you could maybe have some barbatus in at a push. However, how far does the temp drop on an evening?

The temp gets warmer in the evening if anything as I have storage heaters rather than radiators (we cant get gas!) so they heat up over night the coldest time of day is between 8am and 6pm which is during daytime temperatures.

 

[Gill]

You Can Have Paleatus at that Temperature.
A Very Gooood LFS Owner has been using them in his cold water tanks for years.

 

[webbkath]

You Can Have Paleatus at that Temperature.
A Very Gooood LFS Owner has been using them in his cold water tanks for years.

In that case I think I will go fish shopping tomorrow, I am off work this week so I can monitor the over night and afternoon temp to make sure it doesnt drop too low......watch this space I will let you know how they get on and thanks for everyones advice

 

[webbkath]

Corys have been in tank for a couple of weeks now and seem quite happy so far very active and spend lots of time nibbling the plants and playing in the bubbles

 

[nmonks]

Several species of Corydoras (e.g., peppered cories) and Scleromystax (e.g., bearded cories) are *subtropical* fish, and naturally inhabit places where the water temperature is around 18-20C. In fact, keeping these species at tropical temperatures, as most people do, is probably harmful and certainly reduces the longevity of wild-caught specimens which are sensitive to the lower oxygen content of overly warm water. Some of these subtropical cories do very well in ponds in the UK and parts of the US over summer -- I've done this myself with peppered cories, and the fish spawned immediately I brought them indoors in September.

However, none are really coldwater fish, so over the long term you will have problems with digestion (uptake of nutrients) and immunity (diseases) if they are kept too cold. I certainly wouldn't recommend you keep any subtropical cories in aquaria where the temperature drops below 15C on a regular basis.

On the other hand, there are anecdotes of peppered cories surviving in ponds *under ice* for short periods, so their tolerance of cold over the short term is very good, far better than most other tropical fish.

Cheers, Neale

 

[webbkath]

Wow thanks for that although I definately wont be getting ice in the tank! The lowest I have seen the thermometer get to is 21c and I have checked it several times a day and night. I guess thats the joys of central heating

 

[NEONCORY]

Since you already pick the fish, this may not be much use but I keep my Pandas in the tank without heater. And they do great, I get eggs every 4~5 days. There is no heater but there is a bulb of candecent(sp the regular old aquarium bulb and a compact florecent bulb) which I believe give off some heat. And temperature is usually low 70'sF and hover to high 60's. Also they really enjoy the nice water current so there is a powerhead with sponge on the intake. And it circulate the high oxygenate clean cool water.
It was the Panda only tank for a while but I decide to add few hill stream loaches since I believe their requirement is similar although their origins are far apart. So far, they live together great.
I also did consider the White cloud minnors as tankmate but I have enough Pandas in the tank and I know the minnors are also prolific so I didn't add to the tank. But maybe if I get bigger tank for the Pandas I may try. I already have 2 tanks for the Pandas.
Anyway, Pandas do great with lower temperature(68~72F) than the regular community tank temperature(around 75F) people tend to keep them in. IMO
I just thought you might want to consider them when you have some space(you can always get more tank or bigger lol).
Oh yeah, I did experimenting put the one female cherry shrimp with eggs in the tank with Pandas. Since the cherry shrimps are fine with the Pandas' tank water parameter and Corys are one of the peaceful fish. I would imagine Pandas would eat the smallest shrimplet if they can manage to catch since they would eat the BBS. But I think the cherry shrimplet would be smarter than BBS, they would try not to be eaten. And there are enough hiding places. So we'll see. If they can manage to survive and multiply. Then, they could be potential tankmate.

 

[webbkath]

thanks thats good to hear my corys are sharing with some white cloud minnows who are fascinated by them playing and have even started eating off the bottom a bit since the corys moved in