Cycled Tank - How Many Cory Catfish With My Mollies And Platys?

[Fishcakes]

Hello, my tank is now fully cycled after about 2-3 months (fish-in cycling).

I have 2 male mollies and 3 female platys, as well as about 7 fry in a 60L tank (platys were apparently pregnant when I got them). The fry are about 3 weeks old, big enough not to be eaten but we're going to give it another 2 weeks or so before we take them to our LFS as they're still smaller than my thumbnail (they only take them when they're a bit bigger).

My boyfriend and I are really keen on getting some cory catfish. How many could we keep?

 

[HayzH]

i got 6 Panda cory's in with my 5 platties...they only grow to about an inch and a half..so they are perfect...And very cute

 

[the_lock_man]

Whichever species you choose, they will be happiest in a group of at least 6. In the wild, they live in shoals of 100s or 1000s.

 

[Fishcakes]

Well, we've gone and got 3 for now!

Boyfriend isn't keen on getting more than 3 as he wants lots of different species, but I've put my foot down and said we're going to get another 3. We got 2 bronze and 1 albino, going to get 2 more albino and 1 bronze, or maybe 1 more albino and 2 of another type, so we have 2 of each and 6 altogether. The albino seems to be socialising well with the bronze, but doesn't seem to approach them as often as they do him/her. The bronze swim together more often.

 

[friendlyfishy777]

The albinos are most likely the same species as the bronze, but don't tell your boyfriend that. The albinos are often a colourless version of either the bronze or peppered cory. I find my albinos are quite independent, where as my regular coloured bronze and my gold lasers hang out a lot together, swimming in a group.

What temperature are you keeping your fish at, if corys shouldn't be in any more than 24c. You can get away with up to 26c but they will have shortened lives. Also, I hope you don't have regular gravel in the tank - it makes their barbels rot and fall off (and they can go hungry and can die if that happens!). The bottom should be fine sand (play sand from Argo is good) or small smooth round stones such as pea gravel or those glass beads you can get from Pets At Home would do.

Best of luck with your in fish, corys are great fish and the Bronze are really bold and lively once they settle in. The more corys you have the more happy they are (unless over crowded of course).