How Many Corydoras In A 30 Gal

[Akasha72]

I don't know the answer to the question. As far as I'm aware bronze and albino (and the green and orange lazer) are all from the Aeneus species (not sure if I've spelt that right) but whether the colour matters in terms of keeping them together, I don't know 

 
A good lfs will take orders for specific fish so if you see anything you like it's always a good idea to ask the lfs if they can get it for you. A lot of my recent fish stock have been on special order. It sometimes takes a week or two for them to get them in stock but they get them for me eventually. If I continue to fail in getting these melini cories then I'll ask for them on special order

 
 
These are melini cories - they also stay small
 

 

[Byron]

The "bronze cory" is most likely going to be Corydoras aeneus.  [There is an albino form, developed by humans (= not naturally occurring).]  I use "likely" because another species, Corydoras splendens, has also gone under this common name, since it is near-identical in colour but larger and with a longer [meaning, it has more rays] dorsal fin.  This latter used to be Brochis splendens, but the genus Brochis was synonymised into Corydoras by Britto (2003) and this is now accepted.  So, one has to be vigilant and it is again always best to use the scientific name; the genus may change as it has for Brochis, but the species epithets splendens and aeneus will not change relevant to their respective fish.
 
Now, as Akasha raised the green and orange "laser" cory, I can throw a little bit of light on this   Initially these fish were thought to be variants of Corydoras aeneus, but there appeared more and more of them, including the coal black one with red fins (a neat little fish, if ever you see them).  There is a series of photos depicting these forms on Planet Catfish, here:
http/www.planetcatfish.com/cotm/cotm.php?article_id=110
 
As it mentions there, some have been given "C" numbers awaiting description.  New species are not at all unlikely here, as the species C. aeneus has a very wide distribution on the eastern side of the Andes range in South America, with records of this fish from every country except Chile; it is also native on Trinidad.  When a species of fish has so wide a natural range, geographic evolution almost inevitably occurs, resulting in isolated populations developing into distinct species.  Only phylogenitic analysis is likely to sort this out.  But for the present, several of these laser stripe forms have been captured in the wild, so clearly they are natural.  But that still does not resolve the question of whether they are simply a variant of the one species, or a subspecies, or a distinct (new) species.  All we can say is that the wild-caught variants are not man-made.
 
Byron.

 

[Akasha72]

that's great Byron. I always thought the green and orange lasers were a hybrid of the bronze but it just goes to show how confusion can come into these things. I also always though the bronze and albino were from the Aeneus 'family' ... again confusion has come into play!
 
On my cory wishlist has always been the black cory (my lfs called them venezalen cories although that may not be their real name) but until my peppered group fall in numbers I don't feel I can add any more groups.

 

[Lillefishy]

The black corys are C.schultzei sp. black, a man made colour variant developed in Germany in the 90's.
I have a group, they're not jet black, more a browny black with a reddish/orange hue to their fins

 

[Liv15]

Maybe I'll just get a large group of peppered

 

[Akasha72]

you could just get 6 peppered and let them do their thing ... if you get a good mix of male and female and your well planted they'll add to their number in no time
 
 
A year ago there were just 4 panda's in my tank ... and then just before xmas a tiny one turned up one day out of the blue ... and then another ... goodness know's if there's any more growing up hidden in my plants! I think I have 6 but there could well be more

The black corys are C.schultzei sp. black, a man made colour variant developed in Germany in the 90's.
I have a group, they're not jet black, more a browny black with a reddish/orange hue to their fins

 
I thought they were known as schultzei's but I wasn't certain