In praise of single species cory tanks

[GaryE]

I've long been a fan of the cory group of catfish - the fish that used be grouped in the Genus Corydoras. Now cory has become their English name, but the fish haven't changed.

I had the idea that someday I would collect up some favourite cory species and give each their own tank, with no other fish. I've managed to get a bunch of corydoras I like - Hoplsoma atropersonatus, panda, melini, 'venezuelensis', concolor, cw 027 and granti, Gastrodermus napooensis and C 123. As is usually the case, most arrived very young - too young to breed. But fish always grow, and a few weeks ago I went over to my idea of treating corys like dwarf Cichlids, and giving them their own spaces.

The results have been delightful.

None have bred yet, but the activity levels have gone insane. These fish are very fun to watch. IN past set ups, I haven't seen any of their carefully chosen tankmates picking on them. But with no other tankmates they seem to be fish transformed. The shoaling looks like flash mobs, the hiding is far less and the corys in their various single speies tanks simply look at ease and dynamic. We know they do best in as large single species groups as we can manage, but I have to say, they do seem to like their own tanks here.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I could not agree more with this approach. I have always done species tanks with fish I wanted to see spawn. I also believe in keeping as large a group of schoolers as possible. Available space and tank size is all that limits me in this respect.

I also keep corys in my community tanks. I know some of them spawn but very rarely do I get offspring as the eggs are just food for almost everyone in a tank. I have several different cory species in my in-wall 75 community tank. A few weeks back I discovered a juvenile Black Schultzei in the tank. So, it was clearly born there as all the rest I have are adults. I also watched a spawning by the albino aeneus. I also watched them eating the eggs. So spawning can happen but getting viable offspring does not happen not very often.

There is something very mesmerizing about watching a really big shoal of corys in action.

 

[anewbie]

In truth the only species of cory I would consider as a species only tank and even then i would add a few tetra would be pgymy or closely related hastatus. The others don't interest me enough as a species but that is just me. If i have a spare 20 long off the hunt goes for some nice dwarf cichild or maybe one of the smaller loaches. And lets be real if i wanted a really nice species only cory tank i would need something like 32inch x 72 inch x 14 inch and maybe 50 or 60 of some species just to determine if there is some magic in such a large group and even then the aquarium would probably need to be 288 inch to get a decent taste. Drat fishes just need too much room to fully express themselves. Now what I think would be really neat is an aquarium that is 32x72x14 packed with n. marilyn or and old favorite ruby tetra

I will note that cw123 is a species that i have seen pop up many times and i have some interest just not the space or motivation to do it justice right now. And if i can't do it justice i will just have to do without and hope it is still around if i get to it later.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Well then you would not be wanting to spawn the corys since I am pretty sure a lot of the tetra would find cory eggs a lovey lunch. Many corys will eat their own eggs as well.

 

[anewbie]

Well then you would not be wanting to spawn the corys since I am pretty sure a lot of the tetra would find cory eggs a lovey lunch. Many corys will eat their own eggs as well.

Well that is valid. In truth my sterbai when i had them in a 29 would spawn every week and a few would even hatched but they never amounted to much. Man in those days I thought a 29 was huge and now I think a 600 is small. How things change when you grow up.

 

[GaryE]

It took me a long time for my interest level in corys to get to where I'd go one species, one tank with them. But if anyone reading this is leaning that way, it has been an eye opener. They are excellent fish watching.

 

[Back in the fold]

Excellent ! I’ve always thought that any fish really comes to life and shows its true behavior when kept in a species only aquarium .

 

[10 Tanks]

Hello Two. Excellent idea. Years ago, I had a "Mom and Pop" fish store in town that hybridized a Corydoras they called "Orange Saddle". The fish all had a bright orange stripe that circled around their middle. Very pretty fish. I have a 55 gallon species only tank with Minnows from a pond near my place. They're Brassy Minnows. They look similar to Guppies, but grow larger and most have a vertical black stripe on the head.

10

 

[anewbie]

Hello Two. Excellent idea. Years ago, I had a "Mom and Pop" fish store that hybridized a Corydoras they called "Orange Saddle. The fish all had a bright orange stripe that circled around their middle. Very pretty fish. I have a 55 gallon species only tank with Minnows from a pond near my place. They're Brassy Minnows. They look similar to Guppies, but grow larger and most have a vertical black stripe on the head.

10

Are you talking about eques cory or orange venzie cory ?

 

[10 Tanks]

Hello again. I don't know really. The owners of the place called the species "Orange Saddles".

10

 

[anewbie]

Hello again. I don't know really. The owners of the place called the species "Orange Saddles".

10

And that is the problem with common names It can apply to more than one species.

 

[elephantnose3334]

I agree on this approach @GaryE. A similar single-species approach was done with my silvertip tetras (since 2024) as they are active and fin-nippy schooling fish. With no other tankmates to pick on from, the tetras are doing well in a 3ft long tank all to themselves, even breeding a couple of times.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

How's about some photos, Gazza?

 

[GaryE]

Photos are actually tough to take. They are cheerfully chugging all over their tanks. I can focus on one fish if I'm fast, but the groups are hard. They are active.

My Hoplisoma melini are wild things.

@10 Tanks - if you are curious to know what fish you have, do a google images search on Corydoras orange saddle. It'll show you the several fish sold under that name. If it turns out to be the Venezuela Orange one, you'll still have a problem as there's debate about whether it's a human made variant or a wild sourced species. So you won't be far ahead on that one confusing but attractive cory. I have some here, bred by a club member, and I wish I knew their story.

Here are some concolor from a couple of months back. They're almost my favourite cory when I'm looking at them and not at the others too.