Which Corys Do You Have?

[anewbie]

I had sterbai live over 10 years in a tank I kept at 24c. I find it interesting how about every decade in the past few, suggested temperatures for all fish seem to have crept up, for no identifiable reason. It isn't based on nature, even with climate change. We seem to have a warming trend in fishkeeping, with sad results for fish.

I avoid fish like Discus or rams, because of their high temp needs. But I see people keeping tanks at 80f, and I wonder if they have stuck heaters.

I think sometimes the word "fish" is a bad one. It's so general. When I see a Corydoras I have never kept before available, the first thing I do is reference 3 sources for its temperature needs. We can generalize about fish from the same general region, but we still have to respect individual species needs.

A friend of mine used to keep and breed a Cichlid species found at over 40 degrees celsius, and if I choose to keep any of my local beauties, I need to figure out how to give them a few dark months at 3c or so. Corys are on a tighter range, but you'll lose Scleromystax kept too warm. We need to go back to seeing what the fish live in in nature, and to respect that.

No cheating. Our convenience shouldn't be the deciding factor.

I do agree that most people keep cory too warm; and i am also guilty. While i can keep the orange laser and pygmy at 74-76 range; and the eques will be lowered once the last of the blue keri passes; the sterbai aquarium will be raised to 81 primarily because other fishes in there require the warmer waters (L172a and eventually winemilleri). The trade off of a community aquarium. The hastatus are also kept a bit on the warm side at 77 as they are with cupido and a. pucallpes both of which prefer 76-78 but that is compatible with hastatus recommended range; so the only cory i'm really keeping too warm are the sterbai... and no i can't move them - the aquarium is 8 ft long and 4 ft wide and after 5 years of owning them they want nothing to do with me.

 

[GaryE]

Oooh, lovely tank....

 

[Byron]

Ian Fuller who knows more about cories after 50 years of collecting them and spawning them writes that no cory should be higher than 22-24C. Including C. sterbai and whatever.

 

[GaryE]

Ian Fuller who knows more about cories after 50 years of collecting them and spawning them writes that no cory should be higher than 22-24C. Including C. sterbai and whatever.

There were so many years if misinformation out there.
I remember as a kid, I was told to buy a heater if I wanted Corys, and below 25, they would die. If our practices can ever catch up to new information, things will improve in the hobby.