Which Would You Choose? Pygmy Or Panda?

[mrscullen5373]

Alright for starters i just want to say that i might have posted something very similar before but i am not sure and i am still wondering about it, so i am just going to post it again hehe

ok then, there is a tank, it is a heavily planted tank with plenty of other decor like bog wood caves stones and other hiding places.
There are 10 Kuhli Loaches (pangio kuhli) and 1 German Blue Ram Cichlid in the tank so far, but i really really want some Cory catfish.

The choice is between a group of either Panda Cory or Pygmy Cory.

Please don't suggest any others to me those two are the only ones i want.

Anyway here are my questions :

QUESTION 1 - Out of the two which cory is the easiest to breed?

QUESTION 2 - Will/could the adult Kuhli loaches or the adult Ram cichlid eat the pygmys if i had them?

QUESTION 3 - Out of the two which would you choose overall? i.e which is the most playful active e.t.c

Thanks! any help at all will be greatly appreciated x x x

 

[Carlovel1]

1. Pygmys are said to be easier to breed
2.No & maybe
3.Pygmies, they go allover the place and are a bunch of fun.
I vote for Pygmy Cories

 

[fluffycabbage]

1. Pygmys are said to be easier to breed
2.No & no
3.Pygmies, they go allover the place and are a bunch of fun.
I vote for Pygmy Cories

I have both (along with others) and theyre quite different in their playing style - my pygmies tend to stay in the plants a lot, schooling together in the middle of the tank. Sometimes they go down to the bottom, but they dont school together with all the other cories as much as the others do. May just be because there are only 4 left of 7 now though.
The panda are just normal cories, school together a lot in the bottom of the tank, filter the substrate with their barbels, shoot up n down gulping air (and copying eachother a lot), swim fast from one end of the tank to the other following eachother, great fun to watch.

As for breeding, wouldnt have a clue, I dont breed them. Have no idea about the nipping/eating capabilities of your other fish so cant answer that either im afraid!


In my experience its pandas, im sure you'd like both

 

[BLACK DOG]

I have just added two Pygmy corys, they so funny to watch they swim side by side trying to push the other one into the plants, and they chase the zebra's all round the tank

 

[the biffster]

both

 

[nmonks]

As I hope you know, ram cichlids, Mikrogeophagus ramirezi, need very high temperatures, 28-30 C/82-86 F. This is much, much warmer than most Corydoras species enjoy or tolerate in the long term. So you really have just a single commonly available Corydoras to go with here, Corydoras sterbai. This species does well at 28 C/82 F, which is why it's the standard species to mix with discus. When rams are kept cooler than this their survival rate is dismal. At a guess, I'd estimate about half the ram cichlids sold die within 6 months through bacterial and other infections, in part caused by the weakened immune system resulting from sub-optimal temperatures. Ram cichlids come from the South American savannahs were there are no trees to shade the ponds and streams, and consequently the water gets exceedingly hot. Rams have adapted to that, and wise aquarists create similar conditions in captivity.

One other thing, there are reliable reports, e.g., from Paul Loiselle, of Mikrogeophagus ramirezi biting the eyes out of Corydoras catfish. Combine with care.

Cheers, Neale

There are 10 Kuhli Loaches (pangio kuhli) and 1 German Blue Ram Cichlid in the tank so far, but i really really want some Cory catfish.

 

[fluffycabbage]

As I hope you know, ram cichlids, Mikrogeophagus ramirezi, need very high temperatures, 28-30 C/82-86 F. This is much, much warmer than most Corydoras species enjoy or tolerate in the long term. So you really have just a single commonly available Corydoras to go with here, Corydoras sterbai. This species does well at 28 C/82 F, which is why it's the standard species to mix with discus. When rams are kept cooler than this their survival rate is dismal. At a guess, I'd estimate about half the ram cichlids sold die within 6 months through bacterial and other infections, in part caused by the weakened immune system resulting from sub-optimal temperatures. Ram cichlids come from the South American savannahs were there are no trees to shade the ponds and streams, and consequently the water gets exceedingly hot. Rams have adapted to that, and wise aquarists create similar conditions in captivity.

One other thing, there are reliable reports, e.g., from Paul Loiselle, of Mikrogeophagus ramirezi biting the eyes out of Corydoras catfish. Combine with care.

Cheers, Neale

There are 10 Kuhli Loaches (pangio kuhli) and 1 German Blue Ram Cichlid in the tank so far, but i really really want some Cory catfish.

oh dear

 

[Harlequins]

I would have opted for pandas,but has you have a cichlid i would say neither...

I wouldn't advise putting corys in with cichlids...

 

[fluffycabbage]

mrscullen i think it would be a good idea to take the advice of experienced fishkeepers, and not keep them together. Can you get another tank? If not, then its either a no to cories or rehoming your ram, which would be a shame im sure...

 

[scotty]

I would have opted for pandas,but has you have a cichlid i would say neither...

I wouldn't advise putting corys in with cichlids...

i have bolivian rams and apistogramma with my pandas and never had no problems,but then again i might just be lucky

 

[elisew]

I would have opted for pandas,but has you have a cichlid i would say neither...

I wouldn't advise putting corys in with cichlids...

i have bolivian rams and apistogramma with my pandas and never had no problems,but then again i might just be lucky

I also have a german ram and 2 apistos along with 17 corys in my community tank and have had no bother between them either.....hope they continue that way


Mrscullen, what size is your tank?

 

[nmonks]

"Luck" is a difficult thing to judge. Often aquarists create their own luck. If the tank is spacious, with clear territorial markers, suitable caves, and dither fish that help to spread out tensions, then dwarf cichlids may behave perfectly in community tanks. The same cichlids might be aggressive and snappy in tanks without enough room or vague boundaries. A lack of dither fish can make those cichlids nervous and therefore more aggressive when defending their patch, and a lack of target fish can weaken the bonds between paired cichlids, causing aggression between them. So there are a whole bunch of things.

One of the problems when sharing experiences is that what worked for you might not work for someone else. One approach is the precautionary principle. So when Loiselle cautions mixing Corydoras with dwarf cichlids, he's not saying that all dwarf cichlids attack Corydoras, but that some do, so the best away to avoid Corydoras being damaged is not to keep them with dwarf cichlids.

Cheers, Neale

i have bolivian rams and apistogramma with my pandas and never had no problems,but then again i might just be lucky

 

[mrscullen5373]

ok well it doesnt sound good so far. i think i might research further. I have a local fish store that is utterly fab and they have GBR's with corys all the time without problems, infact they reccomended that if i was going to have a pair of breeding rams the best tank mates would be corys or loaches. hmmmm

Anyway just to let you know the shop is a Maidenhead Aquatics store in Stapleton (it has been given many awards)

the tank is about 25gallons i think.


if i moved the GBR should i be ok with having cory with my kuhlis then?

Thanks x x x

 

[nmonks]

If you want rams to breed, you don't want any catfish or loaches at all. They eat eggs and fry, and because they forage at night, the cichlids can do very little to stop them. Instead you want some dither fish. Cardinals would be ideal because they like the same warm water as rams, but any small tetra or rasbora happy in the same environmental conditions should work. Dither fish strengthen pair bonds without actually being a threat to the fry.

Shops may well offer good advice, but you should always have an open mind. That's why it pays to own books by respected authors on things you're interested in. There are so many books on dwarf cichlids that it shouldn't be hard to find one at your budget.

The reason I wrote a book on brackish water fishes ultimately came down to a pet store selling me two "dwarf freshwater pufferfish" that turned out to be juvenile Arothron hispidus, a big marine species known as the stars-and-stripes puffer. In other words, the pet store couldn't have been wronger about what they told me! Once I found out what my fish was, it started me thinking about how much misinformation there is about brackish water fishes, and from there, eventually, came the book.

Cheers, Neale

 

[mrscullen5373]

thankyou for that info. I only have 1 ram because i never wanted to breed them but anyway thanks