lhenkin

Does anyone have a suggestion for the hardiest species of cory catfish. I am a beginner and am thinking of adding some small cories to a tank with:

2 Zebra Danios
2 Golden Danios
3 Flame Tetras
3 Pencil Fish

Thanks.

mistycheri

I don't know about other members, I've been told that my panda corys are very delicate natured, but the three panda cory's I bought when I first set up my tank, (I didn't know about cycling at the time) are still alive and doing great. They lived thru the cycling process and are the only original fish I have from the first batch I bought when I set up my tank 3 months ago. Hope this helps.

lhenkin

Thanks. That does help. I had read the same thing about the Pandas--that they are delicate! Any other cory suggestions?

Jai

Peppered Cory's......they are the best I think.....no problems at all.....i've heard they are hardy....coz I went into a top aquarium shop with the same question as you........

0morrokh

Bronze Cories are supposed to be among the easiest to keep.
But you should get more of what you already have. Danios and Tetras are shoaling fish, which means they need to be kept in groups of 6 or more. They feel insecure and unhappy in smaller groups. In a shoal, they will swim around more and show more color and interesting behavior. So please get some more of each kind of tetra and danio, your fish will thank you--and you will see a lot more of them.
What size is the tank?

lhenkin

Our tank is 44 gallons. I agree about adding more of the schooling fish that we already have, especially after reading some of these posts, but the kids are gung HO about the catfish! We may start "filling in" after that. Do you think that plan is O.K.?

0morrokh

Well, my goal is for fish to have the best care possible. So, if it were up to me, I would tell the kids they have to wait. You can still get catfish a few weeks from now. But the danios and tetras won't appreciate being in groups of two for that long.
By the way, with 6 Zebra Danios, 6 Golden Danios, 6 Flame Tetras, and the pencilfish, you are pretty much stocked, but you could have 3 Cories with them. I can't blame your kids for being so excited about the Cories--they are so awesome. Always wanted some myself. Well, have fun with your fishies!

lhenkin

O.k, so one of the golden danios (Neptune) is a chaser. He likes to chase the other fish around. Will adding more of his kind make that problem better--or worse?

0morrokh

It's a classic example of shoaling fish who are not in a shoal so they take out their energy on other fish. I can almost promise once you get more golden danios it will stop or at least lessen.

lhenkin

Here is another thing. I see that your fish have names. If I have 6 of each type, I am worried that I won't be able to tell them apart. It would be sad is Cracken and Ship, the two zebra danios who started this whole show, got lost in the crowd. Any ideas?

0morrokh

Well, you still may be able to tell them apart if you look closely enough. But the happiness of your fish is more important than telling them apart.

lhenkin

Can you tell your guppies apart?

0morrokh

Yeah, I can tell all my fish apart. Of course to be honest with you it's a lot easier with Guppies because they all have fairly different tails. My Platys are almost identical, but Sunrise has a white patch under the gills. I can tell my Otos apart because Mist is unusual in that he lacks most of the tail markings. Just look for some marking or lack thereof (don't ya love that word ) that will distinguish the fish.
If you are particularly concerned about the Zebra Danios, you can get long-finned varieties. Just be warned that man-made varieties are often weaker or sickly due to inbreeding.