xfish

I'm in the process of planning my tank and I am planning to get at least 4 cories. I know cories are known to school across species, but looking at some threads in this forum, some say that getting a few from the same species could cause those few to form their own clique.

I would like to get different cories and would like to lessen the chance of one of them being the odd one out.

So getting four, thoughts on getting one each from a different specie? I would say:

1 bronze
1 sterbys
1 albino
1 panda

That's my ideal because I want a variety, but I've read that for cories to really school, it's best if they're in the same species.

(What does "really schooling" mean anyway?)

How about 3 and 1, e.g. 3 sterbys and 1 panda? The sterby's would school, and the Panda might just tag along so it'd be somewhat like schooling? (Is this a legit assumption?) I don't think I want to do 2 and 2 because they might split up.

Butterfly

I have three peppered, three orange laser, 1 albino Aeneus and one green aeneus. At times they are swimming around like their glued together and at others they are all over the tank. I think the important thing is to have more than one Cory.
Carol

xfish

Thanks Carol.

I would actually like to get more than four but currently I am planning:

29 gallon (30x13 or 32x12? surface area)

1 betta
7 or 8 neon tetras (I'd like 8 really)
3 platies
4 cories

I think that might be pushing it, would there be room for 1 more cory in your opinion?

Butterfly

You could put at least two more if you leave the betta out Bettas don't usually do well in a tank with Tetras. The Tetras can't resist their flowy fins.
Carol

xfish

Betta's actually my "main attraction," I'd get rid of the platies before the betta. Actually when I was a kid we had a huge tank with betta and neon tetras and they got along fine. My backup plan, if they don't get along, is to separate the betta into a 2.5 gallon.

If I keep the betta though, no more room for just one more? I'm not 100% sure how the inch-of-fish-to-gallon-or-surface-area rule works. What if I keep the neon tetra number at 7 instead of 8?

5 cories and I could get another one from a different species. I love those guys.

Butterfly

You could probably do 5 without any problem as long as you keep your water changes up. Since they crawl around on the substrate and all the food and stuff fall to the bottom you gotta keep it clean
Good luck with the betta then. There are many people here who have tried a betta in a community tank and had horror stories to tell so keep a keen eye peeled
and of course we need pictures when it's done
Carol

xfish

Sure will. I'm excited. Thanks.

Butterfly

Cool . We get excited every time somebody sets up a new tank LOL
Carol

agabr123

what they mean by "really school" is that cories love having others of their own kind, however lets say you have a 120 gallon tank with fifteen cories, and maybe 5 albino, 5 bronze, 5 panda, then they will probably form three individual schools of five and stay more with their own kind. however, i had a panda, a false julii, and two peppered cories in the same tank and they all did great together

xfish

Oh cool. Yeah from what I've been reading it seems like they're really accepting. They seem to be the #1 fish that people suggest when others ask what kind of fish can they put in with their <possible aggressive fish> . It would make sense for them to be even more accepting of their own kind.